Thanks again to the California globe for running this piece (actually, two pieces edited together.) You can visit the website at: https://californiaglobe.com/
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The past couple of months have been a rather trying time for UCLA Chancellor Gene Block.
And it won’t get any better this morning.
Block has been called to testify by the House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce about antisemitism on campus.
The chair of the committee, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), has already set a challenging tone for the hearing, saying “The Committee has a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students.”
Block will appear alongside Michael Schill, president of Northwestern University, and Rutgers president Jonathan Holloway starting at about 9:45 a.m. EST – if you’re up and looking to start your day by ruining it, you can watch the hearing here.
The hearing is part of an on-going series that Foxx and the committee began in the wake of the pro-Hamas uproar seen on campuses since the October 7 attack on Israel.
In fact, it was the infamous first hearing – involving the presidents of MIT, Harvard, and Penn – in December that shook the national educational establishment. After disastrous, equivocating, almost snide performances, both Harvard president Claudine Gay and Penn leader Liz Magill lost their jobs.
Since then the committee has expanded its probe into educational antisemitism at all levels, including questioning local school district leaders such as Berkeley’s district superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel who was grilled on numerous instances of overt antisemitism occurring at her schools and originating from both students and faculty.
The allegations of both antisemitic incidents and the administration’s failure to handle them properly has already prompted the civil rights division of the Department of Education to begin its own investigation.
Not to be left out, UC Berkeley is also currently under congressional investigation for multiple incidents of brazen antisemitism on its campus recently.
For Block the questioning is expected to be extremely pointed, at least on the Republican side of the aisle. UCLA has had a particularly chaotic – and comparatively violent – atmosphere during its couple of months of protests.
Jewish students were being barred from entering classrooms and libraries by pro-Hamas protestors and aggressively antisemitic chants and statements originated from the campus encampment until it was finally cleared out days after counter-protestors attempted to storm the protest.
Dozens have been arrested, graduations cancelled, classes pushed on-line, and confusion reigned over exactly what needed to be done throughout the partial campus takeover.
University law enforcement has been criticized, though they responded by claiming their hands were tied by Block’s dithering administration. Students and faculty have expressed their outrage on both sides of the issue, with Israel supports saying the school didn’t do nearly enough to keep them safe and end the protests, while the pro-Palestinian activists said the school failed to protect them and their rights.
Since the end of the encampment, the school announced it is cooperating with local law enforcement to identify, find, and charge the counter-protesters, but not the protestors. Inexplicably, or, come to think of it, maybe not that inexplicably, even CNN has gotten in on that particular effort.
The hearing this morning could go a a bit differently after yesterday’s announcement that UCLA police chief John Thomas had been “reassigned.”
Thomas had faced strong criticism for his handling the weeks-long protest and the skirmishes that broke out when pro-Israel counter-protesters attempted to storm the protestors’ encampment.
After that April 30 scuffle, Thomas was criticized for not being prepared for the event and failing to quickly call in other law enforcement agencies for additional personnel to help calm the situation.
Conversely, Thomas’ supporters blamed a waffling administration for the length of the encampment and the violent outbreak on April 30. The then-overseer of campus security, administrative vice chancellor Michael Beck, has also faced sharp criticism and calls for his resignation for his failure to properly cope with the Royce Quad encampment.
With Thomas “reassigned,” one can assume Block may bring his name up quite often at today’s hearing:
“Can you explain why the protest got out of hand?”
“John Thomas.”
“Can you explain why the counter-protest got out of hand?”
“John Thomas.”
“Can you explain why the UCLA community seems to tolerate antisemitism?”
‘John Thomas.”
“Can you explain why my kid failed algebra?”
“John Thomas.”
Well, maybe not the last one but something similar could very well occur this morning.
Block himself faced a number of calls for his resignation, though the steam has seemed to run out on that movement.
Nonetheless, he still has to explain himself to Congress and Foxx, who has already committed to conducting continuing and active investigations.
“No stone must go unturned while buildings are being defaced, campus greens are being captured, or graduations are being ruined,” Foxx said. “College is not a park for playacting juveniles or a battleground for radical activists. Everyone affiliated with these universities will receive a healthy dose of reality: actions have consequences.”