On Saturday, a group of student protesters disrupted the USC vs. Cal Berkeley football game in support of a teacher who has been suspended for stalking and sexual harassment.
UC Berkeley students rushed the field at California Memorial Stadium and sat down on the 50-yard line shortly after the coin toss. The protesters wore shirts that read, “Justice 4 Ivonne” in reference to suspended professor, Ivonne del Valle, and demanded that she be reinstated at the liberal arts university before they were handcuffed and escorted off the field by authorities.
Ivonne del Valle was suspended from UC Berkeley and placed on administrative leave following an extensive investigation into claims of stalking, sexual harassment, and retaliation. According to KQED, del Valle allegedly repeatedly stalked and harassed Joshua Clover, an English and Comparative Literature professor at UC Davis, which began in 2018 and lasted until 2022.
She also reportedly retaliated against Clover and violated a no-contact order.
Professor del Valle admitted to many of the allegations brought forth during the university's investigation which revealed that she keyed Clover's vehicle, vandalized property outside his apartment door, contacted his friends, posted images of his partner online, left messages outside his mother's house, and mass called Clover's office phone line, according to the outlet.
In an interview, del Valle took ownership of her actions and said: “If I had the opportunity to do things differently, I would do them differently. I did write outside his door, ‘Here lives a pervert.' I did that. And again, I'm not proud.”
Despite the results of the investigation, the UC Berkeley student protesters want to see her return to the classroom. Professor Ivonne del Valle worked in the Spanish and Portuguese departments and was a favorite professor among so-called “LatinX” students and faculty.
If del Valle is not reinstated, her student supporters are threatening to go on a hunger strike.
A UC Berkeley spokesperson, Janet Gilmore, said Professor del Valle has not yet been terminated because she is a tenured faculty member. The UC Board of Regents is aware of the investigation and will determine her status of employment.
