Federal investigators to look into anti-Palestinian, Arab and Muslim discrimination at BUSD (2024)

Several months after debates over Israel and Palestine curriculum at the Berkeley schools spilled into public view and a federal complaint was filed alleging antisemitism within the district, a new federal investigation has been launched over allegations of the district’s mishandling of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and Islamophobic discrimination.

The U.S. Department of Education launched the new probe in response to a complaint filed by the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The 11-page complaint — filed in May — reported incidents of slurs and hate directed at students and physical assaults, among other allegations of discrimination.

“Berkeley community members are deeply disturbed to see BUSD exclude our Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students from its commitment to justice and equality,” the groups wrote in the complaint. “Unchecked Anti-Palestinian racism — and adjacent anti-Arab, anti-Muslim racism — in Berkeley schools does serious harm to our already vulnerable students.”

Arab and Muslim students reported being called “terrorists” after teachers in class taught lessons referencing terrorism, and one student’s hijab was ripped off in class by another student, according to the complaint. Other allegations include that the district has censored students of Palestinian or Arab heritage or those who support them, and that the district does not provide sufficient Arabic language resources for Arabic-speaking parents.

One example the complaint provided was that students in a high school history class were denied the opportunity to hear from a professor of Palestinian history when administrators told the teacher not to bring the guest speaker because it wouldn’t be safe. A middle school history teacher was reportedly told by an administrator not to use the words “colonization” and “genocide” anymore.

The complaint did not identify particular people or schools but listed many instances of censorship, harassment and other forms of discrimination in the letter to the department.

In a statement sent by a district spokesperson, Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel said the district is “committed to working with OCR in support of a thorough investigation.”

“I am committed to working in collaboration with all members of our community to acknowledge their multiple perspectives and understand their experiences,” Ford Morthel continued. “We are a community — beautifully diverse in many ways and with differing and deeply held beliefs in these challenging times. Still, we must remember that we are a community first and hold space for one another and with one another to ensure that our schools are welcoming, safe, and humanizing for all of our students, families, and staff.”

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights investigates allegations of civil rights law violations in programs that receive federal funds from the department, including public schools. In a June 21 letter sent to CAIR and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Office of Civil Rights confirmed it would investigate whether the district followed its duties under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to create an environment free of discrimination.

“We commend the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for taking this critical step toward addressing the reported systemic discrimination faced by Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students in Berkeley schools,” Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of CAIR, said via a public announcement Monday. “It is crucial that all students, regardless of their background, feel safe and supported in their educational environment.”

Nearly four months ago, a complaint to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights was filed by two other groups — the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Anti-Defamation League — alleging widespread antisemitism in Berkeley schools.

That complaint alleged that teachers have been allowed to “indoctrinate other students with anti-Semitic rhetoric, tropes and false information about Israelis and Jews.”

The community has since been embroiled in public debates over how the district should handle educating students about the violence in Gaza.

In April, a Berkeley parent filed a lawsuit against the district for refusing to turn over high school curriculum about Israel-Palestine.

In May, Superintendent Ford Morthel testified in front of members of Congress who interrogated her and leaders of districts in New York and Maryland over their handling of antisemitism.

Ford Morthel, at that hearing, denied that antisemitism was pervasive in Berkeley schools.

“There have been incidents of antisemitism in Berkeley Unified School District and every single time that we are aware of such an incident, we take action and we follow up,” she said at the time.