Long before J. Christopher Stevens was the U.S. ambassador to Libya, he was hitting the books at Moffitt Library as a UC Berkeley student studying for his Arabic finals.
Stevens, who was killed at the age of 52 after the American consulate in Benghazi was attacked Tuesday night, is remembered by his peers and mentors as a one-of-a-kind student, a dear friend and a 1982 UC Berkeley alumnus.
“He was universally very well-liked, and the work that he ultimately ended up migrating to suited him,” said Steve Tovani. “Being a diplomat, being a peacemaker, even putting himself in the line of danger is not surprising to me.”
Tovani was one pledge class ahead of Stevens at the UC Berkeley campus chapter of Alpha Tau Omega. He met Stevens at the chapter’s house during a rush event in Stevens’ freshman year.
“The day he walked into the house I just knew he was the guy that we wanted in the fraternity,” Tovani said. “He had this very easygoing, kind, gentle manner, and it exuded this kind of friendliness.”
Like many Cal students, Stevens frequented longstanding Berkeley institutions like Top Dog and Kip’s Bar, according to Tovani. He enjoyed playing intramural football, attending home games at Memorial Stadium and going to parties to “hoist a beer once in a while,” Tovani said.
As a history major, Stevens was particularly fascinated with the Middle East and could be heard practicing Arabic at the ATO house. Stevens also expressed a fondness for discussion while conversing with the diverse array of characters on Sproul Plaza, according to Tovani.
“Leaving high school he was all of a sudden immersed in a much bigger pond,” Tovani said. “A lot of his interests, goals, and dreams were sparked by his experiences at Cal.”
After Stevens graduated from UC Berkeley, he spent two years with the Peace Corps teaching English in Morocco, according to a statement from Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams. The experience allowed him to nourish a passion for foreign service before working toward a law degree at UC Hastings College of the Law.
UC Hastings professor David Levine taught one of Stevens’ first classes at law school and was impressed by his dedication and perseverance.
“Some people catch your eye, and Chris was one of those people,” Levine said. “He knew what he was doing, he was interested in foreign service and he had a deep interest in the Middle East.”
After Stevens began his career with the Foreign Service in 1991, he worked in Israel, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Libya, according to his U.S. Department of State biography.
“We were especially thrilled when Ambassador Stevens was named to his post, since he had a longstanding reputation as someone who had local knowledge of Libya, and understood — indeed cared deeply for — Libyan culture, politics and aspirations,” said Emily Gottreich, UC Berkeley professor and president of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies.
Levine said that while he is saddened by the sudden death of Stevens, he admires his commitment to serving the public.
“He earned a public education from Berkeley and Hastings before immediately applying his knowledge to public service,” Levine said. “This is what the University of California is all about.”
Justin Abraham covers academics and administration. Contact him at [email protected].
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More Muslim barbarism:
AN IRANIAN foundation has reportedly increased a bounty for the death of Salman Rushdie, saying that if the British writer had previously been killed for blasphemy an anti-Islam film currently enraging Muslims would never have been made.Iranian media quoted Hassan Sane’i, a cleric heading the 15 of Khordad Foundation, as saying in a statement that he was “adding another $US500,000 ($474,000) to the reward for killing Rushdie.”With the increase, the foundation was now offering $US3.3 million for the death of Rushdie, who since 1989 has been the target of a Iranian fatwa calling for his murder for allegedly blaspheming Islam and its Prophet Mohammed in his book “The Satanic Verses.”The foundation’s statement was quoted saying that, unless Rushdie were killed, “the movie offending the prophet will not be the last contemptuous attempt.”It added that “these days are the most appropriate time to carry it (Rushdie’s murder) out.”
Keep in mind that culture plays a big role in how people express themselves. We see injustice, intolerance, and indiscriminate horror, but do not be the person who believes 100% of the Muslim-practicing people are like this. Can I remind you of Birmingham? Look in the Bible and find a passage that enables your own horror–that’s what Islamic extremists play off of in the Koran/Quran. How do we view injustice, intolerance, and discrimination? America made incredible progress since then and began a long-standing mission to bring peace and our best practices to the nations of the world.
Let’s pay homage to a hero.
I agree that we should pay homage to Stevens, who is indeed a hero. But unlike the rednecks of the South, there are millions and millions of Muslims who believe that the infidel should suffer the consequences of “blasphemy” with murder. And there are also millions of Islamofacists who have called for genocide vs Jews. Indeed, its openly advocated by the leaders of the two Palestinian camps…
Tragically, Islamofascists will take innocent lives because they are utterly intolerant of anyone or anything they perceive as being insulting, be it a cartoon, a film, or simply words. And in vicious reaction, they regularly respond with untoward violence. We have seen it over the past few days amongst the Palestinians of Gaza-no surprise there-they openly advocate genocide, the Libyans, the Sudanese, the Moroccans, the Tunisians, the people of Yemen, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Qatar, etc., etc.
In sum, far too many Muslims have amply demonstrated that they can’t control their emotions w/o violence and there are too many such incidents for their defenders to call these simply aberrant behavior of “a few.” The reality is that the violence we regularly see appears to stem from Islam itself and it’s more than high time that Muslims here and abroad speak out in far greater measure against what it is in their religion that precipitates such savagery, lest people come to believe that they too harbor such sickening sentiments.
BTW, this includes campus organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Union.
Such a damn waste. It breaks my heart that the world would repay this man’s generosity with such brutality.
Welcome to the real world, where actions have consequences. The goo-goo liberals may never figure it out, but policies based on naivete and misguided idealism get people killed.
Conservatives are mostly to blame for turning the world in their personal shithole.
Liberals always win in the end anyways.
“Conservatives are mostly to blame for turning the world in their personal shithole.”
Please do tell us what a great job your hero Obama is doing with not only the economy, but with relationships in the Middle East.
Obama and Clinton now have more blood on their hands for failing to take appropriate security precautions in this dangerous part in the world.
Obama lives in a fairyland when it comes to the real world. He thinks by being nice, bowing and apologizing will win us friends.