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Chapela speaks out by Ignacio Chapela, Ph.D.
Berkeley, California, 26 June 2003
We asked the captain what course
Robert Hass
(Sunday, June 29, 2003 -- CropChoice guest commentary) --
Dear friends, dear colleagues,
Beginning at 6 o'clock this morning, as I enter the final days of my
contract as a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley,
I intend to mark and celebrate them, by doing what I believe a professor
in a public university must do: to further reason and understanding. For
the brief time that remains of my terminal contract at Berkeley, I shall
sit holding office hours, day and night, outside the doors of California
Hall. This is the building housing the Budget Committee of the Academic
Senate, and the office of the Chancellor, the two arms of our university
governance in charge of my file.
I am saddened by the failure of the administration and the Academic Senate
to resolve in a timely fashion whether to grant me tenure at Berkeley. I
believe that I have contributed to the mission of the university and my
heart and intellect are also vested in its health and growth. All but one
of the colleagues who witness my everyday teaching and research in the
Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management have repeatedly
stated their support for my tenure, and so have a set of external expert
reviewers and the leadership of my College. To the extent that reason can
assess, I do not know of any other academic information on the case that
might suggest that a negative decision should be reached. Yet as of
tonight, well over a year into the part of the process conducted in secret
in California Hall, no decision has been made, as far as I am aware. I
must therefore conclude that there is another set of criteria that
counterweigh the strength of the case, but that such information cannot be
publically shared. In the face of such lack of transparency and
accountability, I choose to hold office hours in public, in the open, and
in the midst of our beautiful campus. I do so in celebration of my
vocation and my time at Berkeley, and not in the expectation that such an
action will change the course of the decision process, whatever that might be.
It has been suggested that the extraordinary delay in reaching a decision
on my tenure case without ostensible reason may be the result of, even
retribution for, my advising our campus, academe, the government and the
public against dangerous liaisons with the biotechnology industry, as well
as my concerns regarding the problems with biotechnology itself. Without
doubt, the uncertainty and reproach implicit in the silence on campus
surrounding my case has had grave consequences for my professional, public
and personal life. But such are the wages of doing work that has
significance for the world, and it will be up to those sifting through the
files of this case to discern the twists and turns that brought us to this
moment, and to pass the judgment of history on the motives and actions of
those involved, within and beyond our community. It is difficult to blame
otherwise principled individuals for not voicing their best
understanding. Fear is justified when even the president of the country
equates with criminal acts any questioning of the wisdom of deploying
transgenic crops. Against the desire of some to banish critical thinking
from the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, I choose to sit, openly
available for discourse, in the heart of our campus.
At least one person has said that I should be banned from the academic
system, implying that my work harms the public role of the university as
a hothouse for the agbiotech industry. Indeed I have long stood against
the folly of planting 100 million acres with transgenic crops each year,
without knowing even the simplest consequences of such a massive
intervention in the biosphere. An increasing number of scientists seem to
be reaching the same position. It seems also true that research in my
laboratory has prompted serious public concerns that the industry would
rather not address. An industry on the crutches of public subsidy for a
quarter of a century, an industry that trembles in the face of the
simplest token of precautionary research, is hardly an industry that
deserves to carry the public trust, much less our best hope for recovery
in a flagging economy. It would seem rational that our university - and
the public - should strive to keep an independent source of advice on the
wisdom of supporting such an industry. Rationality, however, must take a
back seat when the university becomes grafted to a specific industry. Such
has increasingly been the case at Berkeley and at other universities.
At a time of rampant obscurantism and irrationality, I am proud of the
privilege vested in me by the public as a professor at Berkeley. In
fulfillment of the duty attached to that privilege, I intend to share the
light of rationality during office hours over the next five days, together
with those who might wish to join me.
Fiat lux.
Ignacio H. Chapela
Logistical details and contacts:
I will sit in an "office" without walls. This means that I will most
likely not have direct access to an AC electric wall
outlet. Nevertheless, I will have a battery-operated cell phone
(USA-510-207 7331). My cell phone will need to be recharged occasionally;
if you do not get an answer, please leave a message and I will call back.
My email address is ichapela@nature.berkeley.edu. In case of server
breakdown, please use ihchapela@yahoo.com - email responses may be delayed
for some hours.
I will foreseeably be in my "office" 24 hours a day (except for short
unavoidable breaks) from Thursday to Monday midnight, circumstances
allowing. Three chairs will accommodate myself and two others in this
transparent office. Bring your own portable chair if you need to. I hope
to be able to offer tea and biscuits, but that is not a promise. These
last days have been on the hot side, but with any luck the natural
"breathing cycle" of the Bay Area will bring fog relief for at least some
of the mornings between Thursday and Monday. At meal times, I will have
space for company, although the seating may be less than royal, and the
menus are still being planned.
Despite President Bush's emphatic demands this week, the House has yet to
pass the BioShield legislation, and there may be further delays in the
Senate. Nevertheless, I am making efforts to comply with the current
spirit on our campus and across the nation by surrounding my office with
protective, gray, duct tape, for added security. Visitors from Toronto
and elsewhere in the world, please note that I will also have protective
face masks and rubber gloves at hand.
After midnight on Monday, I will be travelling to the Gen-ecology
laboratory in Norway until 22 July. I will be underway for a week,
subsequently available via my alternate email account: ihchapela@yahoo.com.
Please feel free to forward this email as you see fit. I hereby decline
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