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The University of California, Berkeley has given the Trump administration the names of 160 faculty members and students as part of an investigation into “alleged antisemitic incidents”, a move a targeted scholar likened to a “practice from the McCarthy era”.
UC Berkeley, a top-ranked public institution, sent a letter to affected members of campus last week disclosing that university lawyers had included their names in reports to the Department of Education’s office for civil rights (OCR). The education department has been targeting colleges across the country as part of Donald Trump’s aggressive crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism, international students and academic freedom.
Judith Butler, a prominent feminist philosopher and queer theorist, received the letter from David Robinson, UC Berkeley’s chief campus counsel, which said OCR was investigating “allegations of antisemitic harassment and discrimination” and “required production of comprehensive documents”.
Butler, a Jewish scholar who has been critical of Israel, said on Friday that they had questioned Robinson about the disclosures and said he provided no information on the specific allegations.
“We have a right to know the charges against us, to know who has made the charges and to review them and defend ourselves,” they said. “But none of that has happened, which is why we’re in Kafka-land … It is an enormous breach of trust.”
UC Berkeley, Butler noted, was home of the free speech movement in the 1960s: “We’ve been a place where controversial public issues can be freely debated. We have different views on Israel-Palestine. We need to hear them even when they upset us. That is the spirit of the place that I have been championing and affirming for 30 years. So it’s a heartbreak and it’s disgraceful.”
UC Berkeley officials confirmed on Friday that 160 people, including faculty, students and staff, had received letters warning of the disclosures and said the decision to send the information to the Trump administration was made by the University of California’s systemwide general counsel.
The US Department of Education did not immediately respond to inquiries.
Butler said they learned the list of names included international students, lecturers and part-time faculty.
“The consequences of this compliance could be really terrible for a lot of people’s lives, most of whom are much more vulnerable than I am,” said Butler, who is semi-retired, but has some ongoing obligations on campus as a graduate school distinguished professor. “They can suffer a lot of things, especially the international students, including deportation, expulsion, job loss, harassment, surveillance.”
Butler said they were told that the university’s normal procedures for handling complaints had been suspended, which has seemingly stripped faculty of their rights to respond to claims or get basic information about the inquiries: “That means allegations sent to the administration, even anonymous ones, were simply forwarded without having been adjudicated … We don’t know whether we ourselves have been accused of antisemitism or whether our name is simply associated with an allegation.”
UC Berkeley’s counsel declined to share with Butler the contents of the files sent to the Trump administration, they said. With the materials now in the hands of the federal government, the disclosures raised concerns about violations of sixth amendment rights for people to know charges against them, they added.
A UC Berkeley spokesperson declined to comment on Butler’s claims, referring to the office of the president.
“Like all public universities, the University of California is subject to oversight by state and federal agencies,” said UC spokesperson for the president, Rachel Zaentz. “Our campuses routinely receive document requests in connection with government audits, compliance reviews, or investigations. UC is committed to protecting the privacy of our students, faculty, and staff to the greatest extent possible, while fulfilling its legal obligations.”
Butler questioned why the university was not resisting the government’s inquiries, citing other institutions’ presidents, who have said they would not capitulate to certain federal demands in an effort to maintain academic freedom.
“It’s shocking … did you consider not complying with this request?” Butler said.
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UC Berkeley, like campuses across the US, was home to a pro-Palestinian encampment, which was taken down after administrators agreed to consider the university’s investments in weapons companies. The Trump administration has also forcefully targeted Harvard, Columbia and other major universities with cuts to their federal funding and demands for hefty settlements.
Butler said students and faculty were organizing to object to the disclosures, saying there were widespread concerns about employment law violations, intrusions on academic freedom and suppression of political debate.
In a letter to Robinson, Butler said that forwarding community members’ names to the government was a “well-known practice from the McCarthy Era”:
“We should not be naive. Will those of us named now be branded on a government list? Will our travel be restricted? Will our email communications be surveilled?
“It is a time to resist injustice that now threatens to be normalized by those who capitulate, sometimes in advance, to bullying tactics of extortion at the expense of basic standards that govern shared governance, institutional autonomy, due process, and fair review,” they continued. “To allow universities to be bossed by political operatives in this way undermines the basic ideals of the university as well as [its] important links to the future of critical thought, dissent, and democracy.”
Janet Gilmore, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, said in an email that “numerous documents” were provided to the federal government “over recent months”, including individuals’ names, and it was following guidance from the academic senate to inform people when their information is given to the federal government.
“We are committed to transparency and supporting our campus community while complying with federal investigations,” she said.
