As campus comes to a quiet halt for the winter break, the debate over academic freedom following the suspension of lecturer Peyrin Kao promises to continue into the new year.<\/p>\n
From campus to the wider Bay Area, several groups are condemning UC Berkeley or requesting meetings with campus administration after Kao was suspended<\/a> earlier this month for his political remarks about Palestine in the classroom.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Berkeley Faculty Association, or BFA, and Berkeley Initiative for Freedom of Inquiry, or BIFI, both wrote letters to campus administration of concerns over Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin\u2019s interpretation of UC Regents Policy 2301. The UC systemwide policy bans \u201cmisuse of the classroom\u201d through \u201cpolitical indoctrination\u201d or by deviating from the purpose of the class.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe are concerned that Kao is being disciplined for not engaging in advocacy per se, but because his advocacy touched on Gaza and reflected a pro-Palestinian viewpoint,\u201d the BFA wrote. \u201cIt is hard to escape the judgment that this appears to be another instance of the \u2018Palestine exception\u2019 to free speech.\u201d<\/p>\n The BFA and BIFI both took issue with Hermalin\u2019s lack of consideration of APM – 015 in his letter. APM – 015 is a faculty policy that prohibits any \u201csignificant intrusion\u201d unrelated to the course, with both groups arguing that the regents policy against \u201cpolitical indoctrination\u201d needed to be taken into account alongside the faculty policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate\u2019s Committee on Academic Freedom, chaired by R. Jay Wallace, is most concerned about Hermalin\u2019s assertion<\/a> that the \u201cvisible physical toll\u201d of Kao\u2019s hunger strike for Palestine represented a form of advocacy, which Wallace said was a \u201cstrained\u201d and \u201cquestionable\u201d interpretation of the policy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re open to the idea that under certain circumstances, nonverbal expression could potentially violate Regents Policy 2301, but if we\u2019re going to be interpreting it that way, I think we need much clearer guidance for faculty,\u201d Wallace said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wallace emphasized that before giving any opinion on the case, the committee wanted to hear from Hermalin himself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n