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First of all, it matters that Robert Berdahl is a white male. This isn't going to make his job any easier 95 percent of the time. Try sending him to calm pro-preferences protesters perched atop the campanile or occupying the Golden Bear Center.

Second, it matters even more that he's known as warm, gentle, even conciliatory. This doesn't mean weak, or that he'll be a pushover for the regents or the UCOP bureaucrats in Oakland -- remember, he is eager to seize the freedom he was denied in large pa rt at UT Austin, to make UC Berkeley a true flagship, a trailblazer for other campuses. He will lead.

To what ends?

• If his dealings with student body president Jeff Tsai on the Austin campus are any indication, Berdahl could bring out-of-court closure to the ASUC Store dispute. If anyone can strike a deal with President Grant Harris and his firebrand rebel force, it's Chancellor Bob.
• Of course, it'll help Berdahl that, under the affirmative action repeal, UC Berkeley will start looking racially more and more like UT Austin as time goes on. But you can count on him to amplify Tien's outreach efforts and campus admissions reforms, d issipating some of his initial momentum.
• Count on him to support the alternative academic calendar gaining support in the academic senate, which shortens the number of school days before winter break.
• Count on more schmoozing and general hanging out with students, but at a lower pitch than Tien. Lt. Gov. Gray Davis has said that walking with Chang-Lin around campus was like walking with a rock-star. Walking around with German scholar Berdahl will b e more akin to strolling with Helmut Kohl.
• If the start of Tien's term was any indication (gunpoint hostage situation at Henry's, Rosebud machete attack on the chancellor's home followed by riots), expect six months of general mayhem starting July 1.
• Look for a revolutionary proposal to link computer science research and teaching much more closely with industry (an acknowledgement that campus research efforts will have direct commercial implications and that the university should make some money o ff of them). (Longshot.)

First of all, since when did RHA have so much pull? Atkinson is next to impossible to book. And these guys were granted access to VP Al Gore's Clark Kerr town-small meeting, right alongside ASUC senators. Sure, President Mel Ochoa craves political ascendancy as much as the next guy (Sharon Yuan, Sanjeev Bery), but this is ridiculous.

And a rare opportunity. Grill Atkinson at 6:30 p.m. in the Eshleman Hall senate chambers.