Last month we learned from campus administration that the UCOP released documents containing unredacted personally identifiable information (PII) of 160 UC Berkeley faculty, students, and staff. This wholly unnecessary and legally improper disclosure came as the Regents were in closed-door negotiations with the Trump administration toward settling the demands made in its 28-page letter to UCLA. We have filed suit to have the demand letter vacated, and we worry that the release of PII is especially dangerous in the broader context of the DOJ’s weaponization of Title VI, a weapon that is now aimed at our university. 

Please join us this week for a panel discussion among Title VI experts who will help us understand the role of personally-identifiable information in the context of Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigations, and provide legal analysis on privacy rights and responsibilities. This panel is a first step in creating space for BFA members to generate ideas for collective action on this threat to our academic freedom.

Speakers:

Aslı Ü Bâli, Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law, Yale Law School and President of the Middle East Studies Association.

Catherine Lhamon, Executive Director, Edley Center on Law & Democracy, UC Berkeley School of Law, former Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education.

Brian Soucek, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law and Chancellor’s Fellow, UC Davis School of Law and member of the AAUP “Committee A” on Academic Freedom and Tenure.  

Cosponsors: BFA, UC-AFT, BFF2L