Back in October, UC Berkeley Dean Erwin Chemerinsky wrote that “Nothing prepared me for the anti-Semitism I now see on college campuses.” At the time, I praised Erwin’s bold remarks, even though I feared things would only get worse. And they did it.
Last week, Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine depicted Dean Chemerinsky in a cartoon with blood-soaked utensils. This image appeals to the ancient blood libel that has pervaded anti-Semitic propaganda for millennia. That students thought this image was appropriate is shocking. Failure to use appropriate pronouns is immediately grounds for cancellation. But invoking the cliché that Jews eat babies is just another meme.
The purpose of this cartoon was to encourage students to protest a student dinner that Chemerinsky was scheduled to host at his house.
Unfortunately, the students protested the dinner at Erwin’s house. So far I have only found one short video posted by supporters of the protest. It shows Chemerinsky’s wife, Professor Catherine Fisk, trying to take the microphone away from the student. We don’t know what happened before. Surprisingly, the student claimed she had a First Amendment right to protest at Erwin’s home. Erwin, ever the teacher, actually said that “the First Amendment doesn’t apply.” Even though these students are interrupting a dinner at Chemerinsky’s house, Erwin still feels obligated to be the bigger person and an educator.
Anti-Semites a @BerkeleyLaw they are targeting their professors.
When Principal Erwin Chemerinsky and Professor Catherine Fisk invited the 3Ls to dinner, the students called for a boycott and then went home with a microphone to protest.
Now @sairasameerarao is spreading this video without context. pic.twitter.com/mHILs5To8m
— Steve McGuire (@sfmcguire79) April 10, 2024
Here is Erwin’s description of the event:
I write this with deep sadness. Since I became principal, my wife and I have invited first-year students to our house for dinner. This year we were asked by the third class presidents to invite the graduating seniors to dinner because they started in fall 2021 when COVID prevented us from hosting dinners for them. We were happy to oblige and designated three evenings – April 9, 10, 11 – from which graduating students could choose. I never imagined that something we do to help our community would become ugly and divisive.
Last week there was a terrible poster, on social media and on bulletin boards in the law school building, of a caricature of me holding a bloody knife and fork, with the words in large letters: “No dinner with the Zionist Chem while Gaza dies of hunger. “I never thought I would see such blatant anti-Semitism, with an image invoking the horrible anti-Semitic cliché of the blood libel and attacking me for no apparent reason other than the fact that I am Jewish. Even though many have complained to me about the posters and how they deeply offended them, I felt that, while deeply offensive, they were speech protected by the First Amendment. But it shocked me that members of our community had to see this disturbing, anti-Semitic poster around the faculty of jurisprudence.
The students responsible for this had our student government leaders tell me that if we didn’t cancel the dinners, they would protest. I was sad to hear this, but I made it clear that we would not be intimidated and that the dinners would go ahead for those who wanted to attend. I said I took it for granted that any protest would not be a nuisance.
On April 9, about 60 students came to our house for dinner. Everyone had registered in advance. Everyone came to our courtyard and sat at the tables for dinner. While the guests ate, a woman stood up with a microphone, climbed onto the top step of the courtyard and began a speech, including about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. When she continued, there was an attempt to take the microphone away from her. We told her several times that you are a guest in our house, please stop and leave. About 10 students were clearly with her and eventually left in a group.
The dinner, which was supposed to celebrate the graduating students, was obviously interrupted and disturbed. I am enormously sad that we have students who are so rude as to come to my house, to my backyard, and use this social occasion for their political agenda.
The dinners will continue on Wednesday and Thursday. I hope there are no interruptions; my house is not a forum for free speech. But we will have security present. Any student who reacts in a disruptive manner will be reported to Student Conduct and any violations of the Student Conduct Code will be reported to the Bar Association.
I have spent my career staunchly defending free speech. I have spent my years as a principal trying to create a welcoming and inclusive community. I am deeply saddened by these events and take comfort in the fact that only a small number of our students are behaving in such clearly inappropriate ways.
Erwin
Things will only continue to get worse.