Higher ed joke? New College trustee Christopher Rufo nominated for UC Berkeley chancellor

Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist and New College of Florida trustee, was nominated as a candidate to be the chancellor of the University of California Berkeley, according to a social media post by Rufo.

The trustee posted to Twitter, now known as X, a screenshot of an email from WittKieffer, a recruiting firm, notifying him of his nomination. Rufo has made headlines for pressing misdemeanor battery charges against a New College student and pushing for the abolishment of gender studies at the school. He was one of the trustees appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January 2023 tasked with transforming New College into a more conservative liberal arts institution.

"I have affirmed my interest in the position and, if selected, pledge to implement much-needed reforms," Rufo wrote on X.

Chancellors at the UC campuses act as pseudo-presidents, leading with relative autonomy but answering to the overall president of UC Michael Drake. The current chancellor of UC Berkeley is Carol Christ, who in June announced her intent to retire at the end of the 2023-24 academic year.

Rufo had not responded to a request for comment as of Tuesday afternoon. On X, he indicated his nomination might be a joke played by a disgruntled UC Berkeley employee. He's been critical of the university on social media, specifically of UC Berkeley's diversity, equity and inclusion programs and leadership.

"Whoever nominated me has an amazing sense of humor," he wrote. "Just imagine the application process, especially the moment when they check my DEI credentials."

The Washington state-based conservative activist has been a vocal diversity, equity and inclusion policy opponent and has been an outspoken voice against critical race theory in academia. When arriving at New College, he pushed for and voted in favor of abolishing the school's Office of Diversity and Inclusive Excellence.

"(The office) treats people differently on the basis of their skin color," Rufo said at the time.

Rufo also poked fun at gender identity, adding that he would be "identifying as a genderfluid pansexual Italianx for the remainder of this process." Gender fluidity refers to someone's non-fixed gender identity, pansexuality means being attracted to anyone regardless of gender identity, and Italianx is a play on Latinx, a gender-neutral reference to people of Latin American descent.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: New College of Florida trustee Rufo nominated to be UC Berkeley leader