The University of California, Berkeley suspended lecturer Peyrin Kao for six months after he used classroom time in 2023 to criticize Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and later publicized a personal hunger strike to draw attention to Palestinians’ suffering. Provost Benjamin Hermalin cited Regents Policy 2301—prohibiting use of instructional time for irrelevant political advocacy—in a letter reprimanding Kao. The case has ignited debate on academic freedom: defenders call the sanction a First Amendment violation, while administrators say the action crossed the line between classroom instruction and political organizing. Regents Policy 2301 requires faculty to keep instructional time on topic and not use it for partisan advocacy.