Antisemitism at UC Berkeley — From a Faculty Perspective

Discrimination against Jewish students and hate and harassment directed at them is rife at American universities and has grown dramatically in the last month since the Hamas massacres in pervasiveness and intensity. Intimidation, incitement of bigotry, and exclusion are widespread and profoundly harmful to Jewish students, faculty, and staff.  

As the Dean of Berkeley Law School, Erwin Chemerinsky, recently wrote in The Los Angeles Times, “I call on my fellow university administrators to speak out and denounce the celebrations of Hamas and the blatant antisemitism that is being voiced.”

He noted the massive increase in antisemitism at UC Berkeley in the last few weeks, and how disturbing, harmful and hateful it is and he noted that “There has been enough silence and enough tolerance of antisemitism on college campuses.”

UC Berkeley does not listen to and respect its Jewish faculty despite their pleas for support and solidarity. It is largely silent and complicit.

UC Berkeley, however, does not listen to and respect its Jewish faculty despite their pleas for support and solidarity. It is largely silent and complicit. Mostly, it provides excuses for inaction that are not plausible and that frankly, insult our intelligence – moral, emotional, and analytical. 

Just as Jewish students have reflected in the Jewish Journal on their experiences of harassment and abuse at UC Berkeley and the university’s failure to protect them, as a faculty member, I too share their experience. 

Like the students interviewed in the Jewish Journal I find the administration’s response unethical, callous, indifferent, and endangering my rights and welfare and the rights and welfare of Jewish students. 

It is intolerable personally and professionally. 

The passivity of UC Berkeley’s current leadership in the face of rising antisemitism is increasing the marginalization and distress of our university’s Jewish community, and sustaining and deepening the campus culture that enables abuse, harassment and discrimination against Jewish students and faculty. 

It must stop. 

Like Harvard, Columbia, and University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley has failed its Jewish students but unlike those universities it has not issued a corrective plan of action to repair its systemic exclusion of Jewish students, faculty and staff from adequate civil and human rights protections. Jewish students, faculty and staff have been marginalized, devalued, belittled and dehumanized at UC Berkeley with ferocity because of their Jewish identity. 

As Dean Chemerinsky has noted, Berkeley is not unique in having a campus culture where Jews are routinely vilified. It is distressingly typical of universities across the country, including the UC system and UCLA. 

I write this despite not having the protections of tenure. Many Jewish faculty are in a similar position as I am but, understandably, fear to speak out because of the possibility of retaliation and because after years of speaking out and being met with rejection and indifference, they wonder of its utility.

I never imagined when accepting a job at UC Berkeley that I would fear for my freedom, welfare and safety. 

I never imagined when accepting a job at UC Berkeley that I would fear for my freedom, welfare and safety. That I would need to sometimes hide my identity, downplay, disguise and silence it so as not to be subject to abuse; hate speech, conspiracy theories, demeaning and denigrating comments about my religion, culture, ethnic and racial background, and justification for me and other Jews to be attacked, raped, tortured, and murdered because we are Jews.  

UC Berkeley speaks a lot about championing diversity, equity, equality, inclusion and belonging. But it systematically fails to include Jews in a meaningful way in that purported promise and commitment. It excludes me. Our Jewish faculty, students, and staff are not safe, included, welcomed and respected at UC Berkeley.  

When I taught at George Washington University for two years attacks on Jewish students were growing. Now they have reached a fever pitch there as they have here. There, as at Berkeley, when I reached out to the administration I was either outright ignored or met with indifference. 

My Jewish students and their allies at George Washington University had similar experiences and spoke to me about how the university did not protect them. Now that anti-Jewish racism has been normalized at UC Berkeley and other universities across the country it will be very hard to effectively address the hatred and discrimination universities have enabled to grow and fester for so long. 

The prejudice, discrimination, abuse, and hate against Jewish people are deeply rooted both in American society and specifically, on our college campuses. UC Berkeley had better start rooting them out and create a well-resourced, substantive plan of corrective action in partnership and with the consultation of Jewish students, faculty, and staff to repair a broken campus culture that discriminates against Jews, threatens and marginalizes us.  

Every university within the UC system should take responsibility for ensuring the safety, welfare, equity, equality, and freedom from discrimination and harassment of its Jewish students, faculty, and staff. 

Now.

Noam Schimmel is a Lecturer in International and Area Studies at University of California, Berkeley