UC Berkeley enhances education on anti-Semitism

The University of California, Berkeley is launching new programs to broaden its antisemitism education, and taking proactive steps to stop future disruptive protests at the school. 

The program director of Berkeley’s Antisemitism Education Initiative (AEI), Gregg Drinkwater, told The Center Square about the effort to enhance anti-Semitism education.
 
Drinkwater clarified that new students experienced a more extensive presentation about anti-Semitism at the school’s Golden Bear Orientation, and that Berkeley’s RAs (Resident Advisors) will get a “more intensive orientation process.”

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“Our faculty and community leaders work closely with university administrators and student leaders to promote antisemitism awareness and education,” AEI’s webpage advertises. “We regularly host workshops for groups of campus staff and students, bring major speakers to campus, and have created an online module that is used as part of new student orientation. In 2021, we made a short film called “Antisemitism in Our Midst: Past and Present,” for use at Berkeley and other colleges and universities.”

AEI states that it is “regularly consulted about how to raise awareness and create trainings for other campuses across the country.”

UC Berkeley is also strengthening restrictions on chaotic protests, along with the other schools in the UC system. 

According to an Aug. 19 announcement from UC President Michael Drake, the university system will strengthen “requirements for policies impacting expressive activities, including policies that prohibit camping or encampments, unauthorized structures, restrictions on free movement, masking to conceal identity, and refusing to reveal one’s identity when asked to do so by University personnel.”

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Drake also spoke about the importance of free speech on campus, writing that “[w]e are proud to uphold that tradition [of the Free Speech Movement] today,” but claiming that while “the vast majority of protests held on our campuses are peaceful and nonviolent, some of the activities we saw this past year were not.”

“We . . . want our community members to understand what’s expected of them, including a clear understanding of the principles, policies, and laws that govern our behavior on campus,” he added. 

A UC Berkeley spokesperson told Campus Reform: “Berkeley will closely adhere to recent directives from the UC President that make clear our obligation to enforce the laws and rules that protect the safety and well-being of the entire campus community.”