Civil Rights and Open Expression Training Transcript

Letʼs start with our campusʼ core values.

The UC Berkeley Principles of Community reflect our passion for critical inquiry, debate, discovery and innovation, and our deep commitment to contributing to a better world.

Every member of the UC Berkeley community has a role in sustaining a safe, caring and humane environment in which these values can thrive.

The seven Principles of Community affirm the intrinsic and unique value of each member of the UC Berkeley community. They serve as a guiding light for our personal and collective behavior, both on campus and as we serve society.

The seven UC Berkeley Principles of Community are: 

• Mission Impact: We believe that active participation and leadership in addressing the most pressing issues facing our local and global communities are central to our educational mission.
• Free Speech: We are committed to ensuring freedom of expression and dialogue that elicits the full spectrum of views held by our varied communities.
• Equitable Access: We embrace open and equitable access to opportunities for learning and development as our obligation and goal.
• Excellence in Diversity: We recognize the intrinsic relationship between diversity and excellence in all our endeavors.
• Honesty and Integrity: We place honesty and integrity in our teaching, learning, research and administration at the highest level.
• Just Community: We affirm the dignity of all individuals and strive to uphold a just community in which discrimination and hate are not tolerated.
• Civility and Respect: We respect the differences as well as the commonalities that bring us together, and call for civility and respect in our personal interactions.

Letʼs talk more about free speech. Free speech is indispensable to our society and is one of UC Berkeleyʼs most cherished values.

Under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, as well as the California Constitution, you have a right to free speech. That means you can articulate opinions and ideas without interference or retaliation from the government. The term speech constitutes expression that includes far more than just words, but also what a person wears, reads, performs, and more.

UC Berkeley supports the notion of a marketplace of ideas, in which a person can freely engage with and debate any speech they disagree with. Free speech is particularly important to a university like Berkeley whose goal is the discovery and establishment of truth.

As a public institution, UC Berkeley is prohibited from banning or punishing speech based on its content or viewpoint.

Letʼs consider an example of what this means. Campus policy permits Registered Student Organizations to invite speakers to campus, and the campus provides access to campus venues for that purpose. The campus cannot take away that right, or withdraw those resources, based on the views of the invited speaker, even if there are people on campus who find the speakerʼs views to be offensive or hateful.

When exercising your free speech rights, you do need to be aware of certain limits, rooted in public safety, on how and when you can express yourself on campus. Weʼll talk more about that in a moment.

As a Berkeley student, you also have a right to freedom from harassment and discrimination. Speech that violates policies against harassment and discrimination is not protected under the law. Weʼll talk more about this in a moment too.

Our free speech website, freespeech.berkeley.edu, has information about the First Amendment, the history of the Free Speech Movement at UC Berkeley, and how we keep our community safe and thriving while maintaining an environment where free speech is celebrated.

Now letʼs talk more about some of the rules that you should know, relating to expressive activity on campus. The right to speak on campus is not a right to speak any time, at any place and in any manner that a person wishes.

The campus has developed what are called Time, Place, and Manner rules in order to protect public safety, the functioning of the University as an educational institution, and the rights of everyone to teach, study, and freely exchange ideas. These rules include prohibitions on the following activities without specific documented permission obtained in advance from appropriate campus personnel:

• Attaching anything to campus structures except in designated areas.

• Sleeping at night outside on campus property.

• Blocking building entrances, hallways, roads, and walkways.

• Masking or covering your face, with the purpose of concealing your identity, in order to evade consequences while violating campus policy or engaging in criminal activity on campus.
• Not identifying yourself when asked to do so by campus officials who show their credentials and who are responding to an event or incident on campus.
• Disrupting or interfering with campus operations.

These restrictions apply regardless of the views or ideas being expressed.

Time, place, and manner rules are there to ensure events are held at a time and location that maximizes the chance that an event will proceed successfully and that the campus community will not be made unsafe. For large gatherings, Registered Student Organizations and other non-departmental groups must also adhere to the campusʼ Major Events Policy, which requires obtaining written permission from the campus.

The term hate crime does have a legal definition. A hate crime is a crime (such as vandalism, assault, or theft) where there is evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetratorʼs bias against the victimʼs protected identity, such as their race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender. A hate crime is a violation of the law. Perpetrators of hate crimes can be prosecuted.

Hate crimes reported to law enforcement agencies across California are analyzed each year by the California Department of Justice, which publishes an annual Hate Crime in California report. This report looks at hate crimes targeted at a range of identities – for example, Black/African American, Asian, and LGBT – and publishes the number of hate crimes targeted at each identity. 

