UC Berkeley Professor Urges Law Firms Not to Hire His ‘Anti-Semitic’ Students

Law Professor Steven Davidoff Solomon at University California, Berkeley wrote an op ed in the Wall Street Journal warning legal employers to not hire his law students, because some of them are antisemitic.

Professor Solomon said that some of his law students promoted hate toward Jews and therefore should not be given jobs.

“My students are largely engaged and well-prepared, and I regularly recommend them to legal employers,” Solomon wrote. “But if you don’t want to hire people who advocate hate and practice discrimination, don’t hire some of my students.”

Solomon warned that the student conduct at Berkeley “is part of the broader attitude against Jews on university campuses” – he said this attitude “made last week’s massacre possible. It is shameful and has been tolerated for too long.”

“It’s time for the adults to take over, and that includes law firms looking for graduates to hire.”

Indeed. While we all have the First Amendment protecting our right to free speech, it does not protect anyone from the consequences of depraved and contemptible speech.

Professor Solomon continued:

Last year, Berkeley’s Law Students for Justice in Palestine asked other student groups to adopt a bylaw that banned supporters of Israel from speaking at events. It excluded any speaker who “expressed and continued to hold views or host/sponsor/promote events in support of Zionism, the apartheid state of Israel, and the occupation of Palestine.” Nine student groups adopted the bylaw. Signers included the Middle Eastern and North African Law Students Association, the Queer Caucus and the Women of Berkeley Law.

The bylaw caused an uproar. It was rightly criticized for creating “Jew-free” zones. Our dean—a diehard liberal—admirably condemned it but said free-speech principles tied his hands. The campus groups had the legal right to pick or exclude speakers based on their views. The bylaw remains, and 11 other groups subsequently adopted it.

You don’t need an advanced degree to see why this bylaw is wrong.

The professor advises potential legal employers interviewing law students from Berkeley, Harvard, NYU or any other law school, “ask them what organizations they belong to. Ask if they support discriminatory bylaws or other acts and resolutions blaming Jews and Israelis for the Hamas massacre.”

And future employers, be sure to hurry and do this before the California Legislature passes a bill making it discriminatory to ask such questions during employment interviews. California prohibits employers from asking applicants about their criminal history, so it’s not a stretch to assume asking them what organizations they belong to, or if they blame Jews and Israelis for the Hamas massacre is next in the list of job interview prohibitions.

Professor Solomon added, “If a student endorses hatred, it isn’t only your right but your duty not to hire him. Do you want your clients represented by someone who condones these monstrous crimes?”