202405032221 After Violent Night at UCLA, Classes Cancelled, UC President Launches Investigation Into Response

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called the incident “a dark chapter in our campus’s history” and said the university was “carefully examining our own security processes in light of recent events.”

What happens when an institution examines itself?

It is unclear how many people were injured in the incident. Drake wrote in the letter to the regents that 15 people were hurt. However, demonstrators said 25 members of their group were taken to hospitals for treatment.

Horrific acts of violence occurred at the encampment tonight, and we immediately called law enforcement for mutual aid support,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor for UCLA strategic communications, said in a statement. “The fire department and medical personnel are on the scene. We are sickened by this senseless violence and it must end.”

Around 1:40 a.m., police officers in riot gear arrived, and some counterprotesters began to leave. But the police did not immediately break up the clashes at the camp, which continued despite the law enforcement presence. “There must be a full investigation into what occurred on campus last night,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said Wednesday. “Those involved in launching fireworks at other people, spraying chemicals and physically assaulting others will be found, arrested and prosecuted, as well as anyone involved in any form of violence or lawlessness.”

As counterprotesters attempted to pull down the wood boards surrounding the encampment, at least one person could be heard yelling, “Second nakba!” referring to the mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Daily Bruin News Editor Catherine Hamilton said she was sprayed with some type of irritant and repeatedly punched in the chest and upper abdomen as she was reporting on the unrest. Another student journalist was pushed to the ground by counterprotesters and was beaten and kicked for nearly a minute, she said. Hamilton was treated at a hospital and released.

“Last night’s attack on UCLA students supporting Palestine was only the latest incident of violence against them. In recent days, pro-Israel extremists directed racial slurs and sexual threats at students, spat on a student and released a pack of mice into the encampment,” Ayloush said in a statement.

The violence came on the same day that the U.S. House committee investigating antisemitism announced Block would testify about his campus actions to stop bias and harassment against Jewish students. The May 23 hearing is also set to include the presidents of Yale and the University of Michigan. The hearings have derailed the careers of the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. Block has already announced he is stepping down as chancellor on July 31.

In a statement Tuesday, Drake, the UC president, said he “fully” supported UCLA’s action. UC must be “as flexible as it can” in matters of free speech, he said, but must act in cases where student learning and expression are blocked, university functions disrupted and safety threatened.

“But disruptive unlawful protests that violate the rights of our fellow citizens are unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”

How disruptive were the protests of the Palestine encampments on day-to-day life?

“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,” he wrote. He added that the incidents had put many on campus, “especially our Jewish students,” in a state of anxiety and fear. High levels of fear also have been reported by pro-Palestinian students, which Block did not mention — an omission that outraged some campus members.

Dan Gold, executive director of Hillel at UCLA, supported the university’s action, saying Jewish students have been bullied, harassed and intimidated around the encampment — including at least 10 who said they were denied access to nearby walkways after encampment monitors asked them if they were Zionists. A Star of David with the words “step here” was drawn in the area, he said.