Complaint alleges UC Berkeley community farm bans whites

A California university is being accused of racism after allegedly banning white residents from a community farm co-owned by the university.

The University of California at Berkley is under investigation following claims that Gill Tract Community Farm is promoting segregation after a complaint was filed by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, according to Turning Point USA.

“UC-Berkeley thinks that racial segregation is progressive now, but it’s no different than segregation of the past,” William Trachman, general counsel for the Mountain State Legal Foundation said, according to The New York Post. “Preventing Caucasians from accessing Berkeley’s College of Natural Resources Farm on Saturdays is a clear violation of Title VI, which bars educational institutions from engaging in or allowing race discrimination.”

The complaint includes an email from a farm program manager explaining that Saturdays are “exclusively” for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).

“Exceptions have only been made for events that are BIPOC-centered and with plenty of advance notice and planning,” the farm manager wrote, according to The Post. “I trust you stand in solidarity with upholding boundaries around that safe and sacred space.”

Dan Mogulof, a university spokesperson, maintains the university was unaware of the allegations until the legal complaint was filed.

“The anonymous texts attached to the complaint have no specific information about time or place,” Mogulof told The Post. “And, as you can see, the Gill Tract’s website and calendar make no mention whatsoever of any program or activity of the sort described in the complaint.  

“The university takes complaints like this extremely seriously and I can assure you that on Monday I will contract the appropriate people on campus in an effort to determine what the face are.”  

The Gill Tract Community Farm, which was started in 2013 by UC Berkeley and the surrounding neighborhoods, strives “to collaborate across a diversity of classes, genders, races, ages, and abilities, resisting all forms of oppression, especially oppression based on race, gender and class.”  

The farm’s Community Agreement includes a clause that states: “We do not shame or belittle others, or make unsolicited comments on people’s bodies, race, gender, religion, or other aspects of their personal identity.”  

If someone violates the community agreements, members are encouraged to report the behavior to the Anti-Oppression Working Group.