LOS ANGELES.–Acting contrite after an abysmal failure of leadership, 75-year-old UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called for healing after his poor decision-making risked the lives of students and law enforcement, after weeks of dithering at the heart of UCLA campus with pro-Palestine demonstrators. What Block called an airing o legitimate grievances what nothing less than trespassing and vandalism, leaving historic Royce Hall and Powell Library with millions of dollars in damages, cleaning up an environmental mess from protesters living without sanitation on the campus for two weeks. Block tolerated anti-Semitic slurs and disruption during midterms of campus life, harming UCLA students and faculty, all sucked into the mass hysteria that Block encouraged until it turned into a melee on campus. Now Block wants forgiveness when he should be tendering his resignation for his incompetence.
Allowing the pro-Palestine protests to spiral out-of-control, compromising the security of students, faculty and workers, Block now sees the light, but does he really? “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,” Block said in a campus message. Who’s block talking about when he says the community is in deep pain? Is Block admitting that he has sympathy for demonstrators, hurting from Israel’s war against poor Palestinians? Block is the one that caused the pain by letting demonstrations turn into anti-Semitism, trespassing and violence, all because he has sympathy for Palestinians. No one in the so-called UCLA community can feel any confidence with Block as chancellor when he reacted so recklessly.
Letting outsiders and students build a fort in the grassy Quad between historic Royce Hall and Powell library, what was Block thinking? That the protesters would go away on their own, that they would see the light and leave campus? No, Block erred in his judgment and management of a dangerous situation that only got more dangerous by the day by doing nothing for weeks. Block’s inaction fueled the reckless behavior of protesters looking to blackmail UCLA’s regents into making concessions of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions [BDS] for Israel, something that failed 20 years ago. What’s Block’s message now? That he wants the UCLA community to heal, all because he created a dangerous-and-destruction situation for students, faculty and staff? It took harsh words from Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom for Block to take any action to protect students, faculty and staff.
On May 1, Block was blaming counter-protesters tired to listening to pro-Palestine ethnic slurs, telling Jews, not Israelis, to go back to Poland. Imagine that, on State property, pro-Palestine demonstrators spewed the kind of racial hatred not seen since Oct. 7, 2023 when a U.S.-branded terror group, Hamas, raped, tortured and massacred 1,200 Israelis, many of whom teenagers at a Negev Desert music festival. Block said he wanted to give pro-Palestine protesters the open forum on UCLA campus to express grievances about the Israeli-Hamas war. As the protests spiraled into terrorist-like violence, Block acquiesced to the governor and UC Regents that enough-was-enough, calling in the Highway Patrol, LAPD and LA Country Sheriff May 2 to clear out the illegal encampment. But Block went against his best judgment, letting law enforcement end the illegal encampment.
Block admitted that pro-Palestine demonstrators interfered with the orderly and lawful life on UCLA campus.
“Demonstrators directly interfered with instructions by blocking students’ pathways to classrooms. Indirectly, violence related to the encampments led to the closure of academic buildings and the cancellation of classes. And, frankly, hostilities were only continuing to escalate,” Block wrote. “In the end, the encampments on Royce Quad was both unlawful and a breach of policy.” How long did it take for Blok to figure it all out? He ignored all the anti-Semitic hate speech and illegal trespassing, allowing the demonstration to mushroom out-of-control until it endangered students, faculty and staff. How can anyone at UCLA trust Block to return as chancellor?
Block admits that the pro-Palestine demonstrators had gone over the top with criminal behavior but allowed it to happen for weeks. Demonstrators built out the illegal encampment with Block’s blessings because he wanted to rebuke Jewish students and other that witnessed UCLA essentially cede to terrorists looking to blackmail the UC Regents into making preposterous concessions on investment in Israel. Whatever Block’s sympathies with Palestinians in Gaza, he permitted egregious crime that endangered everyone on UCLA campus. Block called the mounting death toll in Gaza, “devastating,” revealing his sympathies. For his dereliction of duty, Block should resign as chancellor in disgrace for his abysmal judgment and decision making. Block wants to play preacher but assumes no responsibility for his egregious failure as UCLA chancellor.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in nation and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
