Some 50 protesters, clad in orange jumpsuits and black hoods to emulate the infamous photos of prisoners in Iraq, picketed UC Berkeley's law school graduation ceremony Saturday, demanding that the university fire Professor John Yoo for his authorship of the Bush administration's policies on torture.
"We want to see him fired and disbarred for being a war criminal," said Anne Weills, an Oakland attorney who said she was with the National Lawyers Guild, one of the groups that protested. "Academic freedom stops when you intend to harm or injure somebody."
Yoo, a tenured constitutional law professor at Boalt Hall, took a leave of absence from 2001 to 2003 to work for the U.S. Department of Justice. During that time, he wrote what critics call the "torture memos," which protesters say outlined the legal basis for the use of torture at the Abu Ghraib (Iraq) and Guantanamo Bay (Cuba) military prisons.
Boalt Hall officials said earlier last week that Yoo would not attend Saturday's graduation ceremony.
Graduates and their families and friends generally were supportive of the protest, held outside UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre, but they were also supportive of Yoo's right to teach at the law school.
"He definitely should be prosecuted, but he deserves his day in court like anyone else," said Reem Salahi of Los Angeles, who graduated from the law school Saturday. "Some people think this protest takes away from a celebratory event, but I think it's a good opportunity to raise this issue."
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