In a public statement yesterday, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl addressed the many controversial issues facing the Berkeley campus, calling for students and the community to “just back off for a while and leave me the hell alone.” Added Berdahl, “Every time I turn around, it’s Ethnic Studies this, or housing crisis that. What do you want me to do about it? I have a life too, you know.”
The harsh wording and unusually bitter tone of the chancellor’s statement has left many students surprised, confused, and just a little hurt. “It’s my fault, it’s all my fault,” sobbed sophomore Tim Sloane. “I’m too needy. I didn’t realize what it must have been like for him.”
However, the general mood toward the chancellor is conciliatory. “I guess we never really thought about how many demands we were putting on him,” stated Emily Boartz of the third world Liberation Front. Boartz and others pledged to be more sensitive to the chancellor’s needs, and expressed confidence that the relationship would work out.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” said Berkeley city council member Kriss Worthington. “And I’m pretty sure we can get through this, too.”
