Given David Bernstein's and my posts here on this controversy, I thought I'd pass along this statement from various UC Berkeley Law School faculty members, which was released late last week:
We hereby endorse the principle of free and open speech at the law school. This includes the fundamental principle that all students should be freely admitted to all student groups and under no circumstances should any student be denied admission to any student group.
We are highly aware of the extensive discrimination against Jews in World and U.S history. In particular, we note that 2 of 3 Jews in Europe were murdered during the Holocaust and that the United States has engaged in extensive discrimination of Jews during its history.
With this background, we also condemn the discriminatory bylaw adopted by a small minority of our law student groups refusing to accept speakers who have Zionist views or beliefs. We believe this rule is not only wrong but is antithetical to free speech and our community values. These bylaws would also impermissibly exclude a large majority of our faculty from participating in the work of these organizations, including our Dean.
Many Jews (including some of us signing below who are Jewish) also experience this statement as antisemitism because it denies the existence of the state of Israel, the historical home of the Jewish people. For many Jews, Zionism is a core component of their identity and ethnic and ancestral heritage. As an educational institution we hope that the student groups that have now endorsed a "No Zionist speakers" pledge will engage in dialogue on these issues.
[Signatories below.]
