Photo Carol Christ, the U.C. Berkeley chancellor, is taking over at a time of intense debate over free speech principles. Credit Jim Wilson\/The New York Times <\/p>\n
Good morning. <\/p>\n
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A swirl of problems awaited U.C. Berkeleys new chancellor, Carol Christ, as she assumed the top job at Californias flagship public university this summer. <\/p>\n
The campus is contending with a student housing shortage, a budget crunch and the fallout from a series of sexual harassment scandals. <\/p>\n
Then there is the issue thats been attracting national attention: Whether conservative speakers have become unwelcome at Berkeley, a university regarded as a birthplace of the free speech movement. <\/p>\n
In an interview, Dr. Christ, 73, indicated that she would confront that question head-on. <\/p>\n
She announced a free speech year to include, among other events, a series of debates titled Point Counterpoint that would feature speakers with sharply divergent views. <\/p>\n
What were trying to do is really give the community as many different kinds of opportunities to think carefully about free speech, she said. <\/p>\n
Berkeley has been shadowed by doubts over its commitment to freedom of expression since February, when a planned speech on campus by the far right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled in the wake of violent protests. <\/p>\n
In the months that followed, more debates flared over invited speakers including the conservative writers Ann Coulter and Ben Shapiro. <\/p>\n
Dr. Christ, a scholar of Victorian literature and former president of Smith College, took over for the former Berkeley chancellor, Nicholas B. Dirks, in July. <\/p>\n
She said she was looking carefully at how to improve the security around contested events on campus, a concern amplified this month by the deadly protests in Charlottesville, Va. <\/p>\n
Asked if Mr. Yiannopoulos who has railed against Muslims, immigrants and transgender people was welcome at Berkeley, Dr. Christ cited the Constitution. <\/p>\n
Lots of speech that I would find abhorrent, noxious, hateful, bigoted is protected, she said. <\/p>\n
Whether Berkeley can guarantee that right without anyone getting hurt may be tested soon. <\/p>\n
Mr. Yiannopoulos has said he will hold a four-day free speech event in September on Berkeleys Sproul Plaza. <\/p>\n
This time, he vowed in a Facebook post, he will bring an army if I have to. <\/p>\n
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(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.) <\/p>\n
A Democratic state senator who voted in favor of a gas tax has faced a well-funded recall effort. So his party colleagues are trying to change the election rules. [Sacramento Bee] <\/p>\n
The Trump administration is expected to decide this week whether the status of five national monuments in California should be revoked, shrunk or let be. [San Francisco Chronicle] <\/p>\n
Its called arrogance. The gate is still padlocked at Martins Beach, despite a judges order that a Silicon Valley billionaire could no longer block public access. [The Mercury News] <\/p>\n
Hundreds of homeless people live in makeshift dwellings along the Santa Ana River Trail. Many local residents say the time has come to clear them out. [Orange County Register] <\/p>\n
Keak Da Sneak, a well known Bay Area rapper, was critically wounded in a shooting. [East Bay Times] <\/p>\n
A Los Angeles jury awarded $417 million in damages to a woman who sued Johnson & Johnson claiming baby powder caused her cancer. [The New York Times] <\/p>\n
The top leadership of The Los Angeles Times was ousted in a shake-up that stunned many members of the newsroom. [The New York Times] <\/p>\n
My life has been a constant hell. For some Sunnyvale residents, its not easy living next to Apples new $5 billion spaceship campus. [The Mercury News] <\/p>\n
Daybeds, scented candles and organic seaweed snacks. Inside the $22 million private terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. [Vanity Fair] <\/p>\n
We need more softness and more silence and more pause through the chaos. A conversation with the actress Shailene Woodley. [The New York Times] <\/p>\n
The arrival of Apple, Facebook and Google means that the hypercompetitive world of scripted television is going to become even more ferocious. [The New York Times] <\/p>\n
What $1,700 rents you in San Francisco right now. [San Francisco Curbed] <\/p>\n
The eclipse on Monday delivered the country a welcome, if brief, moment of unity. <\/p>\n
Americans across the country paused to peer skyward as the moon cast a shadow that traveled from Oregon to South Carolina. <\/p>\n
From California, the show was hit or miss. <\/p>\n
Most of the state got a clear view of the crescent-shaped sun. But morning fog along the coast effectively canceled the experience for many people, who resorted instead to online broadcasts. <\/p>\n
They can take some solace. Another chance is coming in a mere seven years, when a total solar eclipse will travel along a route from Texas to Maine. <\/p>\n
Yesterday we asked you to send us your eclipse photos. Here is a selection: <\/p>\n
Want to submit a photo for possible publication? You can do it here. <\/p>\n
California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: CAtoday@nytimes.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n The California Today columnist, Mike McPhate, is a third-generation Californian born outside Sacramento and raised in San Juan Capistrano. He lives in Los Osos. Follow him on Twitter. <\/p>\n California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n More:<\/p>\n California Today: Berkeley's New Chancellor and a 'Free Speech Year' - New York Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo Carol Christ, the U.C. Berkeley chancellor, is taking over at a time of intense debate over free speech principles. Credit Jim Wilson\/The New York Times Good morning Continue reading