Higher education watchdogs were all a-Twitter today about UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s surprising announcement that he plans to abscond his post at the end of the calendar year and return to academia. Apparently, he’d wanted to do so all along, and had only sustained an 8 year tenure as chancellor to help mend the university’s financial struggles. A vehement critic of cuts to education funding and fervent advocate for accessibility, Birgeneau became a target of recent protest movements at the university, owing to his symbolic association with the police crackdown at Occupy Cal. Students called for the chancellor’s resignation when he appeared at an Associated Students of the University of California meeting in December.
UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau to Leave Post
