A visiting professor, Yael Nativ, sued the Regents earlier this year. BIFI’s statement summarized the allegation as, “The complaint alleges that a department denied Dr. Nativ’s application to return as visiting professor because of her Israeli national origin, with the department chair citing fear of controversy as a reason for declining to host her class on Israeli dance again. Dr. Nativ also alleges that the campus failed to take action after the Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination substantiated her claim of discrimination.”
About a month ago, the Nativ and UC announced that they were in settlement talks, and now the agreement is available here [local].
In sum:
- “UC Berkeley affirms that an employee violated UC Berkeley’s policy against discrimination with respect to [Nativ]. UC Berkeley further affirms that UC Berkeley’s policies do not permit discrimination based upon Israeli national origin or Israeli citizenship, and that it will enforce its policies based on that understanding.
- UC is to pay $116k (60k to Nativ, 56 to her lawyers)
- “Chancellor of UC Berkeley, Rich Lyons, will personally apologize to [Nativ] for the discrimination against her…
- “UC Berkeley will invite [Nativ] to teach the course at UC Berkeley that she would have taught in Fall 2024 during the next semester of her choosing … and will compensate her at the standard rate for the course that she teaches.