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University of California Berkeley
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UC Berkley's Instagram post claiming xenophobia is a common reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.
UC Berkley's Instagram post claiming xenophobia is a common reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.
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Chinese students wear masks amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Chinese students wear masks amid the coronavirus outbreak.Getty Images
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The University of California at Berkeley has been slammed for calling anti-Chinese xenophobia a “normal reaction” to the outbreak of the coronavirus, according to a report.

In a now-deleted infographic posted on Instagram, the university’s health services described “common reactions” to the rapidly spreading virus, which as of Friday had killed at least 213 people and infected about 9,700.

Among the reactions, the post cited anxiety, helplessness, panic, social withdrawal, difficulty concentrating and hyper health vigilance — but the last item on the list drew widespread rebuke.

“Xenophobia: fears about interacting with those who might be from Asia and guilty about these feelings,” the post read, according to CBS News.

People called out UC Berkeley for appearing to accept racism as a reaction to the new virus.

“Confused and honestly very angry about this Instagram post from an official UC Berkeley Instagram account,” alumna Adrienne Shih said on Twitter. “When is xenophobia ever a ‘normal reaction?'”

She added: “I’m a proud UC Berkeley alum but this makes me so angry and ashamed.”

Twitter user Dustin R. Glasner said, “…as a proud Cal alum (PhD Infectious Diseases ’18) and Asian-American, this is really, truly unacceptable. Stop normalizing racism. It is not normal, and racist reactions to the current coronavirus outbreak are NOT OKAY.”

The university — whose freshman class in fall 2019 was about 43 percent Asian — later issued an apology.

“We apologize for our recent post on managing anxiety around Coronavirus,” the health center said in a tweet. “We regret any misunderstanding it may have caused and have updated the language in our materials.”

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