UC Berkeley sued for allegedly failing to disclose existence of Law Students for Justice in Palestine records | Campus

UC Berkeley is being sued for allegedly failing to properly communicate the existence of public records concerning the UC Berkeley School of Law’s policies restricting the actions of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by Robbie Powelson, a former UC Berkeley affiliate. He filed a public records request in September for records pertaining to Law Students for Justice in Palestine. The lawsuit alleges UC Berkeley violated the California Public Records Act by failing to notify him if those records exist.

Earlier this semester, LSJP was barred from tabling at a Berkeley Law event and cosponsoring another law school event because of its bylaws banning Zionist speakers.

As part of UC Berkeley’s settlement with the Brandeis Center over allegations of antisemitism, Berkeley Law has adopted a policy stipulating that registered law student organizations cannot have bylaws restricting event speakers.

As a result, Berkeley Law has designated LSJP as an informal student group. Unlike Registered Student Organizations, ISGs are prohibited from cosponsoring Berkeley Law events, according to the lawsuit.

However, a third category of organizations — non-UC Berkeley groups such as the California Law Review — are still allowed to cosponsor events.

Powelson alleges Berkeley Law has not made the distinction between ISGs and non-UC Berkeley groups clear.

“Any organization outside of Berkeley can cosponsor an event unless it’s deemed to be an informal student group, but there’s no criteria or basis for determining who is an informal student group and who is a nonaffiliated organization not affiliated with Berkeley,” Powelson said. “It seems like there’s a very arbitrary determination that’s being made against a disfavored group.”

Powelson filed a public records request for Berkeley Law’s new student organization policies and communications related to LSJP and the Brandeis Center settlement. Under the California Public Records Act, agencies have 10 days to determine whether records exist and notify the requesting party of their existence.

UC Berkeley’s public records office acknowledged Powelson’s request and noted his request “likely does seek disclosable records.”

But Powelson alleges UC Berkeley still violated the 10-day window of response, on the grounds that saying records “likely” exist is “very different than saying they do or do not.”

“Berkeley Law is working with the campus public records office to ensure compliance with the Public Records Act, which takes into account allowing time for both review and the opportunity to work to narrow overly broad requests,” said UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof in an email.

This lawsuit is a part of a new initiative Powelson is launching called the Public Records Enforcement Project, which aims to file public records requests and sue when an agency misses a deadline or withholds records.

Powelson said he hopes this project, cofounded by Berkeley Homeless Union cofounder and photojournalist Yesica Prado, will increase transparency with public agencies.

“Public records, that’s how you have a level anytime you’re dealing with government. Whether it’s in advocacy, litigation, journalism, you always need to look underneath the hood so you have an even playing field with government officials,” Powelson said. “They have a lot of power, and the way we know how they’re wielding that is through these transparency laws.”