International Courant
Jewish teams are suing the College of California Regents, President Michael Drake and different college officers for what they assert is the “longstanding, unchecked unfold of anti-Semitism” on UC Berkeley’s campus.
In a 36-page criticism filed Tuesday, the Brandeis Middle and the Jewish Individuals for Equity in Schooling (JAFE) allege “inaction” by UC Berkeley and Berkeley Legislation has allowed antisemitism to develop on campus. The teams say because the Oct. 7 terrorist assault on Israel, antisemitism on campus “has erupted in on-campus shows of hatred, harassment, and bodily violence in opposition to Jews.”
The teams argue courts should now intervene to guard the civil rights of Jewish college students and college and finish “anti-Semitic discrimination and harassment.”
College of California officers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
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Potential college students tour the College of California, Berkeley, campus earlier than the start of a brand new semester in Berkeley, California, June 8, 2023. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Picture)
The lawsuit factors to a number of examples of Jewish college students being harassed by pro-Palestinian protesters at UC Berkeley. Throughout one rally, a Jewish undergrad draped in an Israeli flag was allegedly assaulted by two protesters “who struck him within the head with a metallic water bottle,” the Brandeis Middle mentioned in a information launch.
The group additionally cited examples of pro-Palestinian rallies that honored Hamas terrorists who brutally massacred greater than 1,200 Israelis Oct. 7 as “martyrs” and featured chants resembling “intifada” and “from the river to the ocean, Palestine will probably be free,” that are seen as requires the elimination of Israel.
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However the focus of the criticism is a 2022 pledge by 23 pupil organizations to boycott pro-Israel audio system due to their “assist of Zionism” and “the apartheid state of Israel.” The Brandeis Middle argues the ban violates federal legislation and college insurance policies by denying Jewish legislation college students networking alternatives afforded to different teams and discriminates in opposition to them in different methods.
“The antisemitism Berkeley’s Jewish college students discover themselves embroiled in in the present day didn’t begin on Oct. 7,” mentioned Kenneth L. Marcus, former U.S. assistant secretary of schooling for the Bush and Trump administrations. He is the founder and chairman of the Brandeis Middle and a graduate of UC Berkeley’s legislation college.
“It’s a direct results of Berkeley’s management repeatedly turning a blind eye to unfettered Jew hatred.”
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Michael Drake, president of the College of California, Irvine, speaks with the media alongside NCAA President Mark Emmert (not pictured) throughout a press convention at AT&T Stadium April 6, 2014, in Arlington, Texas. (Jamie Squire/Getty Pictures)
“The varsity is fast to handle different varieties of hatred, however why not antisemitism?” he continued. “Berkeley, as soon as a beacon of free speech, civil rights and equal therapy of individuals no matter race, faith, ethnicity, nationwide origin, gender and sexual desire, is heading down a really completely different and harmful path from the one I proudly attended as a Jewish legislation pupil.”
The Jewish teams are asking a courtroom to require the College of California sytem to implement its insurance policies and prohibit discrimination in opposition to Jewish college students, college and invited audio system. They reject arguments voiced by college leaders that punishing anti-Israel speech and actions could be “viewpoint discrimination,” arguing that “Zionist” audio system are being excluded “due to who they’re,” not what they are saying.
A UC Berkeley class affords additional credit score to attend a pro-Palestinian protest. (Circle: Vincent Ricci/SOPA Pictures/LightRocket through Getty Pictures; Fundamental: Smith Assortment/Gado/Getty Pictures)
“Making Jews resign that core part of their identification to take part in a pupil group isn’t any completely different than asking members of the LGBTQ group to stay ‘within the closet’ as the price of membership — a value that’s not imposed on different college students who’re free to take part totally in these organizations with out disavowing or hiding their identities,” mentioned Rachel Lerman, vice chair and basic counsel on the Brandeis Middle and likewise a graduate of UC Berkeley Legislation Faculty.
The lawsuit comes throughout a wave of antisemitism on faculty campuses following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Excessive-profile incidents of discrimination in opposition to Jews and violent speech by pro-Palestinian activists have led the Biden administration to research alleged civil rights violations on the nation’s prime faculties.
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The U.S. Division of Schooling’s Workplace for Civil Rights (OCR) is opening an investigation into Harvard College, for instance, to probe whether or not Harvard “failed to reply to alleged harassment of scholars based mostly on their nationwide origin (shared Jewish ancestry and/or Israeli) in a fashion in line with the necessities of Title VI,” in accordance with a letter from the OCR Boston Workplace dated Tuesday.
The investigation got here in response to a criticism a couple of first-year Israeli pupil at Harvard Enterprise Faculty who was reportedly shoved and accosted by pro-Palestinian protesters throughout a “die in” demonstration in October on the Massachusetts campus to protest Israel’s retaliatory strikes in opposition to the Gaza Strip.
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The investigation was revealed the identical day it was introduced faculty presidents from Harvard, MIT and the College of Pennsylvania will testify on Capitol Hill about rampant antisemitism on their campuses that adopted Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror assaults.
The Division of Schooling reached a settlement with the College of Vermont in April over a criticism introduced by the Brandeis Middle that the varsity failed to reply adequately to antisemitic harassment of Jewish college students. The division is investigating 4 different Brandeis Middle complaints at SUNY New Paltz, the College of Southern California (USC), Brooklyn Faculty and the College of Illinois, the group mentioned.
The criticism was filed within the U. S. District Courtroom for the Northern District of California.
Fox Information Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Chris Pandolfo is a author for Fox Information Digital. Ship tricks to [email protected] and comply with him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
Jewish teams sue College of California for ‘longstanding, unchecked unfold of anti-Semitism’ at Berkeley
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