After months of pressure from the Trump administration, UC Berkeley has handed the feds a list of 160 students and faculty accused of “anti-semitism,” with no detail on what merits this allegation, and it’s probably just protests over the war in Gaza.
It’s been about six months since the University of California and UCLA have started getting harassed by the Trump administration for supposedly fostering and "antisemitic hostile work environment" for Jewish staff and students, as part of the administration’s broader attack on higher education. And we are now learning that UC Berkeley folded like a lawn chair, with the Chronicle reporting that the school has handed the feds a list of 160 students, faculty and staff who allegedly had a “potential connection to reports of alleged antisemitism.”
The charges against these people are not detailed in any way, but the 160 people in question have been informed by the university that they’re the ones who have been put on notice.
This is arguably more a capitulation by the larger UC system, not UC Berkeley itself, as the Chronicle reports the names were “shared at the direction of the University of California’s Office of the President.” But the university still complied. And the reason is obviously money. Trump has suspended about $500 million in grant money to the UC system, as the Chron explains, and is demanding a $1 billion settlement payment to get it back.
And the UC system apparently thinks it can negotiate with this guy. Good luck going down that road.
The Daily Cal has a screenshot of the email sent to the 160 accused people in their report. “Last spring, the OCR [Office of Civil Rights] initiated investigations regarding allegations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination at UC Berkeley," the email from UC brass said. "As part of its investigation, OCR required production of comprehensive documents, including files and reports related to alleged antisemitic incidents."
“This notice is to inform you that, as required by law, and as per directions provided by the UC systemwide Office of General Counsel (OCG), you name was included in reports," it adds.
The list was apparently already handed over on August 18. And obviously, the people on the list are confused and perhaps a little terrified.
“None of us have been told what the substance of the accusation is, and there is no indication that we can discover the details of the accusation,” UC Berkeley philosophy professor and famed gender studies scholar Judith Butler told the Chronicle.
Butler says this list reeks of the McCarthy Era naming of names, and the implications are potentially wide-ranging.
She added in a letter to a campus attorney, “None of us were given the chance to know or rebut the allegation. We are due the equivalent of protections offered by the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution, namely the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against a person charged with wrongdoing.”
One would guess that many of these allegations have something to do with participating in, or sympathizing with, the pro-Palestinian protests of 2024. And ironically, US public support is largely on the side of Palestinians in that whole debate.
The list is not public, and we hope it never will be. But you have to wonder how many Jewish people were included on this list of allegedly “anti-semitic” people.
Related: UC Berkeley and UCLA Both Face Trump Wrath Over Student Protests, Accused of Antisemitism [SFist]
Image: Campanile and other adjacent building on UC Berkeley, aka Cal, campus
