Campus-wide e-mail ties Tucson rampage to Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants and the failure of the DREAM Act.
Los Angeles Times: The chancellor of UC Berkeley is drawing criticism for sending a campuswide e-mail that linked a Tucson shooting rampage with Arizona's crackdown on illegal immigrants and the failure of the DREAM Act. In the e-mail, sent Monday, Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau condemned a "climate in which demonization of others goes unchallenged and hateful speech is tolerated." He continued, postulating on factors that may have motivated Jared Lee Loughner, the alleged gunman in Saturday's shootings, in which six people died, including a 9-year-old girl, and 13 were injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.): "I believe that it is not a coincidence that this calamity has occurred in a state which has legislated discrimination against undocumented persons." Birgeneau was referring to the new Arizona law that empowers local police to demand proof of citizenship or legal residency when they suspect that a person is in the country illegally. His comments, unusually political for a prominent college leader, were quickly picked up by Fox News and drew a largely critical response. "From the 'CAPITOL' of liberal dolts," one commenter wrote on the Fox website.
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