Robert J. Birgeneau

Robert J. Birgeneau (2016)

Robert Joseph Birgeneau (born 25 March 1942) is a Canadian physicist educator and university administrator. He is the ninth chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, and the fourteenth president of the University of Toronto from 2000 to 2004.

Quotes

• Diversity is one of the high priorities that I expected everybody in the leadership position at the university to be committed to.
  • as quoted in Searching for science policy, by Jonathan B. Imber, published by Transaction Publishers (2002), ISBN 0-765-80163-9, p. 27.
• American public universities have as their primary mission to provide excellent educational opportunities to the entire population and to serve the public good.
• American universities are united in the view that foreign students enhance the research and education that we provide. Our country can only benefit by welcoming international talent.
• The next revolution in scientific discovery will depend on scientific interdependence.
  • A modern public university, Nature Materials 6, 465 - 467 (01 Jul 2007), doi: 10.1038/nmat1935, Commentary.
• It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience.
  • "Message to Campus Community", November 10, 2011.