Chancellor Says Funding Research Is Best Economic Cure

Speaking to the business-oriented Comstock Club, UC Berkeley Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien on Monday criticized “buy-American” fervor as a “simple answer” and said pressure for such quick fixes is based on fear.

He told the private club audience of an incident at the Citrus Bowl in which he was met by chants of “Buy American” from a small group of people--apparently Clemson boosters--after the Berkeley football team won the New Year’s Day game.

“Now why do you suppose they singled me out for this kind of treatment? The easy answer would be racism,” said Tien, who fled to Taiwan from his native China after the Communist takeover, and came to the United States 32 years ago.

But Tien said he suspects that the chants were motivated more by “deep-seated fear” over such changes in this society as increases in immigration, the recession and stiffer competition for the United States in the “global marketplace.”

Tien cited the Citrus Bowl incident as he urged the nation and state to redouble efforts to give more research dollars to universities. He added that California’s economy depends on “cutting edge research conducted at Berkeley and other University of California campuses.”

“I would like to suggest an alternative to ‘buy American,’ ” Tien said. “How about: ‘Invest in America today; compete worldwide tomorrow.’ Although this slogan might lack emotional punch, it comes much closer to addressing the pivotal issues in the decade ahead.”

He sounded warnings that state funding for higher education is lagging, while the state system of colleges and universities is buckling under burgeoning demands.

“The worst thing we could do is put on blinders that limit our vision and restrict our courses of action. But that is exactly what we are doing when we buy into the ‘buy American’ craze,” Tien said.

Tien described California’s “global population” as a big attraction for international investors. At the Berkeley campus, 54% of undergraduates are ethnic minorities, he noted, and nearly 20% were born in other countries.

“Diversity is a handicap only if we allow it to be,” he said.

After his speech, he said the Citrus Bowl chants amounted to the first public instance of apparent racism he had encountered since he was named to head the Berkeley campus two years ago, although he commonly receives racist mail.

He noted that “any time when you have a recession atmosphere people start to try to find a scapegoat, and that is why we have so much Japan-bashing.

“I don’t feel upset or anything,” Tien said. “To many minorities, this is like an everyday experience. But the important thing is how to turn this into a positive force (and) try to improve our society.”