As fallout over the Israel-Hamas struggle grows, the top of the embattled Berkeley public college district is being summoned to Washington, D.C., to testify in entrance of congressional members amid allegations of antisemitism in her colleges.
Berkeley Unified Supt. Enikia Ford Morthel stated Monday that she would journey to the nation’s capital for a Could 8 listening to to subject elected officers’ questions within the newest chapter of congressional inquiries into campus antisemitism that beforehand contributed to the resignations of the presidents of Harvard College and the College of Pennsylvania.
The listening to within the Home Schooling and Workforce Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), comes because the district of 9,100 college students battles accusations that it has develop into an unwelcome place for Jews because the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory struggle in Gaza.
In March, the Louis D. Brandeis Middle for Human Rights Underneath Legislation and the Anti-Defamation League filed a federal grievance with the Division of Schooling over “extreme and protracted” harassment and discrimination in opposition to Jewish children enrolled in Berkeley colleges. It stated college leaders “knowingly allowed” a “viciously hostile” anti-Jewish surroundings.
The middle, which is run by a former Schooling Division assistant secretary for civil rights underneath President Trump, has lodged comparable complaints in opposition to a number of increased training establishments, together with the College of Pennsylvania and Wellesley School. It additionally sued the College of California and UC Berkeley officers within the fall over allegations of campus antisemitism.
Final week, a Jewish mum or dad within the Berkeley district, Yossi Fendel, additionally sued the district, saying it did not adequately reply to his requests to launch ninth-grade educating supplies in regards to the Israeli-Palestinian battle. That lawsuit was filed with the Deborah Challenge, a authorized group that focuses on antisemitism in colleges.
The Brandeis heart and the Deborah Challenge didn’t reply to requests searching for remark.
Professional-Palestinian dad and mom within the district, together with a Jewish group referred to as Berkeley Unified College District Jewish Dad and mom for Collective Liberation, have stated that individuals making complaints conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism. In consequence, they’ve broadly labeled pro-Palestinian exercise, resembling classes on Israelis and Palestinians and scholar protests, as anti-Jewish, in line with the pro-Palestinian dad and mom.
Morthel will probably be joined on the listening to by New York Metropolis Colleges Chancellor David C. Banks and the board of training president of Montgomery County, Maryland, Karla Silvestre. The college districts, that are among the many largest within the U.S., have additionally seen intense activism over the Israel-Hamas struggle and reviews of anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim or anti-Arab incidents.
A spokeswoman for Berkeley colleges stated that Morthel, who beforehand labored in colleges in San Francisco and Hayward, “didn’t search this invitation.”
“As our superintendent has shared many instances, Berkeley Unified celebrates our variety and stands in opposition to all types of hate and othering, together with antisemitism and Islamophobia,” the spokeswoman, Trish McDermott, stated in an announcement.
“We try on daily basis to make sure that our lecture rooms are respectful, humanizing, and joyful locations for all our college students, the place they’re welcomed, seen, valued, and heard. We’ll proceed to heart our college students and maintain one another throughout this time.”
The Berkeley Unified College District Jewish Dad and mom for Collective Liberation, which incorporates about 60 dad and mom, stated Monday that the Could listening to is “a part of the MAGA Republican struggle on training.”
“Jewish kids are secure and thriving in Berkeley’s numerous colleges,” the assertion stated. “As Jewish Berkeley dad and mom, we reject the notion that there’s rampant antisemitism in our colleges; it’s merely not true. A handful of oldsters have painted a false image of our metropolis within the nationwide media, fueling the nationwide right-wing assault on training.”
“These congressional hearings usually are not about Jewish college students’ well-being,” the group continued. “That is a part of the MAGA Republican struggle on training that’s proscribing public college college students’ proper to be taught.”
