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The University of California, Berkeley has initiated an investigation against Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of its law school, following a discrimination complaint filed by a pro-Palestinian student who was expelled from the Jewish professor's home during a festive faculty dinner.
The student, Malak Afaneh, filed the complaint with the university's Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination after the incident at the dean's home in early April. During the dinner, Afaneh stood up, produced a wireless microphone she had brought from home and made a speech about the war in Gaza and Ramadan at the home of Dean Chemerinsky and his wife Prof. Catherine Fisk.
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Pro-Palestine student disrupts event at Berekley professor's home
A video of the incident, which has gone viral, shows Dean Chemerinsky visibly angered, demanding that the student leave his home. Shortly thereafter, his wife joined him. She wrapped her arm around Afaneh’s shoulder and repeatedly asked her to leave their home.
Professors Fisk and Chemerinsky hosted a private dinner for law students in their backyard. Afaneh, a graduate law student, registered for the event.
The subsequent incident sparked controversy and debates about free speech, particularly as Prof. Chemerinsky has been one of the most vocal advocates on campus for protesters' right to self-expression.
Following the incident, Afaneh posted a statement on Instagram, accompanied by the viral video, claiming she was attacked. She alleged that Prof. Fisk grabbed her by the neck, chest, shirt and hijab, and attempted to remove her from their home along with her husband, due to her Muslim faith.
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Berkeley Law student disrupts dean's dinner with pro-Palestine speech
(Photo: Screenshot)
“I was not attacked solely for speaking out about the genocide of the Palestinian people…I was attacked because I, as a visibly Muslim, hijab wearing, kuffiyeh repping, Arabic speaking, woman was deemed as a threat that deserved being traumatized and assaulted simply for carrying the identities I do,” she wrote.
“I was attacked because we live in a world where Zionist administration and the world as a whole views Palestinian bodies as constructed to die, while white ones are expected to live.”
However, another, longer video revealed more nuance about the incident. Toward the end of the nearly three-minute video, Fisk tells Afaneh, “We agree with you about what’s going on in Palestine.”
Chemerinsky said that the investigation into Afaneh’s complaint is a standard response and added that in the days leading up to her protest, Afaneh was involved in posting a cartoon, widely considered to evoke an antisemitic blood libel, in public areas on campus and that he and Fisk had asked Afaneh to leave many times.
“It is disturbing that the student who posted a blatantly antisemitic flyer and then deliberately disrupted a dinner party at my home, and refused to cease the disruption or leave when asked repeatedly to do so, then had the audacity to file a complaint with the campus that she was mistreated,” he said.
”The campus responded, as its routine, by saying it would investigate the complaint. It is no more than that. By campus policy such investigations are confidential.
A university spokesperson declined to comment, citing personnel issues that the university cannot legally discuss.