We, the undersigned faculty, librarians, and staff at UC Berkeley, call upon EVCP Hermalin to rescind the suspension of Computer Science Lecturer Peyrin Kao and to reinstate him in his position.

First: We believe that punishing Kao for brief oral remarks he made outside of class time in April 2024 violates his academic and political freedom, and that the precedent his punishment would set threatens the rights of all faculty on campus. Kao’s case appears to be the sole instance of a faculty member being punished for speech on the basis of Regents Policy 2301. Moreover, EVCP Hermalin’s letter ignores the constraints of Academic Personnel Manual 015, which defines the relevant standard of academic freedom as “significant intrusion” of irrelevant material. Consequently, Hermalin’s selective application of our university policy reveals the incoherent and unfair basis of this decision.  

Second: Punishing Kao for engaging in a hunger strike in Fall 2025 is even more absurd, and betrays a double standard in campus's treatment of faculty weighing in on today’s most important issues.

Third: We reject the university’s apparent complicity in the Trump Administration's unconstitutional repression of campus speech, particularly speech related to Palestine.

Update: we have over 300 signatures! Join them and see our list of signatories here.