UC Berkeley suspends lecturer for sharing pro-Palestinian views in his classroom

"Peyrin Kao, a computer science lecturer whose 38-day hunger strike made him one of the campus's most high-profile faculty critics of the war in Gaza, said he learned Thursday that UC Berkeley is placing him on six months of suspension without pay beginning in January. The suspension, first reported by The Daily Californian, comes after student complaints, according to a letter signed by Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Chair Jelani Nelson."

"In the first, which took place as UC Berkeley students were protesting the Gaza war, Kao took five minutes after the last class of the semester had officially ended to talk about the role of technology companies in providing tools used by the Israeli military. He called the war a genocide and said conversations about the ethical use of technology were important to engage in as part of recruiting and retaining diverse people to computer science."

"The suspension, first reported by The Daily Californian, comes after student complaints, according to a letter signed by Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Chair Jelani Nelson. Several academics within and outside the university decried it as an assault on academic freedom that is likely to chill political speech on a campus already at the center of the Trump administration's crackdown on colleges."

Peyrin Kao is a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer who conducted a 38-day hunger strike protesting technology’s role in Israel’s actions in Gaza and the starvation of Palestinians. UC Berkeley notified him of a six-month suspension without pay beginning in January after student complaints, in a letter signed by EECS Chair Jelani Nelson. Officials cited two lectures, in April 2024 and August 2025, as violating a University of California policy prohibiting misuse of the classroom and political indoctrination. In one instance he used minutes after class ended to discuss technology companies supplying tools used by the Israeli military, called the war a genocide, and expressed solidarity with protesters and Palestinians. Several academics criticized the suspension as threatening academic freedom and chilling political speech.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org