Activists Disrupt Dinner in Berkeley Dean’s Backyard

Erwin Chemerinsky is the Dean at Berkeley’s Law School. He’s consistently on the left on every issue but despite that he has also been a supporter of free speech and a critic of the Heckler’s Veto as practiced by many campus radicals these days. Also for purposes of this story it’s worth noting that Chemerinsky is Jewish.

Recently, Dean Chemerinsky offered to have 3rd year law students who are about to graduate over to his house for a celebration dinner. Chemerinsky and his wife usually invite the first year students over for dinner but these particular students didn’t get that invitation because of the pandemic. They offered three night this week (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) so the students could choose a night that worked for them. But according to Chemerinsky, that’s when the story took an “ugly and divisive” turn. Berkeley Law’s Students for Justice in Palestine posted this image on their Instagram last Monday.

The caption reads:

On March 27, 2024, Zionist Dean Chemerinsky sent out an email to the 3L class inviting them for dinner in his home. This dinner is the prime example of a normalization PR event that hopes to distract students from Dean Chem’s complicity and support for the genocide of the Palestinian peoples. While Dean Chem wants to wine and dine his students, he continues to approve of UC investments into weapons companies like Blackrock, Lockheed Martin, RTX, Northrop, and more. Dean Chem’s past threats to “sanction” students for expressing support for the Palestinian liberation movement is not forgotten by Palestinian and pro Palestinian students at the UCs.

This dinner series, which begins on the last day of the holy month of Ramadan, symbolizes the violence that follows a historic pattern of escalation during Ramadan against Palestinian worshippers. Ramadan represents a time of steadfastness, worship, and ultimate spiritual sacrifice. In the face of thousands dead, millions starving, and a lack of condemnation of Israel’s campaign of ethnic cleansing, we refuse to sit in the presence of those who normalize such violence and continue to support it.

In the words of Palestinian martyr Basil Al-Araj, “Never, even for one moment, forget the existence of the occupation or normalize its presence in your life, for if that happens, you are creeping towards betrayal.”

The students also threatened to protest the dinners unless they were cancelled. Chemerinsky refused. Here’s his description of what happened.

Last week, there was an awful poster, on social media and bulletin boards in the law school building, of a caricature of me holding a bloody knife and fork, with the words in large letters, “No dinner with Zionist Chem while Gaza starves.” [Note: The original Instagram post had a bloody fork and knife, but this was taken down and replaced with the same image minus the blood.] I never thought I would see such blatant antisemitism, with an image that invokes the horrible antisemitic trope of blood libel and that attacks me for no apparent reason other than I am Jewish. Although many complained to me about the posters and how it deeply offended them, I felt that though deeply offensive, they were speech protected by the First Amendment. But I was upset that those in our community had to see this disturbing, antisemitic poster around the law school.

The students responsible for this had the leaders of our student government tell me that if we did not cancel the dinners, they would protest at them. I was sad to hear this, but made clear that we would not be intimidated and that the dinners would go forward for those who wanted to attend. I said that I assumed that any protest would not be disruptive.

On April 9, about 60 students came to our home for the dinner. All had registered in advance. All came into our backyard and were seated at tables for dinner. While guests were eating, a woman stood up with a microphone, stood on the top step in the yard, and began a speech, including about the plight of the Palestinians. My wife and I immediately approached her and asked her to stop and leave. The woman continued. When she continued, there was an attempt to take away her microphone. Repeatedly, we said to her that you are a guest in our home, please stop and leave. About 10 students were clearly with her and ultimately left as a group.

And of course the protesters filmed themselves.

That was last night. There is another dinner tonight and one tomorrow. Will protesters show up at these too? My guess is they will. Dean Chemerinsky says he will have security present. He also notes that disruptions are a violation of the student code of conduct and will be reported to the Bar.

The dinners will go forward on Wednesday and Thursday. I hope that there will be no disruptions; my home is not a forum for free speech. But we will have security present. Any student who disrupts will be reported to student conduct and a violation of the student conduct code is reported to the Bar.

Finally, have to point to IowaHawk’s post which is where I first saw this story. His take is less generous but a lot funnier.

“I can’t believe the leopards ate my face,” says man who hosted back yard Face-Eating Leopard mixer https://t.co/EpPksnOj2y

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) April 10, 2024