On Monday, November 10, University of California (UC) Berkeley hosted the final stop of the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) college campus tour. TPUSA, founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk, is a far-right Christian nationalist organization. It claims to promote free speech on campuses while in reality advancing bigotry against people of color, women, the LGBTQ+ community, Muslim and Jewish people, immigrants, and any others who do not fit their “traditional Christian American” ideals.
Trump and the Republicans have taken every opportunity since Kirk’s assassination in September to rile up their supporters, claiming they are “at war” with enemies of the U.S. and fear-mongering around political violence as an excuse to ramp up repression of dissent. Ahead of the Berkeley event, security on campus was already clamping down. Four students were arrested early Monday morning for pasting posters on Sather Gate and attempting to hang up a large cardboard mosquito. They now face felony vandalism charges and had to pay $10,000 to $20,000 in bail. Later on Monday, buildings surrounding Zellerbach Hall, where the event was to take place, were shut down, including the student center and student union, which were then patrolled by private security and police. During the event, around 300 students and community members gathered to protest, and were met with cops in riot gear barricading the entrance to Lower Sproul Plaza. Now, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has stated that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the “violent riots” for Antifa involvement. Clearly, a dangerous precedent of over-policing and criminalization of student dissent was being set.
The UC Berkeley administration justified hosting Turning Point on the basis of allowing free speech for any organization regardless of beliefs. Where was this protection of free speech when the personal information of over 150 students, faculty and staff was shared with the federal government for participation in pro-Palestine advocacy? It’s true that antisemitism has no place on any campus, but the Palestine Solidarity encampments explicitly rejected antisemitism, while Turning Point espouses it. As an institution, the university is interested in protecting itself. So, it is complying with those in power, whether that be turning over students’ personal information, hosting far-right speakers to avoid accusations of unfairness, or cooperating with a federal investigation of a small and overall peaceful protest. Students and those who work on the campus must be the ones to make their rights non-negotiable!