A hate crime is a type of protected category harassment that violates the law. Hate crimes, along with all other protected category harassment and discrimination, are also prohibited by the UC Anti-Discrimination policy. If you have experienced a hate crime, you can report it to law enforcement. You can also report it to the campus Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination. That office oversees university policies prohibiting protected category harassment and discrimination, which we will cover next.

UC Berkeley, and all the UC campuses, follow policies that protect everyone in our community from harassment and discrimination based on a protected identity. These include the Anti-Discrimination Policy, the UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, and the Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy. These policies protect everyone in our community from harassment and discrimination based on a protected identity.

The following protected categories are defined in federal law, and listed in our Anti-Discrimination policy. All of us hold various of these identities: race; religion; color; citizenship; national or ethnic origin; ancestry; sex, including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation or related medical conditions; gender; gender identity; gender expression; gender transition; sexual orientation; physical or mental disability; medical condition; predisposing genetic information; marital status; age; veteran or military status.

Harassment and discrimination on the basis sex and gender includes things like sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship violence, and stalking, as well as discrimination based on gender identity, gender expression, gender transition, and sexual orientation. Many of these types of harassment and discrimination also fall under the federal regulation known as Title IX. They are all prohibited under the UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment.

Discrimination and harassment based on race, color, or national origin includes things like anti-Black or anti-Asian racism, Antisemitism or Islamophobia, or any bias-motivated conduct based on shared ancestry or ethnicity.The UC Anti-Discrimination policy prohibits this kind of discrimination and harassment.Harassment and discrimination based on racial, ethnic, or ancestral slurs or stereotypes is also prohibited. For example, the policy prohibits harassment and discrimination based on characteristics such as:

• skin color,

• physical features,

• style of dress that reflects both ethnic and religious traditions,

• country or region where an individual is from or is perceived to have come from,

• accent or name,

• limited English proficiency, or
• speaking a language other than English.

So how can you recognize protected category discrimination and harassment? What does it look like in real life?

Letʼs start with a few definitions, and then weʼll go into examples.

Discrimination is adverse or unequal treatment, taken because of an actual or perceived protected identity, that unreasonably denies,unreasonably limits,or materially interferes with someoneʼs ability to fully participate in their education, employment, or other university activities.

Harassment is any conduct that 

• is unwelcome,
• is based on an individual or group’s protected identity or perceived protected identity,

• is severe, persistent, or pervasive,

• interferes with, limits, or denies someone an opportunity to fully participate in their education, employment, or other university activities,
• and creates an intimidating or offensive environment.

Harassing conduct can be verbal or physical. It does not have to be directed at a particular individual.

We talked earlier about free, or protected, speech. Speech that qualifies as harassment or discrimination is not protected, because it violates the civil rights of others.

Now letʼs discuss a few examples of behaviors that might violate our Anti-Discrimination Policy. Some of these examples may be deeply personal for you. Itʼs understandable if you find it difficult to engage in this topic. But itʼs really important for you to understand ways that harassment and discrimination can occur on campus so that you can care for yourself and others

We will only be able to cover a few examples. Please know however that individuals have experienced harm based on many other identities than what we are able to cover here.

Those identities are no less important.

First, we will go through a few examples of harassment and discrimination based on Race, Color, National Origin, and Religion. All of these examples are prohibited under UC policy.

Examples of Discrimination and Harassment Based on Race, Color, National Origin, Religion

• A professor bars Jewish students from a seminar on the Middle East based on the belief that their ties to Israel will polarize class discussions.
• A student refers to a Palestinian-American student as a terrorist, removes and destroys the studentʼs keffiyeh, and threatens the student with physical harm if he attends campus events.
• Students touch a Black studentʼs hair on more than one occasion and make comments about the studentʼs hair, including asking if it is real or fake, if she straightens it, and how long it takes to straighten.
• An employee from India reports that her name is repeatedly mispronounced by her supervisor and she is frequently mocked by students for her accent.
• An employee repeatedly tells an Asian-American colleague to go back to China, frequently expresses anti-Chinese sentiments, and follows the employee to her vehicle after work, and physically intimidates her, leaving her fearful to go to work.
• A faculty member declines to hire a Mexican-American graduate student as a research assistant because the faculty member says the student belongs in Mexico, not in California.

Examples of Discrimination and Harassment Based Gender

Next, we will review some examples of prohibited harassment and discrimination based on gender, including gender identity, gender expression, and gender transition.

• A student reports that her professor encouraged her to drop a course because of her pregnancy.
• A non-binary student employee, who uses they and them pronouns, reports that their supervisor refuses to use their proper pronouns, known as misgendering.
• A trans man reports that students in his residence hall continue to refer to him by a name he used before transitioning genders, also known as deadnaming, even though he has clearly communicated his lived name and pronouns to them on several occasions.

