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March 14, 2024

TO:  UC Berkeley Academic Senate Members, Council of Deans, Department Chairs, Academic non-student appointees, and Instructors

 Dear Instructors,

March 4, 2024

We write to share our commitment to the First Amendment and the principles of free expression. We want to make it clear that we support the right of students and Registered Student Organizations (RSO) to freely express their viewpoints in a safe and peaceful manner that is compliant with our Time, Place, and Manner policies.
We write with an update about our response to last week’s protest at an event featuring a speaker from Israel.

February 27, 2024

We write to you today with great sadness, concern, and dismay in the wake of an incident on our campus last night, an incident that violated not only our rules, but also some of our most fundamental values. Our purpose is not just to inform our community about what happened. We are writing with the hope that we can and will come together in defense of our Principles of Community that safeguard free speech, diversity of perspective, and the ties that bind this community together.

January 26, 2024

Suzanne L. Wones has been selected as our next university librarian, pending final formal Regental approval. Suzanne joins us from Harvard University, where she currently serves as the associate university librarian for discovery and access. Her first day at Berkeley will be July 1, 2024.

January 8, 2024

We have both ethical and legal obligations to provide accommodations and other supportive measures to our students. We call your attention to important campus policies and guidelines concerning academic accommodations for religious observance, illness, disability, hardship, and other matters.

December 20, 2023

As 2023 ends, I want to take this opportunity to say how grateful I am for all that you do on behalf of UC Berkeley. The brilliance of your research, your dedication to our students, and your commitment to the institution make us the world’s premier public university. This year had its challenges, testing us in many ways, but, as I have come to expect after 35 years at Berkeley, you rose to the occasion.

December 15, 2023

Tracy Schroeder has accepted our offer to become Berkeley’s next Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology & Chief Information Officer.

November 15, 2023

Based on input received from students affected, in various ways, by the violence in Gaza and Israel, I recently sent a CalMessage to all instructors asking them to be understanding of the considerable stress and suffering many of you are experiencing. In particular, I asked instructors to “assess requests for academic flexibility with compassion, generosity, and from a mindset of what is best for the student.”

November 13, 2023

The Chancellor, I, and other campus administrators have been hearing from and meeting with representatives of the Jewish, Israeli, Muslim, Palestinian, and other communities on campus. Common to those discussions was the high level of fear, anxiety, and loss that members of those communities have suffered and are suffering.

November 2, 2023

Susan Stone has agreed to serve as interim dean of the School of Social Welfare for the 2024–25 academic year. Her appointment will be effective as of July 1, 2024.

October 26, 2023

Effective the week of October 9, 2023 Disabled Students’ Program (DSP) proctoring services is operating out of the 4th floor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK) Student Union Building for this academic year. Most exams will take place in MLK and all exam drop-off/pick-up will be in room 414 in MLK. No other processes or exam-requests procedures have changed.

October 25, 2023

Reminder of University policy as pertains to academic freedom and political advocacy in the classroom.

October 23, 2023

Many graduate students enroll in independent study courses (often but not always called “299s”). We write to remind you to follow the guidance sent to all faculty on August 21, 2023.

October 16, 2023

Announcing the formation of a joint venture to build a new 36-acre research and innovation hub at NASA Ames. Located at Moffett Field, in the heart of Silicon Valley, it will be called “Berkeley Space Center." This enterprise is the culmination of many years of extensive planning and negotiation.

September 18, 2023

Updates on ongoing campus efforts to reduce the bureaucratic burden

September 13, 2023

As a part of the stakeholder engagement process for the search for the next University Librarian, there are two upcoming open forums for faculty.

September 6, 2023

Update on the search for our next University Librarian (UL)

August 22, 2023

You’re invited to the first Campus Conversation of the academic year on Tuesday, Aug. 29, at noon. Join us to hear from Ben Hermalin, executive vice chancellor and provost. Ben will share his plans and priorities for campus, including updates on the financial sustainability initiative, reducing the bureaucratic burden and efforts to improve inclusion and belonging for faculty, staff and students, as well as what he is looking forward to as a new academic year begins.

August 10, 2023

We have both ethical and legal obligations to provide accommodations and other supportive measures to our students. We call your attention to important campus policies and guidelines concerning academic accommodations for religious observance, illness, disability, hardship, and other matters.