A divide over the Israel-Hamas war flares at UC Berkeley Law

A view of the UC Berkeley campus, with Sather Tower in the center. Everyone feels angry and betrayed by our own faculty.” In the op-ed, Solomon recommended against hiring his own students if they “advocate hate and practice discrimination.” He referenced a bylaw that the Berkeley chapter of Law Students for Justice in Palestine had adopted the previous academic year vowing not to “invite speakers that have expressed and continued to hold views or host/sponsor/promote events in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.” Eight other campus organizations signed on to variations of the bylaw, which critics slammed as silencing Jewish students. The New York Times reported that about two dozen Wall Street law firms signed a letter to law schools cautioning that students hoping to be hired should be prepared to work under “zero tolerance policies for any form of discrimination or harassment, much less the kind that has been taking place on some law school campuses.” Fernandes said he feels that Solomon directly targeted marginalized students because most of the organizations that adopted the bylaw, some of which were named in the op-ed, represent students of color and queer students. At one point, a truck circled the campus displaying billboards that named several students, including Fernandes, and declared them part of “Berkeley Law’s Antisemitic Class of 2023.” Solomon did not respond to requests seeking comment. And, the letter said, Solomon conflated “support for the Palestinian people or criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.” Asked in an interview on Monday if he thought Solomon’s op-ed was harmful to students, Chemerinsky said, “What else can I say other than — that isn’t the law school’s position, and we’ll help every student find a job?” Some law students said they largely agreed with Solomon.