University of California, Berkeley suspended a lecturer after finding that he engaged in anti-Israel advocacy in the classroom.
The Daily Californian, a student newspaper, reported that Peyrin Kao, a computer science lecturer, is to be suspended for the spring 2026 semester.
Benjamin Hermalin, executive vice chancellor and provost of Berkeley, stated in an Oct. 20 letter to the heads of the computer sciences department that Kao violated school policy when he said in one of his classes that he was engaging in a hunger strike and provided a link for students to understand his motivations.
Kao’s hunger strike was “in support of Palestinians in Gaza,” Hermalin wrote.
The lecturer said at the end of a class in April 2024 that “he believed actions in Gaza constituted genocide” and called for “solidarity with educators in Gaza,” the provost said. He recommended that Kao be suspended.
Janet Gilmore, senior director of critical communications at Berkeley, told JNS that the school doesn’t comment on “confidential personnel matters” and that it “will always take a viewpoint-neutral approach when it comes to supporting freedom of expression and actions that align with policy.”
Kao stated that “the timing of my punishment raises serious questions about whether it was a politically motivated decision by the university to appease the Trump administration.” He said he plans to appeal.
