BERKELEY, Calif. (TND) — A teaching assistant at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) offered students an opportunity to earn extra credit for participating in pro-Palestine activities.
Victoria Huynh, a Ph.D. student in ethnic studies and aide in lecturer Harvey Dong’s “Asian American Communities and Race Relations” course, made the offer to students Tuesday via email. Students were informed they could participate in one of two activities to earn five extra credit points, a screenshot of a message to students reads.
One option was to “attend the national student walkout tomorrow against settler-colonial occupation of Gaza,” and the other was to “watch a short documentary on Palestine and call/email your local California representatives.”
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The message earned 2.3 million views on X as of Thursday morning and drew broad condemnation from commenters who tagged @UCBerkeley.
“Extra credit for protesting anything is pathetic (shup up and read a book),” one said. “Extra credit for participating in a pro-Hamas protest is evil.”
“Extra credit for bending to my political, radical ideology!” another mocked.
UC Berkeley media affairs confirmed the existence of the extra credit opportunity in a statement to The National Desk (TND) Thursday, and added that it was changed "to provide students with a large number of options for extra credit, not just one."
The university’s code of conduct states the “use of the position or powers of a faculty member to coerce the judgment or conscience of a student” is considered “unacceptable conduct” by professors and graduate teaching assistants. “Evaluation of student work by criteria not directly reflective of course performance” is also unacceptable.
UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Ben Hermalin reminded faculty about the code of conduct in an email Wednesday.
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The invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists has fueled strong anti-Israel sentiment on U.S. college campuses. Last week, a Jewish Florida Atlantic University “trans studies” professor was arrested at a pro-Palestine demonstration outside Sen. Rick Scott’s office.
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