Members of the UCLA Academic Senate voted against filing a censure and statement of “no confidence” against UCLA President Gene Block, amid criticism of the university's response to pro-Palestinian campus camps and acts of violence. It rejected requests to issue a formal disapproval of the leadership. It was attacked by a mob more than two weeks ago.
On the “no confidence” resolution, 79 faculty members voted in favor, 103 opposed, five abstained, seven attended but did not vote, and 43% of delegates voted against UCLA's top leadership.
Regarding censure, 88 teachers were in favor, 88 were against, 3 abstained, and 15 attended but did not vote. Since there were evenly split votes for and against the censure, a majority was required for the bill to pass, and it was not passed.
Block declined to comment on the vote.
“It is clear that we do not agree on how to view the major events of the past few weeks and the campus response to them,” Academic Senate President Andrea M. Casco wrote in a letter to faculty on Friday. said. Kasko, a professor of bioengineering, said he hopes that “as colleagues, we can strive to find common ground and have the courage to open up and listen even when we disagree.” .
After the vote, University of California President Michael V. Drake said: “These are extremely complex and unprecedented times for American universities. We thank President Block for his dedication and contributions to the university during this difficult time. We will continue to provide the Prime Minister with the support and resources he needs.”
The decision by the Academic Senate would have been a largely symbolic vote, with no legal authority over Mr. Block's position, even if the motion had passed.
Both votes focused on whether Mr. Bullock “failed to ensure the safety of students and seriously failed to respond to events” related to a pro-Palestinian camp on campus that began on April 25. I guessed it.
On April 30, a mob attacked the encampment overnight, leaving multiple people injured as police responded slowly. Police then moved in to take control of the camp and arrested more than 200 protesters.no–The same words were used in the motion of confidence and the motion of censure.
The vote was conducted by a Legislative Assembly of more than 200 members across UCLA's faculties, elected to represent 3,800 tenured and tenure-track faculty.
It was another somber moment for the leader of the nation's top public research university. Mr. Block, who has long been praised for steering the campus through a financial crisis and global pandemic by expanding enrollment, diversity, philanthropy and research funding, ended his controversial 17-year term. will put an end to it. Mr. Block, a biologist, announced last year that he would step down on July 31 to return to his research.
“This shows that many faculty members support President Bullock and understand that he is adhering to UC policy,” said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly. said the person. “People are starting to realize that Prime Minister Bullock has been put in an impossible situation.”
Faculty opinions reflected the split in the vote.
Jeffrey Malloy, associate professor of molecular cell and developmental biology, voted against both motions.
“We support the investigation, but we don't feel like there was a good-faith effort to gather information and do some self-reflection and find out what the policies are and whether they were violated. “I couldn't do it,” Malloy said. “It felt like we were trying to find a scapegoat.”
Malloy said he felt the censure resolution was unclear, and asked whether Bullock's actions were being scrutinized for censure because the prime minister did not respond to the protesters' demands. Didn't he call the police right away the night of the mob attack? Or should he not have called the police?
“While they may have been persuaded to vote for certain actions related to certain things, it felt incredibly vague and aligned with faculty who wanted to claim ideological victory,” Malloy said. said.
Michael Chue, a political science professor and member of the Legislative Council and one of the groups leading the push for censure and no confidence, said he still considered the vote an “achievement.”
“Fifty percent of our faculty came from across the university, including the School of Medicine and School of Dentistry. [who] said Chue, who helped write a letter signed by more than 900 faculty and staff across the University of California calling for Block's resignation. The letter also called for amnesty for students, staff and faculty who participated in encampments and peaceful protests, disclosure of all university investments, and divestment from military weapons manufacturing companies.
“We obviously would have liked to have had more support,” Chue said. “This is the beginning of a lot of work that people are doing to create accountability and keep students safe on campus.”
Chue said these efforts include faculty support for the strike by United Auto Workers 4811, a campus union that includes graduate students, and is scheduled to begin Monday at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Stated.
Renee Tajima, a professor of Asian American studies and a member of the Legislative Council, said the censure and vote of no confidence were “not surprising.”
“Who was in charge when the students were beaten and injured because no university authorities tried to help them?” Tajima said. “I couldn't imagine that students would be brutally attacked and the next day Brock would call in this massive police force to arrest students and use rubber bullets. …This vote was about what's right and what's right. It's the least we can do as teachers to say what's wrong.”
The Senate's decision removes one issue from the long list of challenges facing the Prime Minister in his final six weeks in office.
In a letter Wednesday, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, asked Mr. Bullock, Mr. Drake, and Rich Reeve, chairman of the University of California Board of Regents, for all documents. , communications and documents requested. Security video related to alleged anti-Semitic incidents at UCLA since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
The committee set a deadline of May 21, two days before a hearing in Washington, D.C., where Block and his counterparts from Michigan and Yale will testify about anti-Semitism on college campuses. The hearing is the next in a series of congressional hearings that have so far featured university presidents: Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and the superintendents of Berkeley Public Schools.
The vote on Mr. Bullock's leadership is the latest in several actions by U.S. university faculty over how the government has handled pro-Palestinian protests.
On May 8, the University of Southern California's Academic Senate issued a statement citing “widespread dissatisfaction and concern among faculty and staff over administrative actions and decisions” related to the cancellation of a pro-Palestinian student valedictorian's speech and the removal of riot police. , passed a resolution to censure President Carol Folt and President Andrew Guzman. campus encampment.
On Thursday, 61% of Columbia University's graduate faculty The Faculty of Arts and Sciences has cast a vote of “no confidence” in President Minoush Shafiq. The president has come under fire for his decision last month to deploy police to arrest campus protesters, including students who occupied university buildings.
Three weeks of unrest at UCLA began on April 25, with students expressing solidarity with the Palestinians, condemning Israeli actions in Gaza, and UCLA withdrawing from companies that provide weapons and services to Israel. They set up a camp on the campus lawn to demand that they do so. There was initially no violence at the encampment, with protesters engaging in activities such as teach-ins, making art, and doing yoga.
UCLA declared the encampment illegal on April 30. A violent mob stormed the encampment late that night, leaving students to defend themselves against beatings, pepper spray, and fireworks for three hours. Police in riot gear arrived in the early hours of May 1, but it took several hours to quell the violence.
Since then, many people have been held accountable for this fiasco. Internal and external investigations are ongoing.
