A few months after UC Berkeley released the names of students, faculty, and staff to the Trump administration’s antisemitism investigation, the university suspended one of those faculty members for six months.
Peyrin Kao is a computer science lecturer. His 38-day hunger strike made him a prominent critic of the occupation of Gaza on campus.
He learned last week that he’s being suspended over two comments he made in the classroom.
This is one of the comments: "For the lectures that I give, I might not be in the best health. I might be a little fatigued, because I’m doing a starvation diet for a cause that I believe in."
University officials say this violated UC policy on “political indoctrination” and “misuse of the classroom.” They say they’re responding to student complaints, while Kao says he’s being targeted for his views.
Kao started a fundraising campaign equal to the pay he will lose during his suspension. The funds will go to mutual aid in Gaza and a UC faculty union.
Kao’s suspension also comes a month after a tenured professor at San Jose State University was fired over her pro-Palestinian activism.
