“Living in the Tropics”

That’s the euphemism Dick Cheney used in 2005 to defend the “enhanced interrogation techniques” used on prisoners in Guantanamo.

While Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and even the White House in DC all seem far from my Bay Area life, the Berkeley School of Law is only one block away from my apartment.

And that’s where John Yoo, author of the infamous “Torture Memos,” will resume teaching in the fall.

John Yoo served as an official in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel from 2001 to 2003 – basically, he worked as a legal adviser to President Bush. He’s also a UC Berkeley School of Law professor, and received tenure in 1999.

Yoo wrote the “Torture Memos” making it temporarily legal for interrogators at prisons like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib to practice what is recognized, by both U.S. and international law, as torture. Things like waterboarding, beating a prisoner’s head against a wall, and depriving prisoners of sleep for up to 11 days. According to Human Rights First, at least 8 inmates died as a result of these practices.

Christopher Edley Jr., the Dean of the Berkeley School of Law, wrote this statement, in which he agrees that Yoo’s decisions were poor. However, he argues that because of academic freedom, Yoo’s tenure as a UC Berkeley professor can not be ended unless he is convicted of a criminal act.

First of all, this is not true. A tenured professor at Berkeley can be fired for “violation of canons of intellectual honesty, such as research misconduct.” This article from the East Bay Express provides examples of Yoo’s conduct that can be interpreted as examples of Yoo creating what he thought the law should be – in other words, examples of Yoo making stuff up and violating intellectual honesty.

Second of all, the same article demonstrates how a case can be made that Yoo violated the Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure, which advises that professors should “at all times be accurate, should exercise appropriate restraint, and should show respect for the opinions of others."

The Office of Professional Responsibility, part of the Department of Justice, is about to release the results of its five-year investigation on Yoo and two other lawyers. Analysts suggest it is possible that this report will include a recommendation to disbar Yoo and, could potentially lead to a criminal investigation

For a general overview of not only John Yoo’s role, but also the U.S.’s policies towards and treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, check out Torturing Democracy.

As a student at UC Berkeley and a citizen of the U.S., it’s my (our) responsibility to try to understand this stuff while it’s still going on, while our actions or our silences can still make a difference.