BUZZ
Leftist students conduct own hunger strike in solidarity: ‘Bring your keffiyeh, flag, signs & friends!’
The University of California Berkeley electrical engineering and computer science lecturer who went on a slightly-over-a-month “hunger strike” for Palestine has been suspended without pay this spring semester.
The strike played a role in Peyrin Kao’s punishment, as did his soliloquies about Israel and advocacy for the Palestinians during class.
According to The Daily Californian, Kao had told a computer science class “he was undergoing a ‘starvation diet,’” and gave students his website’s URL which notes his hunger strike was “in support of EECS4Palestine,” a pro-Palestinian group for Kao’s subject areas.
(The Instagram of that group is no longer available, but Berkeley STEM4Palestine’s is still active).
Kao’s university course page previously had stated “Apologies in advance if I’m in poor health during lectures. I’m currently undergoing a starvation diet …”
Kao previously had been censured in 2023 for ending class a half-hour early so as to give a 20-minute “statement of solidarity with Palestine.”
In his letter about Kao’s suspension, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin noted “’the visible physical toll’ of Kao’s hunger strike and the ‘adverse consequences it may have had’ on his ability to teach.”
Hermalin also cited Kao’s contention in 2024 (allegedly “after class had officially ended”) that “the lack of diversity in EECS” was due to “the department’s hesitation to discuss social issues,” and his “reiteration” of support for the Palestinians.
Hermalin claimed Kao “misused the classroom by distorting the instructional process in a manner which deviates from the responsibilities inherent in academic freedom,” a violation of Regents Policy 2301.
The provost noted he “would have no objection” if Kao’s department leaders (whose “disciplinary analysis’ […] findings were less severe”) chose to impose “more severe disciplinary actions, including ‘permanently terminating Mr. Kao’s employment as a lecturer.’”
Naturally, Kao disagreed with Hermalin’s assessment, claiming his 2024 lecture “used the genocide in Gaza as an example of the ethical implications of technology” and was “attempting to push students to think critically.”
(Assisting Kao in his use of the word “genocide” are Daily Californian contributors Litong Deng and Aarya Mukherjee who don’t note until the end of their article that the term comes from a September United Nations “legal analysis.”)
Kao claimed his mentioning the hunger strike was akin to “telling students that [he’s] sick or did not get enough sleep the night before.” He denied Hermalin’s assertion that the strike took a “visible physical toll,” even though he had said he was “exhausted” from four weeks of a “starvation diet” consisting of “simple pasta.”
On Tuesday, Kao put up a YouTube video mocking this aspect of his punishment, titled “How to get suspended from UC Berkeley in 8 seconds”:
According to a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) press release, Kao also said “The timing of my punishment raises serious questions about whether it was a politically motivated decision by the university to appease the Trump administration.”
Ian Davis of the University Council–American Federation of Teachers Union wants UC Berkeley to “rescind” Kao’s suspension.
“Suspending and firing teachers who say things people don’t agree with is not intellectual diversity and violates the rights of those teaching,” Davis said, adding that Kao’s actions were “extramural and voluntary” and “relevant to learning.”
CAIR added its support, calling the university’s decision a “blatant violation of academic freedom and First Amendment protections, and part of a broader effort to chill speech about Palestine on campus.”
In response to Kao’s suspension, the group Berkeley Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine set up a fundraiser titled “Restore Peyrin’s Salary for Palestine” which claims to “provid[e] food, water, supplies for babies and children, and much-needed winter clothing and tents to refugee camps” in Gaza.
The monetary goal of $68,059 allegedly is the amount of salary Kao will lose during his suspension. As of Friday evening, just over $14,000 has been raised.
On Wednesday, leftist UC Berkeley student groups “mobilized” against Kao’s suspension and joined Berkeley STEM4Palestine’s 12-hour “Study-in for Palestine.” According to the host, plans included a hunger strike of its own — “eating 350 calories a day,” the “starvation diet […] allowance for those trapped under Zionist occupation of Gaza.”
Apparently the new hunger strikers decided to knock down the caloric intake of those under the “Zionist occupation” as one STEM4Palestine member noted 250 daily calories are “the daily rations Palestinians have access to.”
MORE: ‘Sex and the City’ star’s trans kid joins hunger strike for Gaza with U. Chicago academics
