SAN FRANCISCO””mdash;The University of California will bid to
continue its long tradition of managing the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, the Board of Regents decided on Thursday.
The regents also discussed the university’s stance on the
more controversial Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico,
but they have not decided whether to bid for it.
Many present at the meeting said they thought the university
should stay far away from Los Alamos and all the problems that have
surrounded it in the past.
Both labs are run under the Department of Energy and have been
managed by the UC for more than half a century, but there is one
distinguishing characteristic: Los Alamos deals with classified
research and nuclear weapons development while Berkeley does
not.
The regents voted unanimously to submit a proposal to the DOE to
continue managing the Berkeley Lab.
Management of the Berkeley Lab will give the UC the opportunity
to be part of cutting edge research and development.
“I, as a scientist, see tremendous opportunity ahead for
the Berkeley Lab,” said UC President Robert Dynes. “It
is a jewel.”
The opportunity for advancement at the lab will translate into
success for the UC, if it receives the contract, since it will make
the university a part of new developments and breakthroughs.
And the relationship is mutual ““ the lab has enjoyed a
great amount of success in the more than 70 years that it has been
managed by the UC.
“Both institutions have thrived during our 74-year
partnership,” said Steven Chu, director of the Berkeley Lab,
in a letter to the regents shortly after they announced their
decision.
The UC has managed the Berkeley Lab since its inception in 1931.
Now for the first time, due to a congressional action in 2003
requiring the DOE to conduct competitions for contracts that have
been in place for more than 50 years, other institutions will be
eligible to bid for the lab.
University officials were optimistic that they would receive the
contract and Dynes called their proposal
“dynamite.”
The issue of the Los Alamos Lab in New Mexico is a bit more
dicey. There have been problems with security and employment
treatment, and some point to the UC as the responsible party.
Some also believe the UC should not be involved with a lab that
conducts classified research and nuclear weapons development, as
Los Alamos does.
“By facilitating the development of nuclear weapons, our
university is violating its own mission statement,” said Josh
Kearns, a graduate student at UC Berkeley who came to speak at the
meeting. “It damages our university’s reputation and
prestige.”
But while the decision to manage the Berkeley Lab may be a
factor in the decision regarding Los Alamos, it does not
necessarily indicate if the regents will decide to bid for it.
One factor concerning management of Los Alamos is the benefit of
having all the labs under the same management, which allows for
better communication and cooperation.
“The collaboration that … exists among the labs is an
important element and certainly will be part of the
consideration,” said Regent Chairman Gerald Parsky.
“We are going to view each one of these contracts one at a
time,” he added.
The UC will do something else this year that it has not done in
quite a long time ““ open a new campus. At the meeting, the
regents finalized the fees for UC Merced, which is set to open to
1,000 students in fall 2005.
The regents ended their meeting by saying goodbye to two of
their colleagues: Velma Montoya and Ward Connerly, the
controversial figure who spearheaded the campaign to end the use of
affirmative action in the UC and state.
Montoya leaves after 11 years, as opposed to the usual term of
12 years, having replaced another regent part-way into his term in
1994.
“I consider her to be the fairy godmother of the
UC,” Regent Odessa Johnson said.
Both regents received a standing ovation from their peers and
the audience.