Many UC regents and campus leaders have said they will no longer tolerate the encampments and intend to continue to enforce rules related to protests as they prepare for campuses to grapple with the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war when students return to classes in the fall. Riots may escalate.
“I believe encampments will not be tolerated,” Regent Rich Leib said in a recent interview before resigning as board president. “I believe the regents believe we need to enforce these rules.”
Protests spread on campus after Hamas militants attacked Israel in October and Israel launched massive and sustained military retaliation in Gaza. Starting in April, the encampment became a symbol of pro-Palestinian protests at many universities across the country, including all 10 University of California campuses.
But in the absence of system-wide directives on how to deal with these issues, campuses have responded differently. Days later, some prime ministers closed the camps after police intervention. Others allowed them to stay up for weeks before students voluntarily dismantled them. On some campuses, protesters have fortified spaces with defensive plywood walls and barricades, but Jewish students complained they blocked public walkways and buildings at UCLA and elsewhere.
While some camps remain peaceful gathering places that feature Palestinian teaching, art programs, and solidarity activities, others—particularly at UCLA—have become hotbeds of conflict and sources of anti-Semitic complaints .
UC is now laying the groundwork to meet growing calls for a tougher, more consistent approach to managing protests.
UC President Michael V. Drake has not issued a directive to chancellors ordering them to immediately cancel future camp events. But he is currently working with UC leaders on a plan to make all campuses more consistent on how to handle activities that violate free speech rules, and according to senior UC administrators, the guidance “will presuppose the immediate dismantling of any encampment.” The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.
“Looking ahead, Chancellor Drake is working closely with the UC chancellors to focus on learning from the events of the past few months and ensuring greater consistency across our system in implementing and enforcing key policies,” the president’s office said. statement.
The state ordered the formulation of a plan
UC’s actions will be closely watched by state lawmakers.
Lawmakers directed Drake to develop a “systemwide framework” for consistent enforcement of the rules and withheld $25 million in state funds until he submits a report on his efforts by Oct. 1.
UC must notify all students before the start of the fall semester of the rules regarding free speech activities, the student code of conduct, nondiscrimination policies, campus processes for resolving alleged violations and potential consequences, among other requirements. State reports must also include the University of California’s efforts to continue to enforce policies and laws that “protect safety and access to educational opportunities and campus spaces and buildings.”
Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee and co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, argued strongly for the condition, saying “it underscores how seriously we take these issues.” He said the legislation Authors hope the framework will show how the University of California will “prevent a repeat of last year’s violence and chaos.”
Drake’s office plans to speak with chancellors, regents, state and federal legislators, students, faculty and staff on “how UC campuses conduct core business while ensuring free speech thrives and everyone feels respected, valued and safe.” Consult with others.
The violence at the UCLA camp revolutionized tolerance. Outside agitators sparked a melee on April 30, five days after the camp was set up, and UCLA leaders failed for hours to secure enough law enforcement to quell the violence. Two days later, law enforcement stepped in to dismantle the tents, a controversial operation that led to the arrest of more than 200 people.
After the UCLA tragedy, the chancellors of Irvine, San Diego, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara also called on law enforcement to remove the tents. Students at UC Riverside, UC Davis, UC Merced and UCSF voluntarily ended encampments without police action.
Rich Leib is a San Diego businessman who has served as chairman of the UC Board of Trustees for the past two years and will continue to serve on the board.
(Haine Palmer IV/San Diego Union-Tribune)
As he made his first broad public remarks on the issues, Laib discussed his own involvement in protest management in an interview regarding his tenure as board chairman, which ended on June 30 after more than two years.
The protests were not the only issue that captured his attention during his tenure. Leib said his most important job is to get campuses to turn innovative research into entrepreneurial ventures and reduce central bureaucratic hurdles. He said greater access to coveted UC seats remains a key issue — satellite campuses are “very important” — as is the need for more student housing and campus diversity to reflect the state’s demographics.
But protests over the Israel-Hamas war became the most explosive, divisive and personally resonant issue of his tenure.
UC senior leaders back end of camps
Leib, who is Jewish and a staunch supporter of Israel, said he opposes encampments because they create security issues, impede campus operations, create an unwelcoming environment for those who disagree with protesters, and bring security and cleanup costs. Another issue, he said, is that if a group of people is allowed to camp, then everyone must be allowed to camp.
