Federal authorities have added UC Berkeley to the growing list of universities across the United States under investigation for alleged discrimination since the start of the divisive war between Israel and Hamas.
The investigation was launched on March 5 after protesters violently shut down an event organized independently by Jewish student groups in February. A Department of Education spokesperson declined to comment further on the investigation.
The federal investigation follows an investigation by university police, which Chancellor Carol Christ announced on March 4. “We intend to obtain a full picture of what happened and hold individuals or groups accountable for violations of the law and/or our policies. ”Christ said.
On February 26, about 200 protesters gathered outside the campus's Zellerbach Theater holding signs that read, “Stop the genocide,” and at times chanting, “Long live the Intifada.” Protesters attacked the event because the speaker was scheduled to be Ran Bar-Yoshafat, an Israeli lawyer and former member of the Israeli military.
UC Berkeley police had to evacuate the event as the protest escalated, with protesters breaking through a door to the building and breaking a window.
The day after the protest, UC Berkeley officials issued a statement expressing dismay at the riot but also speaking of the university's commitment to the First Amendment and free speech principles.
The following week, Christ said the university police department and its anti-harassment office received “reports that two of the Jewish students who organized the event, as well as some of the attendees, were subjected to overtly anti-Semitic expressions.”
Campus police are investigating these two allegations, which also included allegations of assault, as hate crimes, he said. “They are also investigating other reports of unlawful conduct, including an additional allegation of physical assault of a student. To date, a criminal suspect for invasion of private property has been identified.”
The university is conducting interviews and reviewing video evidence.
It is also reevaluating and modifying its security preparations in light of current tensions over “issues that connect to the identities of many people in our campus communities,” Christ said.
In his March 4 statement, Christ condemned the protest and said that what occurred on February 26 was not what university officials had in mind when they expressed support for nonviolent political protest consistent with First Nations rights. Amendment.
“Nor can we turn a blind eye to the hatred and stereotypes that are at the heart of all forms of prejudice and discrimination,” he said. “While hate speech may be protected by the Constitution, we still have a responsibility to respond by working to protect and support targeted communities and marshalling the university's educational resources to confront the ignorance at the heart of prejudice.”
Since Hamas' brutal surprise attack on Israel, the US Department of Education has launched civil rights investigations at several California campuses, including UCLA, UC San Diego, Stanford, San Diego, and Santa Monica College. The department has declined to specify the nature of the complaints; Instead, when it released its list of initial investigations last November, it said the schools were under investigation for alleged “shared ancestry violations” of Title Vl of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. That landmark law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, including harassment based on a person's shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
At the time, the department said the investigations were part of “an aggressive action to address the alarming nationwide increase in reports of anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and other forms of discrimination and harassment.”
UC Berkeley officials are asking anyone with information about the Feb. 26 incident to contact the campus police department at (510) 642-6760.
