The Jewish groups demand that the University of California system enforce its anti-discrimination policies and protect Jewish students, faculty, and speakers.
The Jewish groups demand that the University of California system enforce its anti-discrimination policies and protect Jewish students, faculty, and speakers.
Jewish groups have filed a lawsuit against officials of the University of California, including its regents and President Michael Drake. The complainants pointed to the supposed spread of anti-Semitism at UC Berkeley.
The 36-page complaint, initiated by the Brandeis Center and the Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (JAFE), accuses the university and Berkeley Law of inaction, leading to an escalation of anti-Semitic incidents since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel.
The lawsuit highlights several incidents where Jewish students were purportedly harassed by pro-Palestinian protesters, including an alleged assault on a Jewish student by protesters during a rally. It also points to pro-Palestinian events that celebrated Hamas terrorists and featured chants interpreted as calling for the elimination of Israel.
Central to the complaint is the 2022 pledge by 23 student organizations to boycott pro-Israel speakers, which the Brandeis Center argues is discriminatory against Jewish students, violating federal law and university policies. This action denies Jewish law students equal networking opportunities and discriminates against them, the complaint asserts.
Kenneth L. Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center and a University of California Berkeley law school graduate, criticized the university’s leadership for ignoring anti-Semitism. He contrasts the university’s prompt response to other forms of hatred with its neglect of anti-Semitic incidents, suggesting that UC Berkeley is straying from its principles of free speech and equal treatment.
“The anti-Semitism Berkeley’s Jewish students find themselves embroiled in today did not start on Oct. 7. It is a direct result of Berkeley’s leadership repeatedly turning a blind eye to unfettered Jew hatred,” Marcus said.
“The school is quick to address other types of hatred, but why not anti-Semitism?” he continued. “Berkeley, once a beacon of free speech, civil rights and equal treatment of persons regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender and sexual preference, is heading down a very different and dangerous path from the one I proudly attended as a Jewish law student.”
The Jewish groups demand that the University of California system enforce its anti-discrimination policies and protect Jewish students, faculty, and speakers. They challenge the university’s position that penalizing anti-Israel speech would be viewpoint discrimination, arguing that Zionist speakers are excluded based on their identity.
Rachel Lerman, vice chair and general counsel at the Brandeis Center, compares the exclusion of Zionist speakers to asking members of the LGBTQ community to hide their identities, emphasizing the unfairness of such discrimination.
“Making Jews renounce that core component of their identity to participate in a student organization is no different than asking members of the LGBTQ community to remain ‘in the closet’ as the cost of membership—a cost that is not imposed on other students who are free to participate fully in those organizations without disavowing or hiding their identities,” Lerman said.
This lawsuit is part of a broader context of rising anti-Semitism on college campuses, particularly following the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating several universities, including Harvard, for potential civil rights violations against Jewish students. This investigation was prompted by incidents such as the reported harassment of an Israeli student at Harvard Business School.
The University of Vermont, meanwhile, recently settled a complaint with the Department of Education, brought by the Brandeis Center, over its supposedly inadequate response to anti-Semitic harassment. The department is also investigating other universities for similar complaints.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, represents a significant moment in the ongoing struggle against anti-Semitism in educational institutions and the broader challenge of balancing free speech with the protection of civil rights.
