Two lawyers filed a complaint on Nov. 18 with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) against the University of California, Berkeley over what they consider antisemitic student group policies.
In August, the UC Berkeley student group Law Students for Justice in Palestine adopted a bylaw stating that the group will not invite Zionist speakers to their events. Several other student groups at UC Berkeley adopted the bylaw as well.
The lawyers’ complaint led to the OCR opening an investigation into UC Berkeley earlier this month for the bylaw in question and whether it violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Title VI is a set of federal regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin at programs receiving federal funding.
“The university will fully cooperate with the investigation. The campus has in place strong anti-discrimination policies that support our belief in and compliance with what we understand to be the values and obligations enshrined in Title VI and the First Amendment,” UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky told The Epoch Times.
Chemerinsky expressed his concern about the bylaw in a piece for the New York Times, while also acknowledging the students’ First Amendment rights to pass it.
“Of course, student groups can decide what speakers to include based on their views,” wrote Chemerinsky. “I wish student groups would not adopt such policies, but a public university cannot prohibit them.”
Attorneys Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, and Gabriel Groisman, a partner at LSN Law, attribute the bylaw’s ban of Zionist speakers to antisemitism, claiming that it violates Title VI for discrimination.
“The groups that have implemented this discriminatory policy attempt to hide their discrimination against the Jewish community by excluding ‘Zionists.’ This thin veil is completely transparent as Zionism is an integral, indispensable and core element of the Jewish identity,” wrote Ostrovsky and Groisman in a Nov. 20 press release upon filing the complaint against UC Berkeley.
In the same press release, the two attorneys acknowledged that Chemerinsky publicly “condemned the adopted bylaw.” They also stated that “it is alleged he has not taken any meaningful steps in response to this egregious act of discrimination, as required under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.”
On Dec. 15, Ostrovsky and Groisman released a statement showing support for the OCR’s investigation into their complaint. The statements says they are looking forward to change at the UC Berkeley Law School.
“We are confident that the OCR will do the right thing and ultimately hold UC Berkeley Law School accountable and protect the Jewish students on campus from these discriminatory acts,” the attorneys stated.
