Editorial: Chancellor Block’s Emails – A Story of Strategic Deception & Discrimination

Dear Bruin Community:

[1.1] This past Thursday, a group of demonstrators — both members of the UCLA community and others unaffiliated with our campus — established an unauthorized physical encampment on part of Royce Quad, joining those who have set up similar presences at universities around the country.

[1.2] Many of the demonstrators, as well as counter-demonstrators who have come to the area, have been peaceful in their activism. But the tactics of others have frankly been shocking and shameful. We have seen instances of violence completely at odds with our values as an institution dedicated to respect and mutual understanding. In other cases, students on their way to class have been physically blocked from accessing parts of the campus.

[1.3] UCLA supports peaceful protest, but not activism that harms our ability to carry out our academic mission and makes people in our community feel bullied, threatened, and afraid.

[1.4] These incidents have put many on our campus, especially our Jewish students, in a state of anxiety and fear.

In response, we have taken several immediate actions. We have significantly increased our security presence in the area, including adding greater numbers of law enforcement officers, safety personnel and student affairs mitigators. We have also engaged law enforcement to investigate the recent acts of violence.

The barriers that demonstrators used to block access to buildings have been removed, and we have staff located around Royce Quad to help ensure that they will not go up again.

[1.5] With regard to these incidents, our student conduct process has been initiated, and could lead to disciplinary action including suspension or expulsion.

We continue to encourage anyone who experiences discrimination to report it to our Civil Rights Office. If you feel you are in danger, contact UCPD.

I recognize that the suffering in the Middle East has had a profound impact on our campus, and we continue to hope for a peaceful resolution. While Bruins hold a variety of perspectives on this conflict, we must all protect the wellbeing of our peers and maintain an environment safe for learning. This is a commitment I call on our community to uphold as we navigate the weeks ahead.

Sincerely,

Gene D. Block

Chancellor

[1.1] Block begins by misleading readers into believing that a significant portion of encampment demonstrators are not affiliated with UCLA. In reality, all documentation of Pro-Palestine protests and counter protests at UCLA throughout 2024 clearly reflect that Pro-Palestine protesters have overwhelmingly been UCLA-affiliated, while counter protesters have overwhelmingly not been.

In effect, Block understates the involvement of the UCLA community in the encampment and Pro-Palestine cause. 

[1.2] Here Block misleads readers into believing that encampment demonstrators have significantly contributed to the violence surrounding the demonstrations. In reality, even at this point, prior to the Tuesday night attack, Pro-Palestine demonstrators had been overwhelmingly peaceful, having only been documented to engage in violence in self-defence. 

[1.3] Given that Block was called to Congress to testify on his handling of antisemitism at UCLA the day prior, and explicitly emphasizes his focus on protecting the wellbeing of Jewish students in this email, it is implicit that Block is asserting that the peacefulness and permissibility of Pro-Palestine demonstrations will be assessed on the basis of how they make (subsets of) Jewish students ‘feel’, rather than whether Pro-Palestine demonstrators are actually antisemitically bullying or threatening Jewish students. 

Notably, the perceived antisemitism surrounding the Pro-Palestine demonstrations largely stems from the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism- a false Zionism-driven association Pro-Palestine demonstrators have overwhelmingly refuted. As such, Block’s approach is not neutral as it validates misinterpretations of anti-Zionism as antisemitism rather than working to cultivate ‘mutual understandings’ – a value Block reaffirms in the previous sentence. 

[1.4] By explicitly stating that Jewish students had ‘especially’ been affected by hate speech and violence on campus in recent days- while in reality encampment demonstrators of various ethnic and religious backgrounds had overwhelmingly been the primary targets for violence and hate speech since the encampment’s establishment- Block asserts that violence and hate speech directed at Pro-Palestine demonstrators would largely be overlooked. As such he inadvertently sets the stage for the racist, xenophobic and Islamophobic terrorist attacks on encampment demonstrators later that night.

[1.5] Block fails to specify which specific types of actions violate which codes of student conduct. The lack of clarity of rules and repercussions discourages cautious student participation in protests, even when their engagement in protests would not have violated codes of conduct. In particular, it is unclear whether the ‘unauthorized’ nature of the encampment makes participation in it a violation of student conduct codes.

