A University of California, Berkeley-linked teacher training program funded with taxpayer dollars is under fire after a watchdog group claimed it promotes activist-oriented ethnic studies that cast controversial revolutionary figures as heroes.
Defending Education released a report Monday examining UC Berkeley’s high school ethnic studies training initiatives, including a 2024 session titled “Teaching Histories of Anti-Imperialistic Solidarity.”
The group alleges the program encourages educators to present figures such as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the Black Panther Party in a positive light tied to race, power and political struggles.
Rhyen Staley, the organization’s director of research, said the training blurs the line between education and activism.
“It’s not just talking about individuals like Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, groups like Black Panther Party, but it is promoting them as heroes of a far-left socialist movement,” Staley told The Center Square. “That’s really the issue with ethnic studies on the whole… it is a far-left political programming meant to train young children to become street activists.”
The report also highlights references to the Venceremos Brigade, an organization that arranges trips to Cuba and is described as a fiscal project of The People’s Forum.
Researchers further flagged language used in the 2024 session, including a land acknowledgment referencing “witnessing the ongoing genocide of Palestinians” and calling for “solidarity campaigns for the liberation of Palestine, Congo, and other oppressed countries.”
A panelist was quoted saying, “If you’re not talking about Palestine, you’re not doing ethnic studies.”
The report also says instructors discussed using images of Castro, Che Guevara and the Black Panthers in classroom instruction, describing them as “the vehicle to articulate a particular vision.”
Defending Education is now calling for federal scrutiny of the program.
“I would love to see some sort of investigation from the U.S. Department of Education,” Staley said.
UC Berkeley did not directly address the specific allegations.
The university said it adheres to “the highest standards of academia,” pointing to its academic record and Nobel Prize affiliations.
Lance Izumi of the Pacific Research Institute said California’s ethnic studies debate reflects a broader fight over curriculum direction, with districts increasingly adopting more radical interpretations of state guidelines.
He also argued that classrooms lack ideological balance, pointing to conservative Black thinkers such as Thomas Sowell, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and Glenn Loury as examples he says are missing from instruction.
“It’s simply indoctrination,” Izumi told The Center Square.