Now that youʼve learned about a few examples of harassment and discrimination, what can you do if you witness a situation you are concerned about? First, know that you can be part of the solution in making the Berkeley community safer and more inclusive for everyone. Bystander intervention is a great tool and has the power to transform our campus. The CARE Model, from Bears that Care, equips you with options for taking action. Depending on the situation at hand and your personal style for intervening, there is always a strategy in the acronym CARE for taking action while keeping yourself safe.

• C is for Confront the Situation. For example, you can directly address a friend about a microaggression. You could start by saying “Hey, I found something you said earlier to be really hurtful.ˮ

• A is for Alert Others. For example, you can talk to the party host about a student who appears drunk and is behaving in a menacing way toward other people, saying “Iʼm worried about this person. And their behavior is making other people uncomfortable. Can you please check on them?ˮ

• R is for Redirect Attention. For example, if you observe an argument between two people get heated, you can come up with an excuse to separate them, such as saying to one person, “Hey, your friend was looking for you! Letʼs go find them together!ˮ

• E is for Engage After. For example, you can wait until after the incident has passed and check in on the person who was impacted. For example, you could say to them “Hey, what that person said to you was not okay. I wanted to see how youʼre feeling. How can I support you?ˮ

How the University responds to harassment and discrimination

There are many more such examples that we could cover. But letʼs switch gears now and talk about how the University would respond if conduct like this were to occur.

The University is committed to maintaining a community dedicated to the advancement, application and transmission of knowledge and creative endeavors through academic excellence, where all people who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in an atmosphere free of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

In order to live up to these goals, the University has offices that help ensure that policies are upheld.

The UC Berkeley office that oversees policies prohibiting protected category harassment and discrimination and who you should contact if you feel you have been targeted based on your identity is called The Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination, or OPHD for short.

OPHD responds to all reports from students, faculty and staff, and offers consultation (even anonymously) for any questions about rights, supportive measures, or options for resolution.

To contact OPHD, you can submit a report online using the webform on their website, ophd.berkeley.edu, you can email ask_OPHD@berkeley.edu or you can call and leave a message at 510-643-7985.

OPHDʼs motto is “Report Equals Supportˮ.

That means that OPHD prioritizes the individual who has been harmed, and works with them to determine the right course of action

If a report doesnʼt provide enough information for OPHD to be able to identify and communicate with the harmed person, OPHDʼs options for response may be limited. But OPHD will still engage in an assessment process with every report, to determine how the campus might be able to improve the climate and prevent further harm.

Throughout the process, complainants can decide whether to initiate a resolution process; the university can offer support services to all parties and witnesses; all parties can have an advisor accompany them; and the University will offer supportive measures, including no-contact directives and academic and workplace adjustments, if appropriate.

It might also happen that another student or community member discloses to you that they believe their civil rights were violated. If that happens, we encourage you to respond with care and concern, just as you would want someone else to respond if you were the one disclosing harm.

Check in to ensure that they feel comfortable and safe in the immediate environment. Donʼt press for information or solutions. Honor their boundaries. And importantly, point them to OPHD so they can be connected to resources and make a report to the university, if they wish to do so.

Every individual has a choice about whether or not they want to make a report to OPHD about harassment and discrimination they themselves have experienced.

However, UC employees do have reporting obligations under university policy that require them to notify OPHD if they learn about harm to others. These are called Responsible Employee obligations. For example, if a UC employee learns that a UC student has experienced conduct that would be prohibited under the UC Policy on Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment, the employee is required to share this information with OPHD.

You may very well be employed by UC Berkeley, now or later in your time here. If you are employed by UC Berkeley, you have Responsible Employee obligations yourself.

Managers and supervisors have heightened reporting obligations beyond those that every employee has. This is something you may want to be aware of, as a student. You can learn more about reporting responsibilities on supportal.berkeley.edu/reporting.

Weʼve just talked a lot about reporting protected category harassment and discrimination to OPHD. You may be wondering: what happens when a report is made to OPHD, either by a harmed individual, a Responsible Employee, or someone else?

As we mentioned, OPHD always tries to contact the harmed individual to offer support and see what that individual wants to do.

In some cases, a harmed person might want a formal investigation, but the identity of the person who caused the harm is unknown. Even if OPHD can’t hold an individual accountable, they can still provide support and engage in other responses like training and messaging. In other cases, they might want only supportive measures for the impact the incident had on their academics or other university activities. Sometimes harmed individuals donʼt want to talk to OPHD at all. There is no right or wrong way for individuals to react. OPHD values the opportunity to speak with the harmed person to go over the many rights, resources, and options that OPHD can offer. For example, if a harmed individual is not interested in a formal investigation, but they are seeking some resolution, OPHD might suggest alternative or informal options such as an educational conversation. Another powerful tool is training.

