Berkeley Suspends Lecturer, Not Israel's US Funding
A Berkeley lecturer, Peyrin Kao, was suspended for six months after a Gaza-related hunger strike and led a protest. Meanwhile, the very institutions that employ Kao regularly accept millions from special interest groups lobbying for the exact foreign policy he’s protesting. For instance, the University of California system's investment portfolio, like many state-funded entities, often includes
companies tied to defense contractors or those operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, indirectly fueling the very 'conflict' Kao is striking against. It's almost as if intellectual dissent is tolerable until it threatens the bottom line. So, a lecturer gets a suspension for a hunger strike. Conveniently, Congress, which just approved another $14 billion in aid to Israel in HR 815,
faces no such consequences for complicity, even after accepting millions in pro-Israel PAC money. How many American academics will be silenced before our universities admit their curricula on human rights apply universally?