Chancellor Resigns

Re “UC Berkeley Chief Reveals Plans to Resign,” July 10: Now the chancellor of UC Berkeley, Chang-Lin Tien, is resigning. No doubt one of the reasons was the politicizing of the Board of Regents by Gov. Pete Wilson in his ill-fated quest for the presidency by forcing a vote on affirmative action.

In your July 8 editorial, “Naysayers Lose One to NAFTA,” you noted that California exports to Mexico were $7.3 billion and Texas $21.8 billion. Our exports to Mexico would be much larger, but Wilson is very unpopular in Mexico and this is definitely reflected in many Mexican businessmen and the government not buying more from our state.

Wilson won in 1994 by frantically grabbing Prop. 187 to save his political career. I am glad Wilson has only two years to go. He has hurt our state horribly just to advance his agenda in the last few years.

JOHN T. MENDEZ

Los Angeles

* A mind is a terrible thing to waste, but not according to Gov. Wilson, nor his minion Board of Regents member Ward Connerly. In eviscerating affirmative action a decade prematurely, Californians will now lose at least two of the finest educators in America: Tien, chancellor of UC Berkeley, and Charles E. Young, chancellor of UCLA--men who are true to their standards and ideals.

STEVE COOPER

Downey

* Your July 11 editorial, “UC Suffers a Major Setback,” does a disservice to the University of California Board of Regents, and particularly myself, by suggesting we have responded cavalierly to the announcement by Tien that he will step down as chancellor of UC Berkeley at the end of the next academic year. While Chancellor Tien and I have had our philosophical differences, I have the utmost respect for him as a person and as an educator and regret the loss of his leadership as much as anyone else.

But I am also an optimist who looks at the glass as half-full rather than half-empty. With the loss of anyone of the caliber of Tien there is a downside. But there is also an opportunity to bring in others who can further enrich the University of California’s rich legacy of great leadership. It is a challenge I take quite seriously and am confident we can meet.

WARD CONNERLY

UC Regent