Marching in silence, UC Berkeley students and faculty demand safety for Jews
Demonstrators approach Sather Gate at UC Berkeley during a protest against antisemitism on campus, March 11, 2024. Photo by Aaron Levy-Wolins/J. Weekly
This article originally appeared in J. The Jewish News of Northern California.
It was an unusual protest on a campus known for the unusual.
On Monday morning, some 250 Jewish students, faculty and allies gathered at Zellerbach Playhouse at UC Berkeley, most of them dressed in white, and then marched — in total silence, as organizers had asked — to demand safety for Jews on campus.
Two weeks earlier, on Feb. 26, an angry mob had stormed the same building, broken glass at the entrance, prevented a visiting Israeli attorney from speaking and assaulted Jewish students who had to be escorted to safety via an underground tunnel. It was a turning point for Jewish students, many of whom have felt unwelcome and unheard on campus since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 in Israel that launched the ongoing war and a global spike in antisemitism.
University police have begun investigating the mob violence on Feb. 26, and the administration has released statement after statement, but none that promised enough action to satisfy the Jewish students who showed up for Monday’s march. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Education has announced a federal investigation into how UC Berkeley is handling antisemitism on campus.
‘We’ve tried everything’
Some of the same Jews who were present on Feb. 26 joined the march on Monday to demand that Cal’s administration ensure student safety, which they say is under constant threat. An anti-Israel demonstration has lasted for weeks at Sather Gate, with a wide pro-Palestinian banner blocking the iconic arch.
“Before Oct. 7 I was cautious, but now I’m scared to walk around campus,” said sophomore Leah Cohen, 20. “I got yelled at by someone who saw my ‘Bring Them Home’ necklace,” she said, referring to chains with dog tags that reference the hostages still held in Gaza.
MBA student Hannah Schlacter, 28, one of the organizers of Monday’s march, testified recently before a congressional roundtable on campus antisemitism.
“We are protesting the Berkeley administration, demanding that it enforce its policies,” she told J. “That’s why we are marching to Sather Gate. Students are violating campus policy by blocking the gate, yet the administration is aggressively choosing not to enforce its policy consistently. That sends a message to student groups that the rules don’t apply to them.”
Charlotte Aaron, who is 28 and pursuing dual master’s degrees in public policy and law, agreed.
Noting that the last time she marched in a protest was in eighth grade, Aaron told J. that she has spent two years working with Cal’s administration to articulate the problems faced by Jewish students, even serving on the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Jewish Life and Campus Climate.
“I can honestly say we’ve tried everything,” she said. “Their inaction is saying it’s OK. They understand that Jewish students generally follow the rules. What we get for that is being run over. We’re here today to say: You need to enforce your policies.”
No slogans. No songs.
As the march got underway, Jewish history professor Ethan Katz reminded the crowd why they were there.
“For the past four weeks, Jews have been unable to cross freely through the university’s most iconic site, Sather Gate, where the Free Speech Movement began,” he said, referring to the weeks-long barrier at Sather set up by anti-Israel activists, some of whom harass or photograph Jewish and Israeli students passing by, according to students who have been so accosted.
Quoting from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who famously marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s to demand freedom and safety for Black Americans, Katz suggested that Heschel “could hardly imagine that 60 years later it would be hard for Jewish students to cross their campus. Battles my generation believed were won must sadly be fought again.”
Jewish students and supporters walked in three lines, arms linked, without speaking, to Sather Gate.
As the marchers approached the blocked gate, they turned left, clambered down a small hill and crossed ankle-deep Strawberry Creek, one by one, before finally regrouping on the far side and continuing on their way to a rally in front of California Hall.
No slogans were shouted. No songs were sung. Both the marchers and those protecting the anti-Israel banner at Sather Gate maintained their silence. The only sound was the constant whirring of a helicopter circling overhead.
“I’ve been through a lot of Berkeley experiences, but this is the first time I’m coming out to walk,” retired history professor Paula Fass told J. “It’s that important.”
A rally and a sit-in
At the rally after the march, speakers addressed the quieted crowd. Clapping was permitted, but a handful of rabbis circulating among the marchers quickly shut down adults from outside the campus community who came with their own agendas.
“We are here because it’s become unbearable to learn in an atmosphere so hostile to Jews,” Schlacter said to loud applause. ”Bears for Palestine continue to do business as usual,” she continued, referring to the Cal affiliate of the anti-Zionist group Students for Justice in Palestine. “Last week they held events on campus, while Jewish students were forced to hold theirs off campus.”
Sophie Hahn, a member of the Berkeley City Council, told the crowd that Berkeley “cares about your safety and well-being and your right to walk freely in this city” and called on the university administration to work with the city council to keep students safe.
“We can have differences of opinion,” said Hahn, who is Jewish, “but when we see the kind of despicable violence we saw on this campus two weeks ago, we are appalled.”
Senior Danielle Sobkin, 20 and president of the pro-Israel student group Bears for Israel, told the crowd that her parents emigrated from the former Soviet Union so they could express their Jewishness openly.
“Why is it that I can’t walk to class without facing intimidation at a blocked-off Sather Gate? Why do I get threats just for being Jewish?” she said.
“I refuse to hide who I am. My Jewishness is not a costume to be worn when it’s deemed acceptable and shed when it’s not. That’s not what my parents came here for. Just as we stand firm in our identity, we call on our universities to stand firm in their commitment to inclusivity and respect for all.”
The day’s loudest applause was saved for professor Ron Hassner, faculty director of the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies, who called in to the rally from his office, where he is maintaining a round-the-clock vigil to demand safety for Jewish students. Monday was day four.
“He wants to say how proud he is of all of you,” said the student who listened to Hassner’s call and repeated his words through a microphone. “And he invites you all to his office for hot tea and cookies after the march.”
This article originally appeared in J Weekly.
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