Dear Bruin Community:

Late last night, a group of instigators came to Royce Quad to forcefully attack the encampment that has been established there to advocate for [2.1] Palestinian rights. Physical violence ensued, and our campus requested support from external law enforcement agencies to help end this appalling assault, quell the fighting and protect our community.

However one feels about the encampment, this attack on our students, faculty and community members was utterly unacceptable. It has shaken our campus to its core and — adding to other abhorrent incidents that we have witnessed and that have circulated on social media over the past several days — further damaged our community’s sense of security.

I want to express my sincere sympathy to those who were injured last night, and to all those who have been harmed or have feared for their safety in recent days. [2.2] No one at this university should have to encounter such violence. Our student affairs team has been reaching out to affected individuals and groups to offer support and connections to health and mental health resources.

I also want to acknowledge the trauma and heartache this has brought to our full campus. Resources are available to students through the Student Affairs website and Counseling & Psychological Services, and to employees through the Staff & Faculty Counseling Center.

We are still gathering information about the attack on the encampment last night, and I can assure you that we will conduct a thorough investigation that may lead to arrests, expulsions and dismissals. We are also carefully examining our own security processes in light of recent events. To help in these efforts, I urge those who have experienced violence to report what they encountered to UCPD, and those who have faced discrimination to contact the Civil Rights Office. We are grateful for the support of law enforcement and their efforts to investigate these incidents.

This is a dark chapter in our campus’s history. We will restore a safe learning environment at UCLA.

Sincerely,

Gene D. Block

Chancellor

[2.1] Block reductively refers to the encampment’s objective as ‘to advocate for Palestinian Rights’, refraining from mentioning their well-defined demands for university divestment from Israel and its ongoing genocide in Palestine.

[2.2] At the time Block made this statement, he was already actively planning Thursday morning’s violent police assault on peacefully protesting students and faculty in the encampment. 

That is to say, while affirming that ‘no one at this university should have to encounter such violence’, Block was simultaneously authorizing the use of rubber bullets, flashbangs and batons on hundreds of peacefully protesting students and faculty.

What’s Missing…

While Block explicitly emphasized the importance of protecting Jewish students from harassment and violence in his previous email, in this email Block refrains from acknowledging the (well documented) Islamophobic, anti-Arab, racist, anti-LGBTQ and sexist nature of the terrorist attacks on the encampment. 

Dear Bruin Community:

[3.1] Our community is in deep pain. We are reeling from days of violence and division. And we hope with all our hearts that we can return to a place where our students, faculty and staff feel safe and, one day, connected again.

[3.2] Our approach to the encampment that was established on Royce Quad last week has been guided by several equally important principles: the need to support the safety and wellbeing of Bruins, the need to support the free expression rights of our community, and the need to minimize disruption to our teaching and learning mission.

The events of the past several days, and especially the terrifying attack on our students, faculty and staff on Tuesday night, have challenged our efforts to live up to these principles and taken an immense toll on our community.

[3.3] We approached the encampment with the goal of maximizing our community members’ ability to make their voices heard on an urgent global issue. We had allowed it to remain in place so long as it did not jeopardize Bruins’ safety or harm our ability to carry out our mission.

[3.4] But while many of the protesters at the encampment remained peaceful, ultimately, the site became a focal point for serious violence as well as a huge disruption to our campus.

Several days of violent [3.5] clashes between demonstrators and counter-demonstrators put too many Bruins in harm’s way and created an environment that was completely unsafe for learning. [3.6] Demonstrators directly interfered with instruction by blocking students’ pathways to classrooms. Indirectly, violence related to the encampment led to the closure of academic buildings and the cancellation of classes. And frankly, hostilities were only continuing to escalate.

In the end, the encampment on Royce Quad was both unlawful and a breach of policy. It led to unsafe conditions on our campus and it damaged our ability to carry out our mission. It needed to come to an end.

Over the past several days, we communicated with and made a formal request to meet with demonstration leaders to discuss options for a peaceful and voluntary disbanding of the encampment. Unfortunately, that meeting did not lead to an agreement.

To preserve campus safety and the continuity of our mission, early this morning, we made the decision to direct UCPD and outside law enforcement officers to enter and clear the encampment.

