Faculty Response to Violence on Our Campus

Dear Department of Art Community,

We want to acknowledge how incredibly horrific and difficult this past week has been and to extend our support to all of you. The appalling violence that pro-Palestine student protestors experienced on Tuesday night from outside groups was outrageous and shameful. Video footage shows students, staff and faculty at the encampment assaulted with pepper spray, fireworks, metal barricades, plywood planks, pipes and bottles while campus police and LAPD stood by and did little to intervene in the attacks. The next day, campus leadership’s response was to call law enforcement in to forcibly destroy the encampment and arrest peaceful student protestors under the guise of campus safety. Students being shot with rubber bullets, trampled underfoot, and hit with police batons before being arrested is the opposite of campus safety. We are aware that many in our community witnessed and experienced this firsthand and we hope that impacted members of our community are finding ways to take care of and support themselves and each other.

The Department of Art condemns the violence that has occurred on our campus.

We ask for the following:

That the university refrain from taking any academic actions against peaceful protestors, such as suspensions and expulsions and retribution against employees.

Dropping of all UC legal charges against peacefully involved students, staff, and faculty.

Advocacy on the part of the university (including paid legal representation) in support of the students facing any other non-UC legal charges related to the events of April 30th-May 2nd.

University payment of all medical bills of students, staff, or faculty hurt during these events.

A vote of no-confidence of Chancellor Gene Block from the UCLA Academic Senate. Allowing mobs to harass our UCLA community on April 30th, and calling for law enforcement to arrest peaceful students, staff, and faculty protestors on May 1st, make it clear that Gene Block is unfit to continue as Chancellor.

A serious commitment on the part of the university to meet the demands of protesters on the matter of disclosure and broad divestment from military weapons production companies and systems (beginning with a committee made up of students, faculty, and staff, as several other universities, such as University of California Riverside, Rutgers, Northwestern, Brown, and Evergreen State College, have agreed to form).

A promise that the search process to hire a new Chancellor will directly address the issues raised by these incidents (to determine a candidate’s commitment to free expression, to the protection of our students, and to the values of the university community).

That the university respect the campus community’s right to protest peacefully, the right to assemble, and the right to free speech including the right for the continuing existence of the encampment.

We remain committed to the safety and well-being of our community as well as to the upholding of our shared values of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. The university is, and must remain, a space for robust discussion and respectful debate.

No matter where you stand on these issues and events, you are a valued member of our Art community.

If you find you need help processing these events, please make use of UCLA’s many support services:

Counseling & Psychological Services

RISE Center

UCLA’s Staff and Faculty Counseling Center

Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center Resources for Emotional Social & Physical Health

EDI resources

Department of Art Senate Faculty