The San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today denounced UC Berkeley’s decision to suspend Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) lecturer Peyrin Kao for speaking out about Gaza and called on the university to reverse its decision.
On Dec. 4, 2025, UC Berkeley administration notified Kao that he would be suspended without pay for six months, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The decision, recommended by Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin, is based on two brief classroom statements that Hermalin characterizes as “serious misconduct”:
- April 2024: After dismissing students at the end of his last lecture of the semester, Kao spoke for approximately four minutes about ethics in technology, using Google’s collaboration with the Israeli military as an example, and expressed solidarity with fellow educators in Gaza.
- Fall 2025: At the beginning of his first lecture of the semester, Kao spent roughly 30 seconds informing students that he was in poor health due to an act of activism—without disclosing that the act was a hunger strike in protest of the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Hermalin alleges that these comments amount to “political indoctrination” and “misuse of the classroom” in violation of Regents Policy 2301. A recent report by UC Berkeley Law students with the Palestine Advocacy Legal Assistance Project (PALA) details how Regents Policy 2301 has been selectively enforced against Palestine-related speech, even as other forms of advocacy in the classroom have gone unpunished.
CAIR-SFBA said that the suspension is a blatant violation of academic freedom and First Amendment protections, and part of a broader effort to chill speech about Palestine on campus.
In a statement, CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo said:
“UC Berkeley’s suspension of Lecturer Kao sends a chilling message to students and faculty: speaking about Gaza will be met with retaliation. That is unacceptable at any institution, but especially at a public university bound by the First Amendment. Academic freedom is not a privilege reserved for viewpoints that political leaders find comfortable. UC Berkeley must reverse this decision, stop weaponizing vague policies against Palestine advocacy and ensure its campus is a place where truth and justice can be taught without fear.”
Earlier this year, CAIR-CA designated UC Berkeley a “hostile campus” after documenting a pattern of surveillance, intimidation and retaliation against students and faculty who speak out about Palestine.
The news of Kao’s suspension comes just three months after his name appeared among roughly 160 individuals whose identities UC Berkeley disclosed to the federal Department of Education as part of what the university described as an antisemitism investigation. Kao and advocates describe it as part of the Trump administration’s wider crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech.
In a statement, Kao 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. My suspension is the latest in a long line of faculty and students disciplined for taking a stance against occupation and genocide in Palestine.”
Kao, who is represented by the UC-AFT union, denies any wrongdoing and plans to appeal the decision. “The university is trying to make an example out of me and suppress any conversation about Palestine, because those conversations would expose the university’s investment in genocide,” Kao added. “I will not be deterred by this unconstitutional attack on free speech, and I intend to continue exercising my First Amendment right to advocate for a free Palestine.”
CAIR-SFBA encourages anyone experiencing harassment, retaliation, racism, or Islamophobia to contact its Civil Rights Department at 408-986-9874 or visit bit.ly/cairsfba-report-hate.
CAIR-SFBA is an office of CAIR, America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-SFBA Communications Manager Lorrie Adam, 408-498-5779, ladam@cair.com