The College Fix

University shuts down apparent attempt to hire on basis of race

An activist group called Critical Pacific Islands Studies Collective is seeking to expand its work at the University of California Berkeley.

The collective wants more “education and professional development opportunities,” as supports “scholarly work based on the critical and equitable study of the Pacific,” according to its website.

An undergraduate student leader in the group told The College Fix via email on Tuesday the Collective’s goals are being misrepresented by the student newspaper.

The group “is primarily focused on producing academic research and supporting the growth of Critical Pacific Islands Studies at UC Berkeley,” Viv Kammerer told The Fix.

Kammerer disputed a quote that The Daily Cal attributed to the activist about there being too many white faculty hires by the university.

“We are currently working with the editors of the Daily Cal to have them revise or redact the article because there are multiple misquotes and incorrect information,” Kammerer told The Fix. “The quote you pulled from me is one such example.”

“CPISC does not hire faculty,” Kammerer said on Tuesday. “We are not leading any faculty hiring processes happening at UC Berkeley. CPISC is a student organization without any staff or faculty roles.”

The Fix previously emailed other student organizers Sophia Perez, Kieren Rudge, and Nathan Tilton twice in the past two weeks.

They did not respond to questions about the legality of hiring on the basis of race, what critical Pacific Island studies entails, and next steps for their demands, including any university response. The school partially funds the effort by providing money for “Island Justice Fellows.”

Kammerer is an undergraduate student, while Perez, Rudge (pictured, left), and Tilton are graduate students.

Supreme Court has barred hiring on race, expert says

Should someone seek to hire on the basis of race, the university would have to reject that claim, according to an attorney.

“The equal protection clause prevents [UC Berkeley] from taking any action on the basis of individual’s race,” Wilson Freeman told The Fix via email. “Students for Fair Admissions made clear that universities cannot discriminate on the basis of race among applicants or among students,” he said, referencing the 2023 Supreme Court decision prohibiting affirmative action.

“We would take the view that any effort to treat students or applicants as anything other than individuals is a violation of the constitution,” Freeman said. “The Supreme Court made clear that students have to be treated with respect to their individual merit rather than as a member of a particular identity group. “

UC Berkeley told The Fix it cannot hire on the basis of race.

“California law prohibits the University of California and other state entities from using race, ethnicity or sex as criteria in employment, public contracting and public education,” spokesman Dan Mogulof told The Fix via email. “UC Berkeley abides by the laws of the land.”

The collective has other works in progress, including a podcast called “Ocean Stories.”

The podcast, with a promised launch date of Nov. 2024, “highlights issues facing the Pacific region by sharing visions and lived experiences from a growing collective of Pacific Islander researchers, activists, artists, and allies.”

The Fix could not find any episodes of the show, despite it reportedly launching two months ago. There are other podcasts with the same name, however.

“We seek to understand relationships between militarization, environmental justice, Indigenous cultural preservation, colonialism, climate change, and more,” the podcast description states.

The group also supports the anti-Israel “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” movement and says it supports “liberation in Palestine.”

MORE: University of Utah receives $500K for intersectional studies collective

IMAGE: UC Berkeley Critical Pacific Island Studies Collective

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