BERKELEY — Concerned that the rights of students and faculty have been violated, a national Muslim civil liberties organization has requested UC Berkeley turn over any information it has on its cooperation with a Trump administration investigation into antisemitism on campus.
A California Public Records Act request was filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ San Francisco Bay Area office on Nov. 21 in response to the university’s sharing of 160 students, staff and faculty names as part of the federal probe.
“UC Berkeley’s decision to hand personal information about its own community members to the federal government is a grave breach of trust, particularly in this political climate,” said Jeffrey Wang, the nonprofit’s civil rights managing attorney in a statement.
UC Berkeley Assistant Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof declined to comment on the records request.
The U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice have been investigating the University of California since early 2025 to determine whether the university system was discriminating against students, staff and faculty by permitting antisemitism on campuses, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
Universities across the nation have been targeted with similar investigations following large student protests demanding institutions cut academic and financial ties to Israel. The demonstrations, including student occupations of campus buildings and encampments, were prompted by the Israel-Hamas war, which has resulted in the deaths of nearly 70,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis, according to the Associated Press.
University spokesperson Janet Gilmore previously said the decision to comply with the federal investigation was made by the University of California’s systemwide Office of the General Counsel “in compliance with its legal obligations to cooperate with the agency.”
The university shared numerous documents with the Office of the General Counsel which then shared those documents with the federal government in August, Gilmore said.
Students and faculty were then informed that their information had been shared in a September email.
The decision to cooperate with the investigation was met with strong rebuke from the academic community, including UC Berkeley Students for Justice in Palestine, a student-led advocacy group, and hundreds of academics from around the world who have worked with Cal faculty and signed a letter of concern addressed to University of California President James Milliken and UC Berkeley Chancellor Richard Lyons.
Under the documents request, the Council on American-Islamic Relations aims to learn exactly what types of documents were shared with the federal government, what legal guidance was used to justify the document sharing and whose call it was to cooperate.
“Students and faculty should not have to wonder whether their university is quietly feeding their names into federal investigations because of what they believe, what they teach, or what protests they attended,” Wang said. “Public institutions in California owe their communities transparency, accountability, and respect for their rights — not secret dossiers.”