At a town hall Tuesday night in Banatao Auditorium, UC Berkeley Chancellor Rich Lyons answered students\u2019 questions on issues ranging from accountability and AI to free speech and Israel.<\/p>\n
About 70 people attended the town hall, organized by The Berkeley Forum. The conversation, moderated by UC Berkeley student Josie McCartney, featured both questions posed by The Berkeley Forum and submitted by students in advance.<\/p>\n
Regarding accountability, Lyons highlighted students\u2019 right to access his communications through the Public Records Act. However, he also stressed that decisions are often made with information that cannot be shared with the campus community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had the information I had, you might not agree with it, but you might understand it a little bit better. But there\u2019s certain things I just can’t share with you, because they are confidential,\u201d Lyons said.<\/p>\n
He addressed a question regarding how UC Berkeley will respond to pressure from the Trump administration by pointing to legal support being provided for a student detained<\/a> by ICE last week. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent an awful lot of time trying to support her,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n When asked about AI\u2019s role in UC Berkeley\u2019s future, Lyons spoke about the risks of the technology causing cognitive surrender but also its potential as a tool to produce stronger critical thinking.<\/p>\n He gave an example where he suggested students speak with AI agents trained on historic thinkers, which he said could \u201cadvance people\u2019s ability to ask stronger questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Answering a question about campus\u2019s free speech rules, Lyons said the campus is committed to neutrality about enforcing time, place and manner rules, and encourages free speech. However, he said there is \u201cno right to disrupt the free speech of others,\u201d calling the blocking of entrances or preventing others from speaking \u201cinimical to free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n He said campus often defends the rights of speakers who have come at the invitation of registered student organizations in the past. He said campus\u2019s efforts to defend visitors\u2019 free speech are \u201cso little recognized on campus\u201d by students.<\/p>\n Speaking on a student\u2019s question about Greek life on campus, Lyons acknowledged the \u201chorrific events\u201d at Cornell University that may have prompted the question, alluding to the recent allegations of gang rape at a fraternity at the university in Ithaca, New York.<\/p>\n He told the audience there currently are 14 Greek organizations at UC Berkeley that are no longer officially recognized due to various conduct violations.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we do police (Greek life),\u201d Lyons said. \u201cDo we police it enough? I guess people could debate, but most don\u2019t realize that we actually do this with some frequency. And it\u2019s quite significant when you\u2019re taken off the rolls.\u201d<\/p>\n McCartney said the website lead.berkeley.edu<\/a> lists seven active fraternities as not having completed their annual sexual violence and sexual harassment training. Lyons promised he would look into the issue.<\/p>\n McCartney also asked about the April ASUC referendum calling for UC Berkeley\u2019s divestment<\/a> from companies producing military weapons and Berkeley\u2019s new research partnership<\/a> with Israel. Referring to how nearly 75% of voters approved the divestment referendum, McCartney asked, \u201cHow do you square current campus values with the formation of this new partnership?\u201d<\/p>\n Lyons said global research and divestment were \u201cdistinct\u201d elements. He said investment and divestment decisions were \u201cnot (his) decision,\u201d pointing out that a UC Berkeley Foundation task force analyzing divestment from weapons manufacturers declined<\/a> to divest in 2024.<\/p>\n Lyons also disagreed with cutting off research interactions with Israel, saying engagement at an academic level \u201cisn\u2019t an endorsement whatsoever of the politics and the political decisions of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n In a response to a question about budget cuts to PATH to Care and the Student Learning Center programs, Lyons pushed back against the characterization of SLC budget changes as cuts, calling it \u201cmisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe SLC budget was $4 million. The SLC asked for, I think, $4.8 million this year. The approved budget was $4.5 million a year. Everybody said, \u2018you cut SLC by $300,000.\u2019 We increased SLC from 4 million \u2026 to 4.5 million,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cSLC\u2019s really important. But it is not correct that SLC\u2019s budget was cut.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Lyons, SLC had its budget increased by more than 10% this year, which was more than most other departments on campus.<\/p>\n