More than 800 University of California faculty and staff called Thursday for the resignation of UCLA Chancellor Gene Block over the handling of a pro-Palestinian encampment and related violence that erupted on the Westwood campus, including an assault on the camp by masked assailants that was allowed to rage for hours before police intervened.
The faculty members attached their names to an online petition that calls for the ouster of Block, as well as full amnesty for all students, staff and faculty who were involved in the encampment. The petition also calls on the university to fully disclose within 30 days all of its investments, and to divest from “all military weapons production companies and supporting systems.”
According to the university’s website, UCLA alone has more than 8,200 faculty members and an overall staff of more than 31,000 people.
Faculty and staff members gathered on the UCLA campus Thursday to express their concerns and deliver the petition to Block and university administration. After a short news conference, the group marched to the campus’ Murphy Hall, chanting, “Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest.”
Campus security met the group at the doors of Murphy Hall, preventing them from entering and reaching the chancellor’s office.
There was no immediate response from Block, who is already scheduled to retire at the end of July.
The online petition notes that organizers are monitoring a possible strike by the Graduate Student Academic Workers’ union, and if such a strike vote occurs, “those of us who are senate faculty will not perform any struck labor in spring 2024,” and they are also considering “the possibility to withhold our own labor” until the demands are met.
On Friday, the UCLA Academic Senate, which represents campus faculty, will hold an emergency meeting to consider a resolution of “no-confidence” and a formal censure of Block. Those resolutions both state that Block “failed to ensure the safety of our students and grievously mishandled the events of last week.”
The resolutions are similar to those taken up Wednesday by the Academic Senate at USC, which voted to formally censure USC President Carol Folt and Provost Andrew Guzman. That group tabled a no-confidence resolution.
The faculty actions are the latest fallout following last week’s dismantling of the massive encampment at UCLA’s Royce Quad. The police action resulted in 209 arrests. The removal of the encampment came roughly 24 hours after a group of masked assailants launched a violent attack on the protesters, setting off fireworks and deploying tear gas in a clash that protesters said resulted in dozens of injuries.
Complaints quickly arose following that attack, which observers said was allowed to continue unfettered for several hours before police intervened and restored order.
Gov. Gavin Newsom was among those condemning the violence and seemingly slow law enforcement response. University of California President Michael Drake also announced an independent investigation of the UCLA response to the violence.
The UC announced Tuesday it was hiring 21st Century Policing Solutions — a police-tactics consulting firm — to lead the university system’s independent investigation of actions taken at UCLA that culminated in last week’s violence.
Block, meanwhile, announced earlier this week that he remains committed to identifying those who carried out the attack.
“To that end, inaugural Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Safety Officer Rick Braziel is leading a law enforcement investigation to identify the perpetrators of the violence and hold them to account,” Block said. “The LAPD has committed a detective to assist in our investigative efforts, and we have also connected with the FBI about possible assistance. We have spoken to Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón to solicit his help in ensuring that the instigators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Citing unnamed law enforcement sources, the Los Angeles Times reported that the investigation will include the use of facial-recognition technology, while also employing license plate readers to determine who entered the campus or was driving in the vicinity that night. The investigative tools being employed are comparable to those used by federal authorities investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Over the weekend, Block announced the creation of the Office of Campus Safety, with Braziel placed in charge of the operation.
Block said that office is also conducting a review of the UC Police Department’s response to the attack and conducting an analysis of UCLA’s security protocols. It is assessing all acts of violence that has occurred on campus over the past 12 days. Braziel is expected to create a plan to put in place to establish additional means of protecting students, staff and visitors on campus, Block said.
The union that represents campus police officers at the 10 University of California schools has repeatedly blamed UCLA administrators for the delayed response to the attack on the encampment and other violence between counter-protesters and people at the pro-Palestinian encampment.
“The written guidelines for roles and responsibilities make clear that senior UC administrators on each campus are solely responsible for the university’s response to campus protests; those administrators decide the objective, and campus police are only responsible for tactics in implementing those objectives,” Federated University Police Officers’ Association President Wade Stern said in a statement.
“As such, the UCLA administration owns all the fallout from the response and lack of response to this protest.”
Dozens more people were arrested on the UCLA campus on Monday morning, when the university had planned to return to in-person classes following two days of remote learning prompted by the encampment activity last week. Early Monday morning, authorities arrested roughly 40 people in a campus parking garage, and UCLA Police said they were carrying materials indicating they were prepared to break into and possibly barricade themselves inside a building.
Police said the group was carrying items such as bolt-cutters, super glue, padlocks, heavy-duty chains and metal pipes, along with printed materials “encouraging vandalism and violence.”