A dinner for graduating law students at the University of California, Berkeley, has become the latest flashpoint over free speech and concerns about Islamophobia and antisemitism on college campuses as the war in Gaza rages on.
Video shot by a law student and shared with NBC News shows law professor Catherine Fisk trying to grab a microphone out of the hands of a Palestinian student during a protest at an invitation-only event this week.
Fisk and her spouse, law school dean Erwin Chemerinsky, hosted the event at a dinner in their home’s backyard Tuesday.
Malak Afaneh was one of 60 students invited to what was supposed to be a quiet evening before graduation next month. But it took a turn when Afaneh stood up and started delivering an unsanctioned speech through a cordless microphone she had brought with her.
“Peace and blessings upon you all,” she began. “Tonight we are gathered here in the name of commemorating our final few weeks as law students.”
The video shows Chemerinsky immediately interjecting and asking Afaneh to leave.
“Please leave. No. Please leave. Please leave,” he says.
Afaneh continues, and Fisk walks down the steps toward her. Fisk puts an arm around Afaneh’s shoulder and grabs the microphone with her other hand. The two appear to briefly jostle for the microphone before Fisk releases her grip.
Afaneh, the leader of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, and a group of nine other protesters eventually left. She said the interaction was an “assault” and discrimination against Palestinian students. She did not file a police report, she said, because she is considering all her legal options.
“It was clear Islamophobia,” she said Thursday. “Assault is assault. No way should a law professor have put their hands on a student, period.”
Chemerinsky, who is Jewish, called the disruption “ugly and divisive.”
“I am enormously sad that we have students who are so rude as to come into my home, in my backyard, and use this…
Read the full article here
