<p>I almost laughed outloud at the idea of UCBerkeley as a National University. Berkeley is strongly influenced by and influences the local culture that surrounds it – it is <em>very</em> “Californian”, for the value of California that is largely coast-hugging liberal/democratic leaning. Such a university could not really be said to represent US “national values” in many ways, and includes many groups, practices, and ideas that have historically offended many Americans. Think for example of the free speech movement during the '60’s and how shocking that was to much of middle America. The idea that it could in some how be molded into a school that champions the values of the government seems almost hilariously inappropriate – it’s about as far away from that as any big university in the US could be. :-)</p>