The Disgrace at Berkeley

The birthplace of the Free Speech Movement fails at protecting free speech.

[Note: This item is cross-posted from Power Line.]

Next week will see the 50^th anniversary of the inception of the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley, which became one of the milestones of the radical student movement of the 1960s. Berkeley is very proud of that legacy.  Two weeks ago Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and former ACLU executive director Nadine Strossen appeared at a campus forum championing free speech and rejecting the “heckler’s veto” over unpopular views and speakers.

But this week UC Berkeley completely collapsed in the face of a heckling mob. A pro-Palestinian mob shut down an appearance at the law school by senior Israeli Knesset member Simcha Rothman, while Berkeley’s chief of police and the vice chancellor, both present at the event, did nothing to stop the mob.

There’s an account of the episode at the Jewish News of Northern California, which is a publication obviously hostile to the Netanyahu government, that says “It was not clear why the [Rothman] event was being held at Berkeley.”

Rothman appeared at Berkeley Law because John Yoo and I invited him to come. Readers and podcast listeners may recall that we interviewed Rothman over the summer about the controversy over judicial reform in Israel, which parallels many of the controversies in the U.S. about judicial activism. As such we thought Rothman’s views would be of interest to law students, and the event was titled: “Restoring Democracy: The Debate Over Judicial Reform in Israel.”

Note: Nothing about the Gaza war, the Hezbollah war, October 7, or the other hot button issues. But of course you won't be surprised about what happened next. There was this early warning for starters:

The event was ticketed, requiring ID to enter, and, as I have done at many events as host (such as with Heather Mac Donald last year), the event host read the administration-mandated statement about respecting free speech and that there would be consequences for violating the freedom of speech of others. It was to no avail. (Note: I had to miss this event as I was not yet back from overseas.)

But it got weird. The protestors inside the lecture hall who shut down the event were mostly left-wing Jews. Outside the lecture hall was the rabble of anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas demonstrators who took the event as an opportunity to attack any Jews at hand—even left-wing Jews. The Jewish News account of this is almost comical:

The crowd in the auditorium was comprised mainly Israeli-Americans who have been active in the past two years in the West Coast protests against Israel’s right-wing government. They appeared to have bought up most of the tickets to the event. . . The Israeli protesters belong to UnXeptable, a group established a few years ago in the Bay Area that now has chapters in cities around the world. This was the first protest that UnXeptable has organized against an Israeli politician on the West Coast since Oct. 7.

Meanwhile, outside the auditorium, pro-Palestinian students, wearing kaffiyehs, had gathered, carrying signs bearing the names of Palestinians killed in the Gaza war. They directed their chants, not at Rothman, but rather, at the Israelis who had come to protest him. . .

“The counter-protesters, liberal Zionists, support the genocide in Gaza,” they chanted over and over. . .

A few minutes into Rothman’s response to Kleinfeld’s first question, the Israelis in the audience started shouting: “Go home!” and “Shame!”

They were unaware that several anti-Israel protesters were embedded in the crowd. One of them grabbed a microphone on the floor and began shouting: “Free, Free Palestine” and “Israel is a terrorist state.”

When a security guard tried to throw the anti-Israel protesters out, one of them shouted: “Why are you only throwing out the anti-Zionists? Why not the Zionists?”

“Don’t you understand that we hate him too?” an elderly Israeli woman who was part of the UnXeptable group said, pleading with the anti-Israeli protesters to leave the room.

So we have one group of left-wing, anti-Israel protestors arguing against left-wing, anti-Semitic protestors. Before Rothman began his formal remarks, the Jewish protestors in the room conducted an argument with him entirely in Hebrew. But once the event started this group of protestors settled into their seats with the apparent intention of letting Rothman proceed with his presentation.

Here is the moment the event was shut down when the outside protestors stormed the room and took over the microphone, in a video provided exclusively to Power Line:

Additional scenes provided to us by attendees. At some point we had the comical scene of two groups of left-wingers arguing with each other, as well as denouncing Rothman. Security quickly escorted Rothman from the room.

Although as mentioned the chief of police and vice chancellor were present, there were no serious efforts to arrest any of the disruptors. The official explanation was that the police feared that "both sides" would escalate into physical violence. ("Fine people" on both sides, I guess.)

The event resumed on Zoom an hour later, and yesterday Dean Chemerinsky issued a statement that included:

In clear violation of the policies of the Law School and the campus, an event was disrupted by audience members who refused to stop their loud protest despite being asked to leave.  This forced us to shift to a virtual event on Zoom. Although I am glad the event could proceed, and the recording will be made available, I am deeply dismayed that this action denied the speaker his free speech rights and the audience their chance to engage in person.  

It cannot be in an academic institution that we only hear those messages that aren’t shouted down.  It cannot be that we tolerate protests that disrupt events and the Law School’s functioning.  In my message on free speech earlier this semester, I said that student disruptors of school events would face disciplinary proceedings.  We will pursue that if any students participated in disrupting the event.

But the heckler's veto succeeded again. And despite the boast that such things cannot be allowed to happen again, they will until Berkeley and other universities get serious about arresting and prosecuting disruptors, as well as expelling students who participate. I'm not holding my breath.

October 7 is just around the corner. I expect this first anniversary of that atrocity will see significant campus demonstrations and unrest around the country.

Chaser—Even Cornell is starting to get the message, and is expelling a foreign student, Momodou Taal, who persists in disrupting campus activities there. Taal has been suspended twice now, and is whining that Cornell isn't acting like most universities do:

Also Taal:

The administration told him back:

In other words, Taal is about to be deported. Much more from the Cornell Sun here. More of this please.