The Review: A toxic showdown at Berkeley law school

What Erwin Chemerinsky makes of the recent fracas. ADVERTISEMENT [The Review Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. “I‘m not gonna argue with you. This is a party.” That was Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California at Berkeley’s law school, remonstrating on Tuesday night with activists who had launched a protest at a backyard dinner that he and his wife, the Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk, were hosting at their house for third-year law students. The protesters, led by Malak Afaneh of Law Students for Justice in Palestine, were themselves third-year law students; they had RSVP’d for the dinner, somehow sneaking in a microphone and amplifier. As is the rule now, the incident was recorded on a phone camera. The [video went viral](. It shows Afaneh standing on a short set of steps linking the backyard to the house and beginning a speech while Chemerinsky repeatedly asks her to “please leave” and Fisk attempts to pull the mic from her hand. The dialogue between the protesters and the professors has the surreal quality so characteristic of these interactions, in which the impassioned formulas of militant protest rhetoric meet a resistance alternately impatient and puzzled. “We are talking,” Afaneh says, “about Ramadan and the holy month of Ramadan as Muslim students. We refuse to break our fast on the blood of Palestinian people. The UC has committed sending $2 billion to weapons manufacturers.” Fisk responds: “I have nothing to do with what the UC does. This is my house.” When Chemerinsky tells another law student that “it is incredibly rude of you to abuse our hospitality in this way,” the student responds: “There is a genocide going on. You haven’t done anything about divestment.” Chemerinsky: “I don’t invest in anything.” SPONSOR CONTENT | Johnson & Wales University [Decoding the Real Cyber World]( NEWSLETTER [Sign Up for the Teaching Newsletter]( Find insights to improve teaching and learning across your campus. Delivered on Thursdays. To read this newsletter as soon as it sends, [sign up]( to receive it in your email inbox. Afaneh insisted that her speech at Chemerinsky and Fisk’s home was protected by the First Amendment; she cited advice she said was given to her by the National Lawyers Guild, a left-wing legal organization. In a [statement]( the organization affirmed its view that Afaneh’s speech was constitutionally protected. That view is unorthodox. Most lawyers would agree with Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, who [tweeted]( that “there’s no serious argument” for First Amendment protection in such a situation. And the University of California chancellor, Carol Christ, has [offered]( Chemerinsky and Fisk support. “I am appalled and deeply disturbed,” she wrote in a statement, “by what occurred at Dean Chemerinsky’s home last night. While our support for Free Speech is unwavering, we cannot condone using a social occasion at a person’s private residence as a platform for protest.” For their part, the student activists are characterizing the interaction as involving an act of violence, one with sweeping symbolic resonances. “Last night,” Law Students for Justice in Palestine [wrote]( on Instagram, “Professor Catherine Fisk physically assaulted a Palestinian Law Student activist. ... This attack on a Palestinian Muslim law student is only the latest attack on Palestinian, Muslim, and pro-Palestinian students at the University of California, Berkeley.” In a [video]( posted to TikTok after the confrontation, Afaneh expatiated on what she characterized as Fisk’s assault. “She put her arms around me, grasped at my hijab, grabbed at my breasts inappropriately ... and threatened to call the cops on a gathering of Black and brown students.” In Afaneh’s view, Fisk “assaulted me because to her, a hijabi wearing, keffiyah repping Palestinian Muslim student that felt comfortable to speak in Arabic was enough of a threat to her that I was justified to be assaulted.” Read the rest of my [short profile]( of Erwin Chemerinsky, published last week in the Chronicle Review. ADVERTISEMENT SUBSCRIBE TO THE CHRONICLE Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for unlimited access to essential news, analysis, and advice. The Latest THE REVIEW | PROFILE [‘Get Rid of the Zionists Here’]( By Len Gutkin [STORY IMAGE]( When a dean becomes the target of student protesters. ADVERTISEMENT THE REVIEW | ESSAY [The New York Intellectuals Were a Boys’ Club]( By Sam Adler-Bell [STORY IMAGE]( Their machismo masked anxiety and insecurity. THE REVIEW | READERS RESPOND [‘I Cannot Even Buy a Used Car’: Readers Weigh In on Higher Ed’s Compensation Practices]( [STORY IMAGE]( Stagnant salaries, opaque raise processes, and other indignities. THE REVIEW | OPINION [The Lunacy of Indiana’s ‘Intellectual Diversity’ Law]( By Eric Sentell [STORY IMAGE]( It’s self-contradictory, for starters. THE REVIEW | PROFILE [Glenn Loury Comes Clean]( By Evan Goldstein [STORY IMAGE]( Is the public intellectual’s candid memoir an act of self-reckoning or self-sabotage? 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Yours, Len Gutkin ADVERTISEMENT | NCFDD [Four tips for transitioning to Full Professor]( In this short article, Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles of North Carolina State University shares four pieces of advice to help you or the colleagues you support prepare for a successful transition to Full Professor. FROM THE CHRONICLE STORE [The Future of Campus Safety - The Chronicle Store]( [The Future of Campus Safety]( Colleges can’t foresee and avoid every possible safety concern. Yet students, parents, and others are demanding that colleges do more to keep campuses safe. [Order this report]( to explore strategies colleges are employing to counter threats to their communities’ well-being. JOB OPPORTUNITIES [Search jobs on The Chronicle job board]( [Find Your Next Role Today]( Whether you are actively or passively searching for your next career opportunity, The Chronicle is here to support you throughout your job search. Get started now by [exploring 30,000+ openings]( or [signing up for job alerts](. 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