Selected Statements

On UCLA’s 100th NCAA Championship

May 2007

“Congratulations to our women’s water polo team for winning UCLA’s 100th NCAA title! We are proud of them and of this history-making achievement as UCLA has become the first university to reach this milestone. This is a monumental accomplishment, confirming once again the championship quality of the Bruin family.”

On the UCLA Black Alumni Association

February 2007

“. . . I shall be attending and helping to celebrate the UCLA Black Alumni Association’s 38th Annual UBAA Achievement Awards and Scholarship Benefit Dinner honoring Coach John Wooden, Reggie Miller and others. It is in moments like these that we can all appreciate the importance of diversity, and the ways in which UCLA plays a role in educating leaders from all segments of society. I have been so pleased at the ways in which students, our alumni and volunteer leaders have committed to helping to address our admissions crisis. At times like these, it’s important to pause and reflect on those on whose shoulders we stand, and the ways in which we can work together to celebrate and promote the values that make our institution great.”

On Animal Research Legislation

December 2006

“I am delighted to report that the U.S. House of Representatives has joined the Senate in approving the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act—legislation that makes it a serious federal crime to engage in violence and intimidation directed at researchers whose work involves animals. President Bush is expected to sign the measure into law. We are deeply grateful to California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who co-sponsored this legislation and worked tirelessly to ensure its passage.

“UCLA of course encourages free speech, but violence and intimidation is not protected by the First Amendment. We strongly believe that animal research is vital to the quest to advance knowledge and to prevent or cure many diseases, thereby improving human health and quality of life.”