I mean, as a former Berkeley soc major, the ideological stance of your friends isn’t all that surprising. Consider what it is that soc majors learn about, especially at Berkeley (power, the state, systemic racial inequality, socioeconomic inequality, etc.). Also consider who it is that make up a large portion of soc majors at Berkeley. Over half are transfer students, many are formerly incarcerated, low income, undocumented, first gen, former foster care youths, BIPOC, and are (or was when I attended) majority women. You’re looking at a major made up of people (obviously not all, but many) who have a lot of first hand experience with police brutality, oppression, poverty, sexism, racism, and so on.

Not gonna lie, I have pretty radical leftist beliefs and am very anti-cop. I probably got into one too many arguments with people at Berkeley when I would try to vocalize my stance on policing, the government, capitalism, etc. I don’t so much anymore except around those who I know will understand where I’m coming from. But I lost some friends along the way, and it’s possible you might find your friends too extreme to handle. However, you’re also in an environment where students are encouraged to think critically and voice their thoughts about what’s going on around them. So in that regard, your friends might cool down a bit after graduation (but it’s also possible they won’t). You just have to decide whether or not their ideas are actually, in fact, too extreme to salvage your friendship with them. It’s possible that they’re just saying things to voice whatever frustration they feel (and that at the end of the day there isn’t any real action behind their words). But their thoughts are also valid, and at least their anger is directed upward at the people who hold a huge monopoly of power and violence (i.e. police) and not at other groups.

As a side note, blocking traffic and disobeying police orders by not moving when exercising your right to protest isn’t some unlawful and horrible thing. Social movement history shows that some of the biggest concessions were forced out by the total disruption of everyday life, either through civil disobedience or full on rioting. Not to say that this kind of thing will work in regard to stopping the housing there planned to be built in People’s Park, but there’s a long history of using strategies of disruption to force out a response.