[kcvl]

June 23, 2001

Mary Frances Berry
Chairwoman

She's feisty, aggressive, and hated by conservatives, but Mary Frances Berry, President Clinton's appointed chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is not in danger of being ousted by President Bush -- at least not this year. Currently, the commission, an independent agency that investigates allegations of illegal discrimination, is comprised of six Democratic appointees and two Republican appointees. The new President is not likely to have the chairman of his choice ratified by the commission until after he replaces the two Democrats whose terms expire at the end of the year. In the meantime, the 63-year-old Berry is continuing to oversee controversial investigations that are likely to push Bush's buttons. After a six-month inquiry, the commission released a report lambasting the way his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush, handled voting problems in Florida during the November 2000 election. The commission is embarking on a study of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decisions involving civil rights. At the same time, Berry is also a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania. A Nashville native, Berry earned her bachelor's and master's degrees at Howard University, a doctorate in history from the University of Michigan, and a law degree from the University of Michigan. Berry has held academic posts at the University of Maryland (College Park) and the University of Colorado (Boulder), and she served as assistant secretary for education in what was then the Health, Education and Welfare Department. Even if she has to step down as commission chairwoman, Berry can remain on the commission as a commissioner until 2004.

[lavaroise]

Even if she has to step down as commission chairwoman, Berry can remain on the commission as a commissioner until 2004.

So she is threatening not to step down in 2004? Who cares? I guess she hedges her bets and is making a provocation to try to trap Bush.

[Howlin]

You're absolutely one of the best researchers on this board. There's another one due to leave this month. I see his plan; and I see why she's fighting tooth and nail to hang on to Victoria Wilson, who works for the company that will be publishing Bill's book.

[Paul Ross]

On paper, Berry's credentials appear impressive. But in both the cases of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan Law School you have what we in Minnesota would call, "The Heart of the Mystery" where PC runs absolutely unchecked and overrules ALL other considerations, such as actual merit, performance, and integrity.

Berry's academic papers, if reviewed, I suspect, would undoubtedly betray the same sorry mental aberrations and debilitations we have witnessed down in her Florida Circus hearings. If this is so, then at least I cannot countenance any of the higher degrees being granted to this woman, as being legitimate...and casts a huge cloud over their other degress issued in the last decades. These affirmative-action-warped academic departments have completely destroyed their credibility by socially-promoting this demonstrably unfit 'scholar.' Her degrees should be rescinded. There is precedent.