UC Berkeley dean who defends free speech laments antisemitic attack

By Karen Breslau | Bloomberg

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Law and an ardent supporter of free speech, rebuked a group of students for staging a pro-Palestinian protest at his home as the fallout from Israel’s war in Gaza continues to roil US campuses.

The incident on Tuesday evening occurred after a poster depicting Chemerinsky with a bloody knife and fork and the caption “No dinner with Zionist Chem while Gaza starves” circulated on social media and at the law school, according to a letter he posted on the Berkeley Law website.

Chemerinsky, who is Jewish, described the imagery as disturbing and antisemitic but said he recognized it as a form of expression protected by the First Amendment.

“Although many complained to me about the posters and how it deeply offended them, I felt that though deeply offensive, they were speech protected by the First Amendment,” he said in a statement.

Despite the threat of protests, Chemerinsky and his wife decided to proceed this week with a series of dinners to celebrate graduating students.

On Tuesday evening the first of such events was disrupted when a woman stood up with a microphone and began a speech about the Palestinian cause, refusing to stop even after being asked to leave.

“Repeatedly, we said to her that you are a guest in our home, please stop and leave,” he said. “About 10 students were clearly with her and ultimately left as a group.”

The incident comes several weeks after protesters surrounded and broke the windows of a building on the University of California at Berkeley campus where an Israeli speaker was scheduled to appear, then heckled students as police evacuated the building. Campus leaders condemned the incident.

California universities, including Stanford and Berkeley, have been roiled by tensions since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, deemed a terrorist organization by the US and European Union. Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed some 33,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, prompting protests and counter-protests around the world.