Left: The second Palestine Solidarity Encampment on Kerckhoff Patio, the same day as Chancellor Block’s hearing.
At 10:15am (EDT) on May 23, Chancellor Gene Block sat before Congress for a hearing on UCLA’s handling of antisemitism on campus. The hearing was led by Chairwoman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R). In this questioning, Chancellor Block continued to embrace false narratives about the Palestine Solidarity Encampment while failing to take accountability for the horrific attacks on students that took place under his watch. As Block testified, law enforcement continued to repress student voices at his administration’s behest, showing that UCLA’s failures did not end when police swept the first encampment: they continue to this day.
Block’s Opening Statement
The hearing commenced with a 5 minute statement from Chancellor Block (the full statement can be found here). As he spoke, the campus he left sprung into action: organizers prepared to refute the narratives pushed by lawmakers and show that they will not back down. Shortly after a second Palestine Solidarity Encampment was erected at Kerckhoff Patio, UAW Local 4811, representing tens of thousands of academic workers across the UC, announced a strike at UCLA to begin on May 28. While Block claimed that he was committed to free speech on campus, police lined up with less-lethal bullets to intimidate students and workers on their own campus. Striking contradictions emerged between Block’s assertions to Congress and the events that were unfolding at that very moment, showing exactly how his administration has opted to indulge false narratives rather than listen to its own students, faculty, and staff.
Chancellor Block: While I’m saddened by the recent turmoil on our campus, I’m also proud of our legacy as a university deeply committed to the peaceful expression of differing viewpoints… At UCLA, we draw the line when speech crosses into intimidation, threats, and harassment of our community.
Within hours of it being set up, law enforcement was issuing dispersal orders to the second Palestine Solidarity Encampment, armed with riot gear and less-lethal bullets. Demonstrators were peacefully occupying a public space on campus, in an act of protest that didn’t even “disrupt normal access to classes,” which had been used by Block as rationale for the first encampment’s sweep. There was no semblance of violence on Kerckhoff Patio that morning, unlike the counterprotest’s unauthorized jumbotron that played videos depicting horrific violence in the days prior to the mob assault on the original encampment. These disproportionate responses show that Block’s administration is not concerned with whether this “expression of differing viewpoints” is peaceful: they only take action if it conflicts with their own political and financial interests.
Chancellor Block: We follow University of California policy guidelines that direct its ten campuses to only use law enforcement to remove protesters when absolutely necessary to protect the physical safety of our community.
Just like the original, a fully peaceful site until it was attacked by violent counter-protestors and law enforcement, the second Palestine Solidarity Encampment was a space for UCLA’s community to come together. The crowds that gathered outside Kerckhoff were students and workers vocalizing their support for and solidarity with the organizers, who were bravely putting themselves at risk to stand against UCLA’s complicity in genocide. The only people at the scene with weapons were private security companies and the police, both invited onto campus by the administration.
Even after demonstrators dispersed from Kerckhoff Patio, LAPD maintained a heavy presence on campus, converging at Dickson Court to intimidate students who had initiated a fully peaceful sit-in at Dodd Hall. There were no clear threats to the “physical safety of our community.” Instead, students and workers standing together in solidarity threatened to overturn the administration’s continued repression of its campus’s voices. That was something Chancellor Block could not risk.
Chancellor Block: No student should be threatened or excluded based on their beliefs or identity. While we’ll always have to strive hard to meet this obligation, we must also maintain our commitment to academic freedom and free speech.
As Block uttered these words, UCLA was preparing to send student conduct notices to any students who had been arrested for their protests demanding that UCLA disclose and divest. The day after the hearing, students were instructed to schedule a meeting to discuss possible violations of university policy, with their degrees hanging in the balance. Quite literally threatening and excluding students for expression of their beliefs, these notices flip Block’s assertion on its head. It has been made clear that on Chancellor Block’s campus, freedom and free speech are secondary to the financial interests that aid in the murder of tens of thousands on the other side of the world.
More Highlights from Chancellor Block’s Questioning
Chancellor Block fails to challenge a reference to the Palestine Solidarity Encampment as terrorism.
Chairwoman Foxx: How many faculty and staff have you fired or suspended for antisemitic conduct, or conduct related to the pro-terror encampment?
Chancellor Block: [There are] ongoing disciplinary proceedings.
It appears that Chairwoman Foxx is referring to the (peaceful) Palestine Solidarity Encampment as the “pro-terror encampment.” Chancellor Block does not challenge the conflation of this demonstration with terrorism and antisemitism in this nor any other responses throughout the hearing.
