Middle East tensions: A UC Berkeley chronicle
| 'Let those of us who hold the candle of learning
in our hands, hold firm in the vigil for freedom and
reasoned discourse.' -Robert M. Berdahl
Chancellor |
At UC Berkeley, where international issues often spur debate and protest, emotions have run high in the wake of Sept. 11 and the subsequent upheaval in the Middle East. Opinions have clashed, and at times, limits have been pushed as some on campus have spoken out forcefully on current events. Through it all, campus leaders, including administrators, faculty, students and staff, have worked to defuse tensions and foster tolerance, restraint and learning.
This page chronicles key events beginning in Fall 2001 and the campus administration's response to them.
A free & ordered space
for learning UC Berkeley has a proud tradition as a forum in which
ideas are expressed freely and with conviction. With this
commitment to free speech comes an equally strong commitment
to maintain the campus as a free and ordered space for
learning and to protect the rights of all to teach, study
and freely exchange ideas. Below are documents and campus
regulations that address the issue. |
 |
Links: • Chancellor's open letter on free speech and the university's mission(May 1) • UC President's welcome letter • Mideast-related rallies (April 9) • Campus privileges reinstated for Students for Justice in Palestine (May 7) • Student conduct charges from Wheeler Hall sit-in resolved (Feb. 21) • Regulations on campus activities, organizations and students • Policy on respect & civility in the campus community |
 |
 See photos and coverage of the week's events on campus. |
During the week following Sept. 11, the campus community came together in vigils, prayer sessions and moments of silence to mourn, reflect and remember the victims of the terrorist attacks. More than 12,000 joined in a moving campus memorial that week. Many students wrote their thoughts on yards of paper stretched across Sproul Plaza. Others donated blood, raised money for victims and even developed a Web site to assist people around the world searching to learn if their loved ones in New York were safe.
An academic controversy Many
courses on the Middle East emerged following the Sept.
11 attacks, but media attention and debate focused
in Spring 2002 on an English class to be taught this
fall by a graduate student instructor. Many found the
course description alarming, particularly its note
discouraging "conservative thinkers" from
taking the class. The English department acknowledged
a failure of oversight, worked with the instructor
to revise the course description and took measures
to ensure that the class allows for free and open discussion.
At right is information on the course, "The Politics
and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance." |
|
Links: • The English R1A class • Campus statement on the class (May 10) • Campus actions on the class (May 21) • Analysis of academic freedom & responsibility issues surrounding the class • Course syllabus |
Diversity & tolerance. UC
Berkeley is home to students from a broad diversity
of experiences, backgrounds, interests and strengths.
No single racial, ethnic or cultural group forms a
majority of the students here. However, with such diversity
can also come intolerance, particularly during times
of heightened emotions and sensitivity. Soon after
the terrorist attacks, reports of hate crimes against
Arabs, or individuals thought to be Arab, raised concerns
on campus. Months later, reports of vandalism and fears
of anti-Semitic behavior near or on campus raised concerns
among Jewish students and other members of the campus
community. The links at right explain the campus's
regulations concerning hate crimes. |
|
Links: • Chancellor's statement on acts of hate (April 3) |
Other resources
•
Student
policies & procedures index