A teaching assistant at the University of California Berkeley reportedly offered her students extra credit for attending a pro-Palestine walkout.
The aide, Victoria Huynh, reportedly sent students the details in an email on Tuesday, according to the New York Post.
In the email, which was posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Huynh said that her students had two options for extra credit. One option was to attend a student walkout “against the settler-colonial occupation of Gaza” or to “watch a short documentary on Palestine and call/email your local California representative.”
“Doing so will either count as a field trip of an extra 5 points on the field trip category of your grade,” she added.
This is a real e-mail distributed at an Asian studies class @UCBerkeley.
— Ale Resnik (@AleResnik) October 25, 2023
This is the same institution that welcomed in disgraced SF DA, Chesa Budin. pic.twitter.com/pAUmGvQslJ
Huynh reportedly said that students must provide photo proof to earn the extra credit points.
On Wednesday, UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof reportedly told J. The Jewish News of Northern California that “as soon as the administration was made aware of the assignment it moved quickly to ensure that it would be changed.”
Mogulof claimed that the “situation has been remedied,” and added that students can attend “any local event they wish – such as a book talk or a panel discussion – related to the course’s subject,” including the walkout, and that students can “watch any documentary they wish about the Middle East.”
In the email, Mogulof added that “awarding academic credit to students for participating in civil disobedience activity, or for deciding not to attend their classes, would, in most circumstances, be ‘misuse of the classroom’” pursuant to a school policy.