The University of California, Berkeley, is currently conducting a Title IX civil rights investigation regarding allegations that a law professor engaged in harassment toward a Muslim student during a dinner held in the professor’s backyard last month.
This investigation, overseen by the university’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, was initiated following an incident on April 9 at the residence of Professor Catherine Fisk and her husband, Prof. Erwin Chemerinsky, who serves as dean of the law school.
Malak Afaneh, a graduating law student, claims to have experienced harassment and discrimination when she sought to deliver an impromptu pro-Hamas speech during the invitation-only dinner, to which she had not been invited.
“It was reported that on April 9, 2024, during a dinner for UC Berkeley Law School students, held at Respondent’s off-campus residence, Respondent physically grabbed you, attempted to forcibly take your cell phone and microphone from your hand, and asked you to leave a university event when you began to speak in support of Palestine and about Ramadan,” the office wrote in a document provided to Afaneh confirming the investigation.
A video captured by attendees depicts Fisk trying to remove a microphone from Afaneh’s grasp by encircling her arm around the student. There seems to be a brief struggle for control of the microphone before Fisk relinquishes her hold. In another clip, Fisk can be heard stating, “We agree with you about what’s going on in Palestine.” Afaneh, a prominent organizer of the university’s continuous pro-Hamas encampment, has characterized the incident as “evident Islamophobia,” alleging that Fisk sought to silence her due to her pro-Hamas stance.
Our San Francisco Bay Area office @CAIRSFBA today condemned the alleged assault on Malak Afaneh, a Palestinian Muslim University of California Berkeley (@UCBerkeley) law student, by @BerkeleyLaw professor Catherine Fisk. @ZahraBilloo pic.twitter.com/EFIo3MTd3b
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) April 11, 2024
Dean Chemerinsky issued a statement saying, “We were asked this year by the presidents of the third-year class to have the graduating students over for dinner.”
“The week before the dinners, there was an awful poster on social media and bulletin boards in the law school building of a caricature of me holding a bloody knife and fork and with blood around my lips, with the words in large letters: ‘No dinner with Zionist Chem while Gaza starves,’” Chemerinsky continued.
The dean then explained the process by which free speech leads to antisemitic assaults:
“I never thought I would see such blatant antisemitism, with an image that invokes the horrible antisemitic trope of blood libel and that attacks me for no apparent reason other than I am Jewish. Although many complained to me about the posters and how they offended them, I felt that though deeply offensive, they were speech protected by the First Amendment. But I was upset that those in our community had to see this disturbing, antisemitic poster around the law school.”
“The students responsible for this had the leaders of our student government tell me that if we did not cancel the dinners, they would protest at them,” Dean Chemerinsky wrote.
And then: “On April 9, about 60 students came to our home for the dinner. All had registered in advance. All came into our backyard and were seated at tables for dinner.
“While guests were eating, a woman, who led the group responsible for the posters, stood up with a microphone that she had brought, stood on the top step in the yard, and began a speech, including about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. When she continued her speech, there was an attempt to take away her microphone. Repeatedly, we said to her, you are a guest in our home, please stop and leave. Our home is not a forum for free speech. Indeed, even if this were held in the law school building, there would be no First Amendment right to disrupt the event. About 10 students were with her and ultimately left as a group.”
In an email statement, Chancellor Carol Christ expressed her dismay and profound concern over the events that transpired, offering support to Fisk and Chemerinsky.
