UC Berkeley on Thursday said it will revise its campus non-discrimination policies, ban student union rules from banning Zionist speakers and pay $1 million in legal fees to settle a lawsuit by two Jewish groups over alleged anti-Semitic incidents following protests in response to the 2023 Hamas-Israel war.
In addition, UC Berkeley said it will revise its nondiscrimination webpage to clarify that it considers the definition of nondiscrimination promoted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance when reviewing complaints of discrimination.
That definition is “antisemitism is a specific Jewish opinion, which can be expressed as hatred of Jews.” Consistent and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism directed at Jewish or non-Jewish people and/or their property, Jewish public institutions and religious institutions.”
The IHRA has faced criticism for the ways it describes examples of anti-Semitism, including “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, such as implying that the existence of the state of Israel is an attempt at apartheid.” That precedent has been criticized by pro-Palestinian and human rights groups who accuse Israel of giving Palestinians who work and live within its borders and in Gaza and the West Bank unequal rights compared to Israeli Jews.
UC Berkeley considered the definition of IHRA as of 2024, based on Department of Education guidelines. What’s new is that the campus has agreed to look at the explanation on the Office of Harassment and Discrimination Prevention’s webpage.
The agreement is the latest among UC campuses to settle lawsuits and civil rights complaints stemming from controversial Palestinian-Israeli protests that culminated in 2024 with pro-Palestinian protests across nine undergraduate campuses and a violent attack against pro-Palestinian activists in April of that year at UCLA.
The incidents at UC Berkeley and UCLA have been key elements in Trump’s impeachment inquiry, including a lawsuit the federal government filed against UCLA last month alleging discrimination against Jewish and Israeli workers.
In a statement, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the renovation builds on work that has already begun.
“It reflects UC Berkeley’s long-standing values and goals when it comes to combating hate speech, harassment, and discrimination when it occurs on the Berkeley campus,” Mogulof said.
“Since the lawsuit was filed in 2023, the university has taken significant steps to build on existing policies, programs and practices that address anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism, and to support the quality of Jewish life on campus, which the Anti-Defamation League describes as ‘excellent’ in its latest ‘Campus Antisemitism Report Card.’
Ken Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center, which filed the lawsuit, said in a statement that the agreement was about “free speech and fairness.”
The case included numerous complaints of discrimination against members of the Jewish community involving the law school, where student groups had passed bylaws barring the invitation of campus speakers who were Zionists and supporters of Israel.
“What started as a ban on the voices of Zionist Jews, regardless of what topics they wished to talk about, and was put into a hostile environment will no longer be tolerated,” Marcus said.
“What happened in Berkeley is a cautionary tale. Universities, unions, organizations, and political parties cannot create an anti-Zionist exception to their code of conduct,” he said. “They cannot silence American Jews by making excuses to advance their political agendas. As we have now seen time and time again, if antisemitic prejudice is not addressed, whether it is disguised as anti-Zionism, it continues to grow.”
The agreement now prohibits such bylaws.
In a message sent to the law school Thursday, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky said students may “choose speakers based on their opinions” but will not have bylaws banning certain types of speakers.
“Under the settlement, student organizations may continue to have policies on who to invite as speakers, including on the basis of opinion,” Chemerinsky said.
“However, under this agreement, the bylaws of the student association cannot state the principle of who may speak at the association’s events,” he said.
The settlement also includes a commitment from Berkeley to adopt mandatory anti-racism and anti-Semitism training for staff and faculty and strengthen its process for handling discrimination complaints.
In December, UC Berkeley also agreed to pay an Israeli sociologist and dance researcher $60,000 for an incident in the fall of 2023 in which the instructor said he was not invited back to teach the course despite the success of the class.
The Brandeis Center represented the woman when she sued in state court, alleging that she was rejected because of her Israeli citizenship.
