The Diffusion of Discrimination at UC Berkeley

Discrimination against Jewish people is often a symptom of a broader social and moral malaise: Violations of human rights and civil rights that start with Jewish people are unlikely to end there.

At UC Berkeley, where the administration has failed to respect, protect and fulfill the civil and human rights of Jewish faculty, staff and students since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacres and well before then, an additional identity group with legally protected status has faced systemic exclusion and discrimination due to the university’s indifference to their rights: Physically and visually impaired students.

For over a month the university has allowed the obstruction of free passage through Sather Gate; approximately 70% of it has been blocked off by protesters of the war in Gaza. This forces anyone needing to pass through Sather Gate to use two narrow side entrances, creating bottlenecks and severely limiting freedom of movement.  

This causes hardship to individuals who use wheelchairs and other ambulatory devices to enable mobility, individuals who are visually impaired, and individuals with other physical disabilities and limitations who require the normally wide space of Sather Gate to move with safety free of obstacles.

Some of these disabilities are not visible and there should be no expectation that students, faculty and staff need to disclose them to the university or others, or to make special requests, for the university to ensure full unimpeded access to Sather Gate. That is their right  – one repeatedly denied over many weeks after UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff  expressed concern about this demeaning discriminatory denial of their freedom of movement.

By allowing  the closure of the main portion of Sather Gate, the university is likely in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and has been for a very extended and inexcusable period of time.

The violation is not an aberration; it is willful and continuous and its consequences are harmful to a large portion of our university community.

Students – such as Daniel Solomon, a legally blind doctoral candidate who contributed recently to the Jewish News of Northern California  – report that the blocking of Sather Gate means disabled students like him “have been forced to traverse through dirt and puddles.” 

As of the beginning of March the university has taken no meaningful action to reopen the gate for full and free access. The university is obstructing the freedom of movement of a protected class — including the legally blind — whose rights it is legally obligated to protect under federal civil rights law.

There is no moral or legal justification for this policy and the university is likely in violation not only of civil rights and human rights law but also of our UC Berkeley Principles of Community. These are principles university leadership repeatedly cite as fundamental to UC Berkeley and incumbent upon all of us –  students, faculty and staff – to honor.

That obligation also includes the university’s administration and leadership.

The right to protest is protected by our Constitution and the university is obligated to respect it. It is well within its power to ensure that protesters have their rights respected without infringing on the rights of others – including particularly the disabled and physically and visually impaired. Protesters can use the space around Sather Gate to protest without blocking Sather Gate.

As discrimination deepens and becomes more diffuse and extensive at UC Berkeley, harming the rights and welfare of increasing numbers of individuals and minority groups who have legally protected status, all UC Berkeley students, faculty, and staff – whatever their identity, background, and physical and visual ability  – suffer from a decline in safety, welfare and confidence in the integrity of the university’s commitment to protect and respect our rights.

The exclusion of valued members of our university community is unacceptable and an affront to our university’s mission, ethics and legal responsibilities.

The visually and mobility-impaired and physically disabled have the right to be treated with equity and equality, dignity and respect at UC Berkeley and to be included and valued as an integral part of our university.

Discrimination at UC Berkeley is not confined to attacks on Jewish people. It is growing, enabled by a university administration and leadership that insufficiently respects and protects civil rights and human rights.  

Discrimination at UC Berkeley is not confined to attacks on Jewish people. It is growing, enabled by a university administration and leadership that insufficiently respects and protects civil rights and human rights.  

The university-sanctioned and -enabled violations of these civil rights are part of a larger systemic failure of the UC Berkeley administration and its leadership to value and uphold human dignity, equality, diversity, inclusion and equity for all members of our university community without exception.

Such discrimination cannot continue.  It demands immediate correction and reparative action.

Noam Schimmel is a Lecturer in Global Studies with an emphasis on human rights at University of California, Berkeley.