Plans to sweep the encampment were initiated in response to violence on April 28th- the same day UCLA officially permitted an externally organized Pro-Israel counterprotest on campus.
Chancellor Block reveals that the demonstration-related violence on April 28th instigated the decision to clear the encampment for campus safety reasons. Note that the encampment was cleared on May 2nd.
Block does not acknowledge that his administration officially and knowingly permitted the externally organized Pro-Israel rally that attracted violent outside actors. These individuals have been evidenced to be overwhelmingly responsible for initiating violent interactions throughout the lifespan of the encampment.
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), along with other encampment organizers, had called upon UCLA Admin to retract permission for this externally organized and funded protest, claiming that it would attract violent counter-protestors who posed a threat to the safety of those in the encampment. SJP also publicly predicted that UCLA Admin would disproportionately attribute such violence to the attacked peaceful pro-Palestine demonstrators in order to justify removing the encampment– which is precisely what occurred.
Chancellor Block emphasized throughout the hearing that a key issue with the encampment was outsider participation. It follows from this claim that in authorizing the externally organized Pro-Israel rally, his administration knowingly escalated the situation, putting its hypocrisy on full display. Moreover, this claim is unsubstantiated: throughout the course of demonstrations, Pro-Palestine protesters have overwhelmingly been UCLA community members while counter-protestors have overwhelmingly been non-UCLA community members.
Block’s timeline also reveals that UCLA Admin was already planning the encampment sweep with UCPD, LAPD, and other police forces prior to both the April 30th attacks on the encampment and the brief May 1st negotiations between encampment organizers and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt. Since the sweep, SJP has maintained that claims of further negotiation are “patently false” and that “administration has refused to discuss with [encampment organizers their] demands.”
Block continues to conflate antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Various congress representatives claim that anti-Zionist rhetoric at Pro-Palestine demonstrations is antisemitic hate speech. Chancellor Block proceeds to answer all related questions, never disputing the conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
Block claims that UCLA treats all forms of discrimination equally.
While UCLA’s official policies treat all forms of discrimination equally, various stakeholders across UCLA and the world have accused UCLA admin of discriminating against Muslim, Palestinian, Arab and other people of color groups across the UCLA community.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), in her questioning, highlighted Block and his administration’s failure to protect its students.
Representative Omar: The recent images from UCLA are appalling. What is more appalling is that it was completely preventable. You could have prevented this by protecting the diverse groups of pro-Palestinian students that were peacefully gathered on campus to share meals, stand in solidarity against a brutal genocide. You could have prevented this by protecting these students’ First Amendment right to assemble. You could have prevented this when you learned about rats being released into the encampment. You could have prevented this when there was an anonymous group funded [that] constructed a giant video with loudspeakers to play vile and disturbing footage. You could have prevented this when you saw an angry mob on campus on the night of April 30th but you did not. Instead, you, the UCLA leadership, and law enforcement stood by for hours as the mob of agitators gathered near the encampment with a clear intention to cause violence. And because of your inaction, they acted on this intention and brutally attacked students you were responsible for. This happened in front of your eyes, on your campus, and it was live-streamed for the whole world to see.
Omar’s questioning perfectly encapsulates the failures of Chancellor Block in his allowing of a mob of violent agitators to terrorize students and workers at UCLA. Moreover, his administrations’ continued refusal to provide amnesty to students who were arrested or are facing disciplinary action further exposes UCLA’s lopsided handling of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment.
You, the UCLA leadership, and law enforcement stood by for hours as the mob of agitators gathered near the encampment with a clear intention to cause violence. And because of your inaction, they acted on this intention and brutally attacked students you were responsible for. This happened in front of your eyes, on your campus, and it was live-streamed for the whole world to see.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D), to Chancellor Gene Block
These failures are why thousands of academic workers at UCLA and UC Davis stood up this morning (May 28) and joined UC Santa Cruz in a strike. These failures are why students continue to put pressure on the UC to take accountability for its role in exacerbating the violence, as well as continued investments in companies fueling genocide in Gaza. These failures will be remembered by students, faculty, and workers alike as they stand against this genocide. It’s time to show UCLA that the people, united, will never be defeated.
Continue to follow the News Department’s live updates for constant, up-to-date information on the campus strike, demonstrations, and the war in Gaza. All perspectives shared above do not reflect the views or official position of ASUCLA Student Media.
