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UC Berkeley Chancellor To Step Down After 8 Years

BERKELEY (CBS SF) -- University of California at Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau announced Tuesday that he will step down at the end of the year, saying he has already stayed in his post longer than he had planned.

Birgeneau, who became the university's ninth chancellor in September 2004, said he only intended to serve for seven years but stayed longer because of the state's economic crisis and the challenges to the university that he described as "the most extreme disinvestment by the state in UC's history."

Some students who are unhappy with the aggressive manner in which campus police responded at Occupy Cal protests last November have been calling for Birgeneau to resign but he said that wasn't a factor in his decision to step down.

KCBS' Anna Duckworth Reports:

In a conference call with reporters, Birgeneau, 69, said, "The precipitating event probably is the fact that later in this month I turn 70 and felt that I already had a long run as a major university leader."

He said, "This is a decision that my wife and I made together probably more than a year ago but delayed until it got close to my birthday to make the formal announcement."

Birgeneau said he's proud of his role in helping the university increase its funding from private donors to compensate for a dramatic decrease in funding from the state because of its budget woes.

He said that under the funding formula that was in place when he became chancellor the university would have received $600 million this year but the state only provided $230 million.

Birgeneau said he has responded by conducting a $3 billion fundraising campaign and $2.4 billion has been raised so far.

He said the university's financial problems "are by no means solved" but its situation is stable enough that he feels comfortable stepping down at the end of the year.

Birgeneau said he's also proud that he's been able to maintain the university's educational excellence and continue to provide opportunities for low-income and disadvantaged students.

"The percentage of low-income students is up and their costs are down," Birgeneau said.

He said he's also happy that three UC Berkeley faculty members have won Nobel prizes during his tenure and he hopes a fourth member will receive a prize before he steps down.

Birgeneau said he's had to spend some of his time dealing with protests at the campus but he said responding to protests is part of the chancellor's job description.

"There's a culture of protest here and if you're not comfortable with protests you shouldn't be a chancellor at Berkeley," he said.

Birgeneau said the most memorable protests weren't the Occupy Cal protests but the 19-month-long tree-sitting action in a grove of oak trees next to the university's football stadium that the university ultimately tore down to make way for a new student training facility. The protest finally ended in September 2008.

"I never imagined it could happen," he said.

Birgeneau said he was used to dealing with protesters when he was the president of the University of Toronto but he said "in Toronto you would be frozen if you were in a tree for 19 months."

Birgeneau, who is also a professor of physics, said that after he steps down as chancellor he plans to remain at UC Berkeley to teach and conduct research.

UC President Mark Yudof said he will establish a committee to conduct a nationwide search for a new chancellor for UC Berkeley.

Yudof said in a statement that Birgeneau "has proven to be a passionate, dedicated and effective steward of the world's greatest public university and an ardent champion of academic excellence, as well as an unwavering advocate for the underdog."

Birgeneau said UC Berkeley's next chancellor should be "an outstanding teacher and an academic with high standards who pays special attention to those who are most disadvantaged."

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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