UC Berkeley's blind eye toward student groups' anti-Zionist exclusion challenged in lawsuit
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The College Fix summarizes an ongoing lawsuit that challenges Cal student orgs' ability to prohibit guest speakers simply because they affirm Israel's right to exist. Since it was filed in November, law experts have disagreed whether the First Amendment allows university groups to screen out most Jewish speakers for, essentially, being Jewish. College Fix's synopsis (ft. comments from Berkeley & plaintiff's counsel) below.
The lawsuit, filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, says the campus “has erupted in on-campus displays of hatred, harassment, and physical violence against Jews,” since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
“Court intervention is now needed to protect students and faculty and to end this anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment, which violates University policy, federal civil rights laws, and the U.S. Constitution,” the lawsuit stated.
The university has requested more time to file its response and has not submitted a response as of Jan. 24.
Instances of antisemitism perpetrated on the campus by students include physically assaulting an undergraduate Jewish student at a Hamas celebration rally, “disrupting” a prayer group of Jewish students, and pro-Palestinian events that make Jewish students feel threatened, according to the lawsuit.
“Jewish students have reported being afraid to go to class, which would require them to pass through the pro-Hamas rallies taking place in Berkeley’s main thoroughfare,” the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit also lists a policy, adopted by some student organizations, to not host speakers that support Zionism, or the idea of a Jewish political state.
The College Fix asked the Brandeis Center how it would respond to the argument that student organizations should be free to invite speakers whom they want.
“The groups are not banning persons based on what they plan to speak about, or their political opinions,” L. Rachel Lerman, the group’s vice chair and general counsel, told The Fix via email. “The ‘Zionists’ are not banned because they will be speaking about Israel or Palestine. They could be speaking on anything at all, but they are banned from these groups because they are ‘Zionists’–persons who believe that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish State.”
Zionism is linked directly to Jewish identity, Lerman said. “The groups are thus banning persons based on their Jewish identity,” she told The Fix.
Lerman said her group has had victories in the past.
“Our filings with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in the Department of Education have led to investigations of the schools in question, and to settlements between the schools and OCR that require schools to take affirmative steps to correct anti-Semitism on their campuses,” Lerman said. “We have also had success in court.”
UC Berkeley told The Fix it condemns antisemitism and has implemented the suggestions demanded by the lawsuit. “Ironically, all of those proposed ‘remedies’ are already in place, and closely adhered to, on the campus,” the spokesman said.
The university also noted it cannot stop anti-Israel gatherings without violating the law.
This article originally appeared in the College Fix. Read the whole thing here.
Related:
UC Berkeley slammed in lawsuit alleging “longstanding, unchecked spread of antisemitism”
Opinion: UC Berkeley student groups’ new bylaws reveal Left’s antisemitism
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