Since Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, education officials have announced investigations into dozens of colleges and universities, including Stanford, UCLA and UC San Diego. The department investigates allegations of discrimination based on ethnicity or shared ancestry at schools under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It was unclear what prompted Berkeley to be added last week to the department’s probe into campus discrimination. The agency did not respond to requests for comment.
The Times of Israel reported that the investigation stemmed from a Feb. 26 “anti-Israel” campus protest that “forced the cancellation” of a planned lecture by Israeli attorney and former Israeli Defense Force member Ran Bar-Yoshafat.
UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Ben Hermalin did not address the protests but said in a March 4 statement that campus groups “have the right to host events and speakers regardless of content. We will do what we can to fiercely protect this right.”
“We also want to clarify that protesting an event due to its political nature does not make the protest activity inherently antisemitic or Islamophobic,” Hermalin said.
A Jewish student group said it planned to protest the university’s response at noon Monday. In a statement announcing the protest, Hannah Schlacter, a student at Haas School of Business, said the administration has failed to adequately protect Jewish students “even in the midst of a hate crime investigation, a Title VI investigation, and a university-led investigation.” ...
Full story at https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/uc-berkeley-investigation-18804260.php.
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