[3.7] Officers followed a plan that had been carefully developed to protect the safety of protesters at the site.

[3.8] Those who remained encamped last night were given several warnings and were offered the opportunity to leave peacefully with their belongings before officers entered the area. Ultimately, about 300 protesters voluntarily left, while more than 200 resisted orders to disperse and were arrested.

UCLA facilities teams are now in the process of taking down structures and cleaning up the quad, and we ask that students, staff and faculty continue to avoid the area.

[3.9] I want to be clear that we fully support the right of our community members to protest peacefully, and there are longstanding and robust processes in place that allow students, faculty and staff to gather and demonstrate in ways that do not violate the law or our policies.

[3.10] I urge Bruins to take advantage of these many opportunities, which were designed to support advocacy that does not jeopardize community safety or disrupt the functioning of the university.

I also want to recognize the significance of the issues behind the demonstrators’ advocacy. [3.11] The loss of life in Gaza has been truly devastating, and my administration has and will continue to connect with student and faculty leaders advocating for Palestinian rights to engage in discussions that are grounded in listening, learning and mutual respect.

[3.12] Similarly, we will continue to support our Jewish students and employees who are reeling from the trauma of the brutal Oct. 7 attacks and a painful spike in antisemitism worldwide.

We will also continue to investigate the violent incidents of the past several days, especially Tuesday night’s horrific attack by a mob of instigators. When physical violence broke out that night, leadership immediately directed our UCPD police chief to call for the support of outside law enforcement, medical teams and the fire department to help us quell the violence. We are carefully examining our security processes that night and I am grateful to President Drake for also calling for an investigation.

The past week has been among the most painful periods our UCLA community has ever experienced.

[3.13] It has fractured our sense of togetherness and frayed our bonds of trust, and will surely leave a scar on the campus. While Counseling & Psychological Services and Staff & Faculty Counseling Center are available to lend support to those in need, I also hope we can support one another through this difficult moment and reaffirm the ties that unite us as a community of learning.

Gene D. Block

Chancellor

[3.1] Block situates himself beside the traumatized in an attempt to detract from his instrumental role in inflicting this psychological and physical ‘pain’ on ‘our community’.

[3.2] Block’s handling of the encampment and peaceful Pro-Palestine demonstrations have violated all three of these principles:

Violations of Principle 1: ‘Support the safety and wellbeing of Bruins’

• Block failed to protect Pro-Palestine student and faculty demonstrators from terrorist attacks
• Block ordered a violent police clearing of peaceful Pro-Palestine demonstrations
• The Anti-Palestine undertones of his first email, combined with UCPD’s failure to arrest a single Pro-Israel attacker on April 30^th signalled that fascism and hate crimes would be tolerated at UCLA’s campus, attracting right-wing extremists to the UCLA area in days following the terrorist attacks.

Violations of Principle 2: ‘Support the free expression rights of our community’

• Block ordered the destruction of a peaceful protest encampment on public state land and arrest of peaceful protesters.
• Block attempted to silence peaceful encampment demonstrators with threats of disciplinary action and arrest. 
• Block closed campus for a week just hours after a peaceful Pro-Palestine protest began on Monday April 6^th. Block is also complicit in the unexplained UCPD arrests of approximately 40 students on their way to a peaceful protest on the same day. Alarmingly, journalists were also arrested by UCPD on May 6^th .

Violations of Principle 3: ‘Minimize disruption to our teaching and learning mission’

• In the wake of the encampment clearing, police presence on campus, police-inflicted physical injuries, arrests of students and faculty, remote learning and community-wide trauma have caused disruptions to learning incomparably greater than those caused by the encampment. 

[3.3] Block claims to have ‘maximized’ community members’ ability to make their voices heard on an ‘urgent global issue’, and yet suppresses their voices by refraining from mentioning the issue by name. 

[3.4] With his victim-blaming logic, Block would have put an end to 1960s civil rights protests that became focal points for racist Ku Klux Klan attacks. 

[3.5] Block returns to misrepresenting the violence of racist, xenophobic, Islamophobic terrorist attacks on Pro-Palestine demonstrators as mutually instigated fights. The believability of this fictitious narrative both relies on and reinforces implicit biases and racist stereotyping of POC and Muslim demonstrators as aggressive and violent.  

