UC Berkeley Sent 160 Names to Trump Officials Targeting Pro-Palestinian Activism

September 13, 2025

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

In a letter to UC Berkeley’s chief counsel, David Robinson, Butler described the disclosures as “a well-known practice from the McCarthy era”.

The University of California, Berkeley has disclosed the names of 160 faculty members, students, and staff to the Trump administration as part of a federal investigation into “alleged antisemitic incidents,” The Guardian reported on Friday. 

The decision has sparked outrage on campus and raised fears about a new era of government surveillance and political targeting of academics.

According to The Guardian, UC Berkeley sent letters to affected community members last week, informing them that their names had been turned over to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The move came as the Trump administration intensifies what the paper described as “an aggressive crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism, international students and academic freedom.”

Judith Butler, a prominent feminist philosopher and queer theorist, confirmed to The Guardian that they were among those named. In a statement, Butler said: “We have a right to know the charges against us, to know who has made the charges and to review them and defend ourselves. But none of that has happened, which is why we’re in Kafka-land … It is an enormous breach of trust.”

Butler, who is Jewish and has been openly critical of Israel, warned of the consequences for vulnerable groups on campus: “The consequences of this compliance could be really terrible for a lot of people’s lives, most of whom are much more vulnerable than I am. They can suffer a lot of things, especially the international students, including deportation, expulsion, job loss, harassment, surveillance.”

UC Berkeley officials confirmed to The Guardian that the names of 160 individuals had been disclosed, noting that the decision had been made by the University of California’s systemwide general counsel. 

A spokesperson for the UC president’s office defended the move, saying: “Like all public universities, the University of California is subject to oversight by state and federal agencies. Our campuses routinely receive document requests in connection with government audits, compliance reviews, or investigations. UC is committed to protecting the privacy of our students, faculty, and staff to the greatest extent possible, while fulfilling its legal obligations.”

Butler, however, accused the university of capitulating to federal pressure rather than defending academic freedom. “It’s shocking … did you consider not complying with this request?” they asked. 

In a letter to UC Berkeley’s chief counsel, David Robinson, Butler described the disclosures as “a well-known practice from the McCarthy era,” warning: “Will those of us named now be branded on a government list? Will our travel be restricted? Will our email communications be surveilled?”

The Guardian report noted that UC Berkeley’s normal procedures for handling complaints had been suspended, with allegations passed on to federal authorities without being adjudicated. Butler said this meant faculty did not know whether they had been directly accused of antisemitism or simply linked to an allegation through association.

The developments have alarmed many on campus, where students and faculty are reportedly organizing to object to the disclosures, citing potential violations of employment law, due process, and the principle of academic freedom. Butler told The Guardian: “It is a time to resist injustice that now threatens to be normalized by those who capitulate, sometimes in advance, to bullying tactics of extortion at the expense of basic standards that govern shared governance, institutional autonomy, due process, and fair review.”

UC Berkeley has been a symbolic center of student activism in the United States since the free speech movement of the 1960s. Butler reflected on this history in their interview with The Guardian: “We’ve been a place where controversial public issues can be freely debated. We have different views on Israel-Palestine. We need to hear them even when they upset us. That is the spirit of the place that I have been championing and affirming for 30 years. So it’s a heartbreak and it’s disgraceful.”

The Guardian further noted that the Trump administration has also targeted other elite universities — including Harvard and Columbia — with threats of federal funding cuts and demands for settlements as part of its broader campaign against campus pro-Palestinian activism.

As the controversy intensifies, UC Berkeley faces growing criticism for its compliance with federal demands. For Butler, the university’s decision undermines not only the principles of free speech but also “the basic ideals of the university as well as (its) important links to the future of critical thought, dissent, and democracy.”

(The Palestine Chronicle)