Peyrin Kao

Who is Peyrin Kao?

Peyrin Kao is a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer whose “data structures” apparently don’t include the distinction between teaching Java and pushing a political agenda. This academic activist has managed to turn his CS 61B classroom into a personal Gaza advocacy platform, earning himself a suspension without pay for Spring 2026. Nothing says “intro to programming” like a hunger strike and a little light political indoctrination!

How Did Peyrin Kao Misuse His UC Berkeley Classroom?

Peyrin Kao’s approach to teaching data structures apparently includes bonus content on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict whether his students signed up for it or not. The EECS Department Chair slapped him with a censure letter that basically said “knock it off or you’re fired” after the first incident. But Kao, ever the overachiever, decided to double down rather than, you know, actually teach computer science.

• November 2023 – Kao ends his CS 61B lecture early to blame Israel for October 7th, telling students “The U.S. is the biggest backer of Israel and its current bombing campaign in Gaza,” inviting a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) member to recruit students for anti-Israel protests, and telling students to support BDS. These actions earned him a formal censure letter from EECS Chair Claire Tomlin.
• April 2024 – Kao makes closing remarks after lecture ends, attributing EECS’s diversity problems to the department’s reluctance to discuss social issues, then pivoting back to his Gaza obsession. EVCP Hermalin noted that “students could not teleport themselves out” of the lecture hall fast enough to escape his “optional” political commentary.
• December 2025 – UC Berkeley suspends Kao without pay for Spring 2026, citing violations of Regents Policy 2301’s prohibition on “political indoctrination” in the classroom. Executive Vice Chancellor Hermalin suggested he would be fine with “permanently terminating Mr. Kao’s employment.”

What Was Peyrin Kao’s Hunger Strike Actually About?

Just when you thought Kao could not possibly find new ways to bring Gaza into his data structures classroom, he decided to put his own body on the line. After receiving a formal censure and racking up multiple violations of university policy, Kao escalated his activism in the most dramatic way possible when he announced an open-ended hunger strike at the start of the Fall 2025 semester, turning his personal health crisis into yet another classroom spectacle that his CS 61B students never asked for. This was not a protest happening on the quad or during his personal time.

• August 2025 – Kao announces his “open-ended hunger strike” to protest “the use of tech in Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” informing his CS 61B students of his “starvation diet” with a link to his website where they could learn more about his cause. He consumes approximately 250 calories per day while presumably expecting his students to focus on binary trees and sorting algorithms.
• September 2025 – UC Berkeley turns Kao’s name over to the federal government as part of a civil rights investigation into campus antisemitism. Kao addresses the UC Board of Regents on Day 22 of his strike, complaining the university wants “to silence any mention of Palestine in the classroom.”

• October 2025 – Kao ends his hunger strike after 38 days “to avoid permanent damage to his body.”

Why Was Peyrin Kao Suspended for His Gaza Fundraising?

Kao apparently decided that helping students learn data structures was not enough. He also needed to raise money for a guy whose dad was a convicted terrorist. His enthusiastic fundraising for Nedal Mohammed would be comically tone-deaf if it were not for the fact that he was leveraging his university position to promote a cause with ties to known terrorist organizations.

• November 2025 – Jewish Onliner exposes that Kao was the primary promoter for a fundraiser collecting over $66,000 for Nedal Mohammed. Mohammed’s father was a PFLP member serving three life sentences, and his family has documented ties to Hamas and the PFLP. These connections were conveniently “forgotten” by Kao when he asked donors for money.

• December 2025 – CAIR defends Kao’s suspension as “a blatant violation of academic freedom,” while MESA sends a letter expressing “concern” about the decision. Because nothing says “academic freedom” like using your lectern to fundraise for families with terrorist connections. CAIR, for the record, has been known for antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric.

Conclusion: What Does Peyrin Kao’s Suspension Mean for UC Berkeley?

Kao’s suspension exposes the ugly truth that some professors view their classrooms as political battlefields rather than centers of learning. His repeated violations of UC Regents Policy 2301, which explicitly prohibits instructors from using the classroom for “political indoctrination,” demonstrate a troubling pattern of activism masquerading as education.

Kao’s actions appear to violate federal protections against using university resources for political advocacy while simultaneously creating a hostile environment for Jewish students who might not appreciate their data structures professor turning their lecture hall into a Gaza protest.

As Provost Hermalin noted in his recommendation, Kao’s actions “distorted the instructional process” in a manner “deviating from the responsibilities inherent in academic freedom.” At what point does “academic freedom” become academic fraud when it involves fundraising for individuals with documented ties to designated terrorist organizations?