OPHD can work to arrange or facilitate training with other campus departments such as Equity and Inclusion, OASIS and other partners.

If the harmed individual does want a formal investigation, and OPHD has identified a policy basis for proceeding with a formal investigation, then OPHD will interview people with knowledge of the events in question, collect other relevant evidence, and make a determination of whether policy has been violated. If OPHD finds a policy violation, then the university may take disciplinary action against the student or employee responsible.

As weʼve just learned, the university responds to all conduct that violates university policy by being harassing, discriminatory, or otherwise causing a hostile environment for students, faculty, or staff.

But some speech that is protected by the First Amendment, and doesnʼt violate a policy, can still cause harm. Even speech that occurs off-campus, such as on social media, can create a hostile environment. Itʼs important for you to know that someone who is harmed in this way can still receive support for the impact to their well-being and their education. If you report an experience of harm, you will be offered support, even if what you experienced isnʼt a violation of policy.

In addition to offering support to individuals, the campus can also broadly communicate its opposition to stereotypical, derogatory opinions. The campus can remind everyone of UC Berkeleyʼs Principles of Community.

We know that discussions of harassment and discrimination, and the harm that speech can cause, can be difficult to hear. Please remember that there are resources available if you need to process any thoughts or emotions. We at UC Berkeley truly hope that our grounding in policies and Principles of Community means that you donʼt experience any harm in our community. But we want you to know that there is support for you, if this does happen.

Beyond OPHD, the campus offers a range of confidential supportive resources to students. The PATH to Care Center is a confidential resource offering support, useful information, and healing options for those who have experienced sexual violence or sexual harassment. Counseling and Psychological Services, and Social Services, are also confidential resources available to all students, through the University Health Center. And the Ombuds Office for Students and Postdoctoral Appointees is another confidential resource that students can contact at any time.

Letʼs talk a bit about how to create the kind of community we want for ourselves. We all play a role in creating a healthy campus climate. A healthy climate can and should include vigorous debate. Itʼs part of the university experience to learn new things and to encounter perspectives you do and do not agree with. The goal is to do so civilly and respectfully. How can you engage in respectful dialogue and bridge across differences? Here are a few tips from the Greater Good Science Centerʼs Bridging Differences Playbook, which is available online:

• Listen with compassion: Weʼre more likely to want to bridge our differences with someone when we feel listened to and understood by them—and weʼre more effective at connecting with someone when we really listen to where theyʼre coming from.
• Expand Your Activities, Expand Your Views: Through exposure to new people, events, and experiences, we can broaden our own sense of whatʼs comfortable and familiar to us. Popular ways to do this include traveling or consuming media outside of your typical feed.
• Seek and Promote Counter-Stereotypical Information: Stereotypes and implicit biases that we have about other people or groups can dictate how we treat them.

But if we are receptive to information that challenges those stereotypes, our views can become more positive—and our behavior may follow.

• Put People Before Politics: It can be hard to have constructive political conversations. Especially when weʼre often quick to stereotype people based on their political views. But if you get to know the other person first as an individual and perhaps even better, understand why they developed their perspective, the conversation is likely to be more productive.
• Perspective Taking and Giving: Imagine the perspective of someone from a different group. Trying to understand the world through their lens, and understanding where theyʼre coming from, improves our attitudes toward that group and makes us less likely to see them as other.
• Find Shared Identities: Even when someone seems different from you, chances are, you can find at least one important identity that you have in common.
• Understand Values: If youʼre trying to appeal to people with a different ideology, try to discover what values resonate with them, then present your argument in terms of how it supports those values, rather than your own.
• Try Self-Distancing: Sometimes we get so caught up in our own thoughts and emotions that we have a hard time considering someone elseʼs point of view. Research suggests thinking of ourselves in the third or second person can help us better regulate our emotions and engage in difficult conversations.

The campus community has a wealth of knowledge about bridging across difference, openness to new ideas, and engaging in healthy dialogue. You can find some of these resources, as well as others mentioned in this presentation, on the Universityʼs support website, known as Supportal, at supportal.berkeley.edu. Please consult the Community and Belonging section of Supportal for resources about belonging and bridging across differences. Please make use of the Harm and Misconduct section of Supportal if you, or someone else, has experienced harassment or discrimination and need support and information about reporting. Please consult the Free Speech and Expressive Activity webpages on the Office of Ethics, Risk, and Compliance Services website (oercs.berkeley.edu) for information about free speech, protected speech, and time, place, and manner rules.

And of course, you can always find the campus Principles of Community on the Chancellorʼs website.