More than 800 faculty and staff members at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have called for the resignation of Chancellor Gene Block in the wake of attacks by counter-protesters on pro-Palestinian student demonstrators and a violent police raid of the Gaza solidarity encampment on campus last week. The mass faculty action, which took place on Thursday, saw over a hundred professors and other teaching staff gather to deliver a letter in support of their students engaged in pro-Palestinian activism.
The letter, which was read by representatives from various departments, demanded that Chancellor Block immediately step down and called for an academic senate vote of no confidence in his leadership. Additionally, the faculty members urged authorities to drop all charges against students, staff, and faculty who were involved in the encampment.
Dan Froot, a UCLA world arts and cultures and dance professor representing senate faculty from his department, expressed outrage at the university's failure to protect its students from vigilante and police violence. "We are outraged at the university's failure to protect its students from vigilante and police violence and its refusal to uphold its stated values as made evident in the forcible removal and arrest of peacefully protesting students, faculty and staff," Froot said.
Volunteer medics who helped care for demonstrators injured by police and counter-demonstrators reported treating a wide range of injuries, including severe head lacerations, facial fractures, subarachnoid hemorrhages, rubber-bullet wounds, broken bones, and asthma attacks from chemical irritants. Katherine Marino, a history professor who read a statement from faculty in her department, noted that at least 25 students had been hospitalized, and roughly 200 protesters had been arrested, with police "dragging visibly injured students away."
The faculty letter also expressed solidarity with the students' demands, calling on UCLA to publish a report within 30 days disclosing all investments and for the university to "divest from military-weapons-production companies and supporting systems." Susan Slyomovics, an anthropology professor, read a statement on behalf of 75 Jewish faculty and staff, asserting that critiques of Israel are not presumptively antisemitic and that Jews who support the liberation of Palestine must not be devalued.
The faculty action comes as UAW local 4811, the largest union of academic workers representing 48,000 graduate student workers throughout the University of California system, is voting on a possible strike over administrators' response to pro-Palestinian protests. Matt Barreto, a professor of political science and Chicana/o studies, said the group of professors was discussing the "possibility to withhold our own additional labor" until the demands are met.
Purnima Mankekar, a UCLA anthropology professor, expressed her obligation to defend students at the encampment, stating that her job is to ensure the unimpeded learning and intellectual growth of her students. "When that gets disrupted by violence that is perpetrated on them by outside instigators or by the police, that makes me very upset," Mankekar said, adding that if students are unable to engage in peaceful protests, "the university is not a university, it's a police state."
Gary Segura, professor of public policy, political science, and Chicano/a studies, and a former dean, emphasized the significance of so many faculty members signing on to the letter. "Even faculty who may not have agreed with the student protesters' underlying issues were mortified by the video of LAPD cops firing [less-lethal munitions] into the crowd. Those are students. I found it just terrifying," Segura said.
The protests at UCLA come amid a backdrop of heightened tensions on campuses across the country, as pro-Palestinian encampment demonstrations and aggressive law enforcement crackdowns have become more prevalent during the graduation season. Chancellor Block announced earlier this week the creation of a campus safety office, headed by a former Sacramento police chief, to "identify the perpetrators of the violence and hold them to account." However, the faculty members' call for his resignation underscores the deep-seated concerns and frustrations over the university's handling of the situation.
