Berkeley Law Professor Draws Protest

Back in UC Classroom, Berkeley Law Professor Draws Protest

EVENT: Press Conference and Protest Action:
WHERE: UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall) steps

WHEN: Monday August 16, 2010
Press Conference 12 Noon
Procession Against Torture and Complicity begins 12:30

On this first day of Fall 2010 classes at Boalt Hall, John Yoo is expected to return to the classroom to teach Constitutional Law and other courses. Protesters have frequently challenged Yoo’s presence on the UC Berkeley Law faculty, pointing to his Office of Legal Counsel stay under the Bush administration. At OLC, Yoo authored legal memos which were instrumental in the development of military and CIA “harsh interrogation” techniques that many label as torture.

NEWS FLASH: The fall semester Boalt Hall course schedule has listed John Yoo’s courses, including a Constitutional Law class, but withheld classroom location information. This continues a “secret classes” policy invented last semester when Yoo’s classes were held in classrooms unidentified to anyone except students registered for those classes. In addition, as of yesterday Aug. 11, an unexplained change on UC’s website removed Yoo’s name from his previously listed Constitutional Law class, replaced with an “instructor to be announced” note.

“Right now we don’t know if Yoo will actually teach Constitutional Law but just stay ‘hidden’ from public view, or whether he is being replaced or has withdrawn himself from that class to avoid more controversy over his legal work supporting torture, unlimited presidential powers in so-called wartime. But until Yoo is removed from teaching and prosecuted, we’ll be here and these protests will continue,” said Stephanie Tang of World Can’t Wait today.
The press conference will feature prominent attorneys representing several generations of University of California law school alumni. They will mark the first day of Berkeley Law classes with demands for John Yoo to be removed from his teaching post, disbarred and prosecuted for war crimes. They will announce upcoming events, on and off campus, which will pursue these demands over the coming school year, notably, the “BERKELEY SAYS NO TO TORTURE” WEEK of protests, programs, and events this October.

Participants in the press conference and protest include World Can’t Wait, Fire John Yoo.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the National Lawyers Guild’s Committee Against Torture, Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Institute, the National Accountability Network, Code Pink, and other human rights and legal community representatives.

ENDS