The Brandeis Center and its membership group, Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education (“JAFE”), brought suit against UC Berkeley in federal court, alleging that the University and its law school have failed to take action to end discriminatory policies, including those enacted by law school groups, journals, and legal aid societies, to ban “Zionist” speakers from engaging with them on any topic. This is not viewpoint discrimination, as the University has asserted, but exclusion on the basis of identity. For many Jews, including many Jewish students and faculty at UC Berkeley, a profound connection with the Jewish State of Israel is integral to their Jewish identity. Excluding Zionists thus effectively excludes Jews, as the Dean of the Law School has acknowledged. After the October 7 Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians, the campus temperature reached the boiling point, with students loudly marching in support of Hamas, professors using their classrooms as opportunities to indoctrinate students with anti-Israel screeds, and assaults on Jewish students. The suit seeks injunctive and declaratory relief to ensure the University takes action required by law and by its own rules to end the discrimination and harassment faced by Jewish students and faculty at UC Berkeley.

Berkeley Law Complaint (11/28/23)

Berkeley Law Press Release (11/28/23)