{"id":33710,"date":"2024-05-16T12:12:07","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T19:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=33710"},"modified":"2024-05-16T12:12:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T19:12:07","slug":"uc-berkeley-gaza-protesters-take-down-camp-after-reaching-tense-detente-with-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/05\/16\/uc-berkeley-gaza-protesters-take-down-camp-after-reaching-tense-detente-with-university\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley Gaza protesters take down camp after reaching tense d\u00e9tente with university"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0Eli Rosenberg<\/a>,\u00a0Nanette Asimov<\/a> Updated\u00a0May 14, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/a><\/a>Pro-Palestinian\u00a0protesters who have camped out<\/a>\u00a0at UC Berkeley since April with a set of demands for the university agreed to dismantle their encampment on Tuesday after administrators came forward with a set of modest concessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement hailed the end to a tent village around Sproul Hall that had swelled<\/a> to nearly 200 tents at its peak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a long way to go,\u201d one of the lead protesters, who goes only by the name Banan, said in an interview. \u201cBut business is not as usual.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike other colleges that saw violence break out at similar protests, the encampment at Berkeley was mostly calm and did not result in a single arrest. Some schools, including Columbia University and UCLA, have called on police to clear out their campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At UC Berkeley<\/a>, by comparison, the protesters quietly took down their tents and rolled up sleeping bags on Tuesday afternoon before holding a peaceful but energetic rally they dubbed the encampment\u2019s \u201ccommencement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the rally, the university released a letter it sent to protesters outlining the agreements it had made in its negotiations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The students had demanded the school divest from companies with a role in military and surveillance efforts in Israel, a complete academic boycott of Israeli academics and institutions, and the creation of a Palestinian studies program at the school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carol Christ, UC Berkeley\u2019s outgoing chancellor, outlined the concessions the school would make in the letter, which fell well short of those demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs stated by the University of California Office of the President, divestment from companies on the basis of whether or not they do business with or in Israel is not supported,\u201d Christ said in the letter to the protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though high-level investment decisions are made by the UC Board of Regents, which controls the whole public university system, Christ said that decisions about Berkeley\u2019s investments \u201cshould\u201d be examined to make sure they align with the school\u2019s values. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose values include a respect for equality, human rights, a commitment to fostering the conditions for human growth and development, and an abhorrence of war,\u201d Christ wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the University of California chief investment officer responded for the first time to calls for divestment with specific dollar figures and details about UC investments. He offered an unambiguous \u201cno\u201d to selling assets across the board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the students are suggesting \u201cis that we should sell $32 billion of assets out of (the total) $175 billion,\u201d Jagdeep Singh Bachher told the UC regents\u2019 investment committee, which was meeting 125 miles away at UC Merced on the first day of the governing board\u2019s three-day meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bachher said that divesting in the way students demand would violate UC\u2019s fiduciary responsibilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese assets belong to the entire university,\u201d he said, noting that 350,000 people, including retirees, depend on the investment returns to fund their pensions and health benefits. Any of them could sue the university \u201cbecause you made a decision that was not in our best interest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In her letter to the protesters, Christ also insisted she did not support academic boycotts of any sort. But in lieu of such actions, she said the school would review its global exchange programs to make sure they are free from partnerships involving anti-Palestinian discrimination. The university will also set up a process to review complaints about this kind of discrimination, she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUC Berkeley will address (including termination if remedy is unavailable) its programs that violate this policy and will cease its student participation in programs administered by the University of California or other institutions that also violate this policy, if other appropriate remedy is unavailable,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The weekslong impasse between the protesters and the university began to show signs of thawing around 2 p.m. Tuesday, after people in the encampment area, which had been built in front of the school\u2019s main administration building next to Sproul Plaza, began taking down tents and folding them up. Other protesters began breaking down some of the makeshift barricades erected around the encampment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banan, the protester, said the negotiations with UC Berkeley involved considerable back and forth, with complicated and changing dynamics. She said she came away feeling like the regents ultimately controlled the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was very obviously the presence of the regents in the room that were determining the limits of what we can and can\u2019t imagine,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the afternoon rally, protesters chanted that the university was complicit in the violence Israel was inflicting in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They said that while the encampment would go away, their efforts would not, and they promised to take their fight to the regents, including at their meetings in Merced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will go to Merced and continue to follow the regents, until we make it to a liberated Jerusalem,\u201d said one of the speakers at the rally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By early evening, the vast majority of the tents had been taken down. Some of the protesters said they were heading home for the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school year at UC Berkeley ended last week, capped off by protests at graduation on Saturday<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am greatly relieved that we were able to bring this protest to a peaceful end,\u201d said Christ. \u201cWe stand ready, as always, to also meet with any students from any community who wish to present requests and ideas for institutional action in support of their needs, interests and\/or values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, Christ told the Academic Senate she supported a cease-fire and end to the conflict. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remain deeply concerned about the death and destruction of critical infrastructure in Gaza, and about the ongoing impact on our university and its community,\u201d she said. \u201cFor those reasons, I personally support the efforts of our government to promote a cease-fire, gain the release of hostages, and initiate a process for negotiations that could bring the current conflict to a permanent end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan Parker contributed to this report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Eli Rosenberg: eli.rosenberg@sfchronicle.com<\/a>. Reach Nanette Asimov: nasimov@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @NanetteAsimov<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May 14, 2024|Updated May 14, 2024 7:55 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Eli Rosenberg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

REPORTER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eli Rosenberg comes to the San Francisco Chronicle most recently from NBC News, where he covered tech and economic issues. Before that, he was a reporter at the Washington Post for four and a half years, covering labor on the business desk. He has written about misinformation campaigns, politics, immigration issues, and fires and other disasters across the country. He spent years in New York as a metro reporter, at the Brooklyn Paper, Daily News, and the New York Times, and is looking forward to getting back to his roots as a local reporter. He lives in the East Bay with his family, and enjoys cold plunges, beach camping and exploring the Bay Area food scene when he’s not on deadline.<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Nanette Asimov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HIGHER EDUCATION REPORTER<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nanette covers California’s public universities – the University of California and California State University – as well as community colleges and private universities. She’s written about sexual misconduct at UC and Stanford, the precarious state of accreditation at City College of San Francisco, and what happens when the UC Berkeley student government discovers a gay rights opponent in its midst. She has exposed a private art college where students rack up massive levels of debt (one student’s topped $400k), and covered audits peering into UC finances, education lawsuits and countless student protests.

But writing about higher education also means getting a look at the brainy creations of students and faculty: Robotic suits that help paralyzed people walk. Online collections of folk songs going back hundreds of years. And innovations touching on everything from virtual reality to baseball.

Nanette is also covering the COVID-19 pandemic and served as health editor during the first six months of the crisis, which quickly ended her brief tenure as interim investigations editor.

Previously, Nanette covered K-12 education. Her stories led to changes in charter school laws, prompted a ban on Scientology in California public schools, and exposed cheating and censorship in testing.

A past president of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Northern California chapter, Nanette has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in sociology from Queens College. She speaks English and Spanish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By\u00a0Eli Rosenberg,\u00a0Nanette Asimov Updated\u00a0May 14, 2024 (SFChronicle.com) Pro-Palestinian\u00a0protesters who have camped out\u00a0at UC Berkeley since April with a set of demands for the university agreed to dismantle their encampment on Tuesday after administrators came forward with a set of modest concessions. The agreement hailed the end to a tent village… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33710"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33710"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33712,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33710\/revisions\/33712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}