Berkeley law professor asks employers not to hire 'my antisemitic law students'
Signage for the Berkeley School of Law on the University of California, Berkeley campus in Berkeley, California, U.S., on Friday, June 4, 2021. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)
University of California Berkeley law professor Steven Davidoff Solomon called out some of his students for supporting "antisemitic conduct" on campus.
"My students are largely engaged and well-prepared, and I regularly recommend them to legal employers," Solomon wrote in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Sunday. "But if you don’t want to hire people who advocate hate and practice discrimination, don’t hire some of my students. Anti-Semitic conduct is nothing new on university campuses, including here at Berkeley."
The article is titled, "Don’t Hire My Anti-Semitic Law Students."
Solomon's criticism of antisemitism on university campuses is part of a national conversation and controversy that was sparked after some Harvard Law students were linked to anti-Israel activist groups.
More than 350 faculty members at Harvard University wrote an open letter to the school’s leadership in response to a student statement that was "nothing less than condoning the mass murder" of over a thousand Israelis, adding the administration's response "fell short."
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In the letter to Harvard President Claudine Gay, hundreds of Harvard faculty members said they were "deeply concerned about the events in the Middle East, as well as the safety of our students here on campus."
"In contrast, while terrorists were still killing Israelis in their homes, 35 Harvard student organizations wrote that they hold ‘the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence,’ with not a single word denouncing the horrific acts by Hamas," according to the letter.
Solomon similarly slammed a student group, Berkeley’s Law Students for Justice in Palestine, for asking "other student groups to adopt a bylaw that banned supporters of Israel from speaking at events."
"It excluded any speaker who ‘expressed and continued to hold views or host/sponsor/promote events in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine,'" Solomon explained, adding that 9 other student groups signed onto the measure.
"The bylaw caused an uproar," Solomon wrote. "It was rightly criticized for creating ‘Jew-free’ zones. Our dean—a diehard liberal—admirably condemned it but said free-speech principles tied his hands. The campus groups had the legal right to pick or exclude speakers based on their views. The bylaw remains, and 11 other groups subsequently adopted it."
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"The student conduct at Berkeley is part of the broader attitude against Jews on university campuses that made last week’s massacre possible," the law professor continued. "It is shameful and has been tolerated for too long."
Solomon advocated for the "adults to take over" and exercise discretion in the hiring process, including at law firms.
"Legal employers in the recruiting process should do what Winston & Strawn did: treat these law students like the adults they are," Solomon wrote. "If a student endorses hate, dehumanization or anti-Semitism, don’t hire him. When students face consequences for their actions, they straighten up."
He also advocated for legal employers and law firms to ask students "what organizations they belong to."
"Ask if they support discriminatory bylaws or other acts and resolutions blaming Jews and Israelis for the Hamas massacre," he said. "If a student endorses hatred, it isn’t only your right but your duty not to hire him. Do you want your clients represented by someone who condones these monstrous crimes?"
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Assistant Dean of Communications at Berkeley Law Alex A.G. Shapiro said, "Faculty members have the First Amendment right to express their views, but, of course, do not express the position or opinions of the institution."
Fox News' Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.