[3.6] Note throughout these three emails, this is the only disruption to learning Block can directly attribute to the encampment. As such, Block exaggerates the encampment’s disruption to pathways. In reality, given the encampment’s location and the already reduced accessibility of the Royce Quad due to construction, the encampment lengthened journeys across campus by under 5 minutes at most. 

Notably, in his Alumni Town Hall following the encampment clearing on May 2^nd, when asked if the encampment prevented students from accessing Powell Library, Block hesitantly responds:

‘I have to be careful, I don’t know all the specifics, but there was blockage to some of the entrances to the library. There are other entrances, and I think we made sure that other entrances were clear, but I think there’s at least one video of someone trying to get to one of the entrances and being blocked’.

Block’s hesitation, discomfort and non-committal language suggests a conscious effort to exaggerate the disruptiveness of the encampment to campus pathways.

Moreover, in the same response, Block proceeds to assert that encampment demonstrators wrongfully blocked access to the Royce Quad as they

‘(mistakenly) thought that was the space that they were policing themselves’.

It is true that encampment demonstrators were ‘policing’ Royce Quad themselves, but this was necessary given that the UCPD (and later LAPD) failed to do so throughout violent attacks on the encampment on April 30^th and nights prior. 

Moreover, Block fails to acknowledge that it was only on the morning of Sunday April 26^th in preparation for anticipated violent attacks related to a major Pro-Israel counterprotest scheduled later that day that the encampment expanded into surrounding pathways blocking access to the front entrances of Powell Library and Royce Hall. Note that had the encampment not expanded as such, encampment demonstrators would have had to defend themselves (without police support) against the April 30^th terrorist attacks on four fronts rather than one, dramatically increasing the number and severity of injuries:

[3.7] With dozens of injuries and hospitalizations due to police violence, this statement is objectively untrue.

[3.8] Block constructs a false dilemma. He attempts to mislead the reader into believing that the alternative to ‘leaving peacefully ‘ is ‘staying violently’. In reality, protesters who remained in the encampment overwhelmingly did neither- nearly all who stayed ‘stayed peacefully’.

[3.9] Block claims to support protests that adhere to laws and policies but has abused his administrative power to enact and enforce policies that suppress Pro-Palestine demonstrations. For example, in response to the legal, peaceful Pro-Palestine sit-in protest at Dodd Hall on May 6^th, the UCLA administration cut water supply to the building and subsequently suspended most in-person campus operations for 5 days, reducing the visibility and impact of on-campus protesting during that period.

[3.10] Block propagates the fallacy that peaceful protesting must not be disruptive. In reality, from Selma to Stonewall to BLM to the Women’s Suffrage March, the most impactful protests have historically been disruptive.

[3.11] Block inadvertently invalidates Pro-Palestine protesters’ cause and demands by suggesting that their concerns can be resolved through discussions, rather than material action. Block thus asserts that the Pro-Palestine students and faculty would retract their demands for divestment from the apartheid state of Israel and genocide in Palestine following engagement in intellectual discourse with Block’s administration. As such, Block reinforces the colonial proposition that resistance to Western imperialism results from a lack of enlightenment on Western knowledge and perspectives. 

[3.12] Block (rightfully) recognizes and supports UCLA’s Jewish community, acknowledging how the October 7^th Attacks have affected this subset of the community. However, when discussing Palestinian rights and the crisis in Gaza, Block abstracts these issues from the UCLA community, never acknowledging the existence of hundreds of Palestinian, Muslim and Arab community members who are directly impacted by these issues. 

[3.13] In reality, the UCLA community’s approach to the encampment has become even more unified in the wake of the encampment’s destruction. Currently thousands of UC Alumni, dozens of student organizations, USAC and hundreds of faculty and staff have all called for Gene Block’s resignation on the basis of his neglect towards student safety, suppression of free speech and disregard for the encampment’s demands. That is to say, the greatest fracture in the UCLA community at the moment does not lay between Pro-Palestine demonstrators and other community members, but rather between Block’s administration and the overwhelming majority of the UCLA community.