“I strongly support peaceful protest,” Leib said, adding that he demonstrated against South Africa’s apartheid system as a student at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the 1970s. “I’m not in favor of allowing 1 percent of students to basically ruin the school experience for the other 99 percent of students.”
Many regents and senior leaders supported Leib’s stance in interviews with The Times.
Regent Jose Hernandez also supports banning camping while preserving students’ right to peaceful protest.
“If we can legally say ‘You may not set up camps,’ I think we should enforce it,” he said. “That’s going to alleviate a lot of the issues rather than having things seep into your face and blow up.”
Protests escalate involving Prince Regent
Leib said the board initially deferred to the chancellor, who was authorized by the board to set campus rules to govern protests and decide when and how to enforce those rules. Campuses have enacted similar rules — banning camping, banning certain amplified sounds, blocking sidewalks, and disrupting classes and other university operations, among other activities.
Prime ministers initially allowed the camps as they sought to negotiate a peaceful end to them. This approach is recommended in UC system-wide guidelines that make dialogue the “cornerstone” of protest responses and the use of police forces as a last resort — at UC Davis during the 2011 Occupy movement. It was enacted after widespread outrage over police pepper-spraying student protesters.
But Leib said he and some other presidents are increasingly concerned about disparities in campus practices.
UC Berkeley was the first campus to allow camping on April 22, with then-Chancellor Carol Christ resisting pressure from the board and others to remove the camps, saying she was aware What’s best for her college. Three weeks later, protesters voluntarily dismantled the camp without police action after Christ signed an agreement to review university investment and academic exchange programs while making clear it would not target Israel.
Leib said he has never directed any campus to remove encampments but “strongly encourages” them to do so. For example, he said he repeatedly asked leaders at UC Santa Barbara how they planned to end the encampment, which lasted 54 days until police dismantled it on June 23 and arrested six people. He also monitors negotiations between campus administrators at Berkeley and UC Davis and protesters to make sure they don’t cross red lines — including targeting Israel or violating state law.
Some campuses have decided to take a tougher approach.
“Camping is not allowed,” UCLA said in a statement to The Times last week. “Regulations prohibiting blocking entrances, obstructing students and camping (except at authorized facilities or locations) have been in effect since 2017.”
UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla said his campus will follow policies set by the board of trustees and Drake’s office, as well as state law “as it relates to illegal encampments.”
Rebecca Hurtado Fairweather, who attended the Liberation Zone camp at UC Santa Barbara before graduating last month, said students vowed to continue protesting.
“Tents don’t create movement, people create movement,” Fairweather said. “People will find a way to show up the way they want. If the system isn’t willing to work with us, then we have to work outside the system.
Call for equal law enforcement
While many UC leaders are now calling for more consistent enforcement of campus rules, it’s not as easy as it sounds.
For example, how should a ban on camping be defined? UCLA students often line up overnight with sleeping bags in hand to get coveted tickets to sporting events. Last year, students at the University of California, Berkeley, protested plans to close the Anthropology Library, camping out there for nearly three months and then ending up sleeping in because the campus compromised by opening it as a reading room. Academic workers at UC Riverside occupied a building for a week during the 2022 strike. Should they all be kicked out by the police?
“How can we do it across the board? UC has never done that,” said a senior UC administrator, who requested anonymity discussing the sensitive topic.
Former UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal said most campus leaders don’t want to lose their autonomy to central orders that could force them to take actions they deem inappropriate — even if A unified playbook makes their jobs easier. Enforcement costs can also be high, he added, because campus police forces are too small to respond to large-scale civil disobedience demonstrations, and calling in outside law enforcement is also costly.
UC Academic Senate President James Steintrager said faculty leaders favor more consistency in enforcing the campus code of conduct and are concerned that students should not be subject to different rules, such as temporary admissions that could interfere with their earning their degrees. Suspension from school.
Like other leaders, he said campuses should vigorously defend First Amendment rights even if protest chants or signs make someone feel uncomfortable or offended.
Leib, who remains on the board and will lead the Academic Affairs Committee this year, said one of his most important priorities will be the safety of all students.
“I would be ashamed if we didn’t have strong feelings and strong controversy and these big gatherings to make your point. That’s what America is about,” Laib said. “But we must keep our campuses open to everyone. No one should have their campus experience ruined by others because they are Jewish or Muslim.
