UC Berkeley under federal investigation for reports of discrimination

The U.S. Department of Education is investigating potential discrimination connected to the conflict between Israel and Hamas at UC Berkeley, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

UC Berkeley is one of many California campuses being investigated by education officials since Hamas’ attack on Oct.7, including Stanford University, UCLA and UC San Diego. 

While the department investigates cases of alleged discrimination having to do with shared ancestry and ethnicity, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that it is unclear why UC Berkeley is specifically being investigated. 

The U.S. Department of Education did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment. 

The Times of Israel, however, reported that the investigation comes as a result of a protest on Feb. 26 that some said was “anti-Israel” and resulted in the cancellation of a lecture by Ran Bar-Yoshafat, an attorney and former Israel Defense Forces member. 

While Ben Hermalin, UC Berkeley’s executive vice chancellor and provost, did not speak directly to the protests, he said in a statement on March 4 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.” the Chronicle reported.

He also said, “We also want to clarify that protesting an event due to its political nature does not make the protest activity inherently antisemitic or Islamophobic.” 

A Jewish organization on campus has expressed plans to protest UC Berkeley’s response to the protest on Monday. 

UC Berkeley did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment.