Open Letter to Chancellor Block
November 20, 2011
Dear Chancellor Block:
In the predawn darkness this past Friday, a large contingent of police arrived on campus to remove a group of students who were peacefully protesting tuition increases, student loan debt, and the collapse of public funding for the University of California. In an act of civil disobedience, 14 students chose to ignore an order to disperse and were arrested.
Their crime, formally, was to violate a campus policy against camping. But in reality they were arrested for engaging in political speech at a time and in a manner that did not please the campus administration. For this political action, they may face disciplinary proceedings.
As UCLA faculty we call on you, to drop any charges that may be pending against these students. The freedom to debate controversial topics is at the core of university life. The students occupying Wilson Plaza on Thursday night were not posing a health or safety risk. They were not disrupting the educational mission of the university. They were holding ongoing discussions—what they call a “general assembly”—to share information and experiences, and decide together how to face the future.
So far UCLA has avoided the bitter conflicts between campus police and students that we have seen at Berkeley and Davis. However, you will recall that in 2009 UCLA Police engaged in questionable use of force that injured students and triggered an internal review. While different people may have different perceptions of the Review’s conclusions about the use of force in 2009, no one would disagree with their reaffirmation that “[w]hen members of the university community peaceably assemble to challenge some aspect of University governance, their rights to advocacy must be respected.” (44)
We have a chance to find another path at UCLA. As UCLA’s own “Principles of Community” declare, “We are committed to ensuring freedom of expression and dialogue, in a respectful and civil manner, on the spectrum of views held by our varied and diverse campus communities.” As anyone visiting the protest site can attest, the protesters were upholding their end of this charge—far better than we see in most of the political debate in this country. To stifle their voice would shortchange the future. At both Davis and Berkeley, campus police have deployed deplorable violence and injured students and faculty. On both campuses, police introduced violence while students, staff, and faculty were engaged in peaceable protest. We call on you to ensure that UCLA does not follow in their footsteps and fail to uphold the principles for which the University stands.
We urge you to drop all charges and disciplinary proceedings against the students arrested in Wilson Plaza, and also to respect students’ rights to protest the pressing issues of our political, social, and educational life.
Sincerely,
Tobias Higbie Associate Professor of History
Michael Meranze, Professor of History
Jenny Sharpe, Professor of English and Women’s Studies
Michelle Clayton, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature & Spanish & Portuguese
Chris Looby, Professor of English
Nouri Gana, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
Jan de Leeuw; Distinguished Professor and Chair, UCLA Department of Statistics
Joseph Bristow, Professor of English
Saree Makdisi, Professor of English
Steven Nelson, Associate Professor of African and African American Art History
Carole H. Browner, Professor of Anthropology
Jeffrey Prager, Professor of Sociology
Jessica R. Cattelino, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Jack Chen, Associate Professor Asian Languages & Cultures
David Delgado Shorter, Associate Professor World Arts & Cultures
Noah Zatz, Professor of Law
Katherine King, Professor Comparative Literature
Matthew Fischer, Assistant Professor English
Gerry A. Hale, Emeritus professor of Geography
Peter McLaren, Professor of Graduate school of Education and Information Studies
Michael Cooperson, Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Andrea Goldman, Assistant Professor of History
George Baker, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art
Allen F. Roberts, Professor of World Arts & Cultures/Dance
Susan Curtiss, Professor Emeritus of Linguistics
Henry A. Hespenheide, Professor Emeritus of Ecology
Kathleen A. McHugh, Professor of English and Cinema and Media Studies Program
Valerie Matsumoto, Professor of History and Asian American Studies
Sondra Hale, Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies
Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Associate Professor of English
Stephen Yenser, Distinguished Professor of English
Robert Brenner, Professor of History
Vinay Lal, Associate Professor of History
Sharon Traweek, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and History
Susan Slyomovics, Professor of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages & Cultures
Susan L. Foster, Distinguished Professor of World Arts and Cultures/Dance
Teofilo Ruiz, Professor of History, Spanish & Portuguese
Rafael Perez-Torres, Professor of English
Jason Throop, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Kenneth L. Karst, Price Professor of Law Emeritus
Susan Plann, Professor of Applied Linguistics and Spanish & Portuguese
Alex Purves, Associate Professor of Classics
Helen Deutsch, Professor of English
Yogita Goyal, Associate Professor of English
Michael Salman, Associate Professor of History
Jan Reiff, Associate Professor of History
Chris Tilly, Professor of Urban Planning
Grace Hong, Associate Professor Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies
Lowell Gallagher, Associate Professor of English
Arthur Little, Associate Professor of English
Carollee Howes, Professor of Education
A. J. Julius, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Robin Lauren Derby, Associate Professor of History
Jonathan H. Grossman, Associate Professor of English
Robert N. Watson, Distinguished Professor of English
Andrew Apter, Professor of History and Anthropology
Calvin Normore, Professor of Philosophy
Victor Bascara, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies
Ching Kwan Lee, Professor of Sociology
Francoise Lionnet, Professor of French and Francophone Studies
John McCumber, Professor of Germanic Languages
Juliet Williams, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies
Jorge Marturano, Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese
Peter Lunenfeld, Professor of Design Media Arts
Ruben Hernandez-Leon, Associate Professor of Sociology
Douglas Kellner, George F. Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education
Héctor Calderón, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese
Sandra Harding, Professor of Education
Barbara Fuchs, Professor of English and Spanish and Portuguese
Michael Chwe, Associate Professor of Political Science
Michelle Erai, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies
Felicity Nussbaum, Professor of English
Mishuana Goeman, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies
Sherry Ortner, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
Anurima Banerji, Assistant Professor of World Arts and Cultures
Laure Murat, Associate Professor of French & Francophone Studies
Shane Butler, Professor of Classics
Elizabeth Upton, Assistant Professor of Musicology
Sorin Popa, Professor of Mathematics
Elizabeth Marchant, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies
Brenda Stevenson, Professor of History
King-Kok Cheung, Professor of English and Asian American Studies
Zrinka Stahuljak, Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies
James Gelvin, Professor of History
David N. Myers, Professor of History
John Dagenais, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese
Timothy Taylor, Professor of Ethnomusicology/Musicology
Gary Blasi, Professor of Law
Barbara Herman, Professor of Philosophy
Joanna Schwartz, Acting Professor of Law
Thu-huong Nguyen-vo, Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures and Asian American Studies
Namhee Lee, Associate Professor of Asian Languages & Cultures
John Carriero, Professor of Philosophy
Brian Kim Stefans, Assistant Professor of English
George Dutton, Associate Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures
Samuel Cumming, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Law
Sheldon Smith, Associate Professor of Philosophy
Gil Hochberg, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature
Mark Sawyer Professor of Political Science
Karen Brodkin, Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Women’s Studies
Andrea Fraser, Professor of Art
Chon Noriega, Professor of Film, Television, and Digital Media
Peter Peterson, Professor of Mathematics
Chris Chism, Associate Professor of English
Malina Stefanovska, Professor of French and Francophone Studies
Victoria Marks, Professor of World Arts and Cultures|Dance
Kathleen L. Komar, Professor of Comparative Literature & German
Richard Elman, Professor of Mathematics
John Papadopoulos, Professor of Classics
Dana Cuff, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design
Natasha Heller, Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures
Carlos Alberto Torres, Professor of Social Sciences and Comparative Education
César J. Ayala Professor of Sociology
Ghislaine Lydon, Associate Professor in History
Cameron Campbell, Professor of Sociology
William Roy, Professor of Sociology
Jerome Rabow, Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Nicky Hart, Professor of Sociology
Darnell M. Hunt, Professor of Sociology
Phillip Bonacich, Department of Sociology
Stefan Timmermans, Professor of Sociology
Miguel M. Unzueta, Assistant Professor of Anderson-HROB
Alan Garfinkel, Professor of Medicine
Patricia Gandara, Professor of Education
Joel F. Handler, Professor of Law
Michael Heim, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures/Comparative Literature
David Lopez, Professor Emeritus of Sociology
Gail Kligman, Professor of Sociology
Maylei Blackwell, Assistant Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies
David Gieseker, Professor of Mathematics
Lyle F. Bachman, Professor of Applied Linguistics
Pamela Munro, Distinguished Professor of Linguistics
Aisha Finch, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies and Afro-American Studies
Tova Brown, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Mathematics
James Ralston, Professor of Mathematics
Walter Ponce, Professor of Music
Joshua Foa Dienstag, Professor of Political Science
Olga T. Yokoyama, Professor of Applied Linguistics
Abel Valenzuela Jr., Professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies
Catherine Opie, Professor of Art
Richard J Jackson, Professor of Environmental Health Science
Steven P. Wallace, Professor of Community Health Sciences
Inwon C. Kim, Associate Professor of Mathematics
Otto Santa Ana, Associate Professor Department of Chicana/o Studies
Dwight W. Read, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Associate Professor of History
Christopher Erickson, Professor of Anderson School of Management
Maia Young, Associate Professor of Human Resources and Organizational Behavior, Anderson School of Management
Jody Kreiman, Professor of Surgery
Michael J. B. Allen, Distinguished Professor of English
Stephen Cederbaum, M.D. Professor Emeritus, Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Human Genetics
Ali Behdad, Professor of English and Comparative Literature
John Merriam, Professor Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology
Arthur Winer, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Environmental Health Sciences
Samuel Culbert, Professor of Anderson School of Management
Andrew Christensen, Professor of Psychology
Dorie (Dorothy) A. Glover, Associate Professor of Psychology
Nina Byers, Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Paul Sheats, Professor of English Emeritus
Andy Kelly, Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus
Carole Pateman, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus
Brent Vine, Professor of Classics
John Tormey M.D., Professor Emeritus of Physiology
Robert Ettenger M.D., UCLA Children’s Health Center
Bruce Rothschild. Professor of Mathematics
Richard W Olsen, Distinguished Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Sanford Jacoby, Howard Noble Distinguished Professor at the Anderson School of Management
Howard Adelman, Professor of Psychology
Richard D. Anderson, Jr., Associate Professor of Political Science
Donka Minkova, Professor of English
Gabriel Greenberg, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Barbara Geddes, Professor of Political Science
Raymond Rocco, Associate Professor of Political Science
Robert Trager, Assistant Professor of Political Science
Jeffrey B. Lewis, Associate Professor of Political Science
Pater Baldwin, Professor of History
Avanidhar Subrahmanyam (Subra), Goldyne and Irwin Hearsh Professor of Finance
Judy Wolfenstein, Emeritus, for the late Professor E. Victor Wolfenstein, Political Science 1965-2010
Christina Palmer, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Christopher S. Tang, Distinguished Professor Edward W. Carter Chair in Business Administration, Anderson School
David Kaplan, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy
Allison Gilmore, Assistant Adjunct Professor of Mathematics
Anthony Pagden, Professor of Political Science
To add your name to this letter, please email uclafacultyunited@gmail.com. Subject line: add my name. Put your name, rank and department in the body of the email message. Please be patient. It may take us a little time to post updates. For the Facebook enabled: http://www.facebook.com/pages/UCLA-Faculty-United/293329244034234.
Support the students who embark on this message of change!
Shane Cutting
November 20, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Dear Faculty United,
No one is questioning the “Occupiers” right to protest and voice their opinion; however, civil disobedience can and should be done in a CIVIL manner. The Occupiers had no right to shut down Wilshire Blvd. – a road leading to a Medical Center, two Major Freeways, a congested Business Center, and our University – a few weeks ago. Likewise, there is nothing wrong with them voicing their opinions on campus. But, our campus has provisions and rules in place. If any other student on any other day went “camping” in Wilson Plaza, they would be arrested. Just because the Occupiers are protesters, that does not give them the privilege to break the law and get away with it. Our campus police should continue to enforce University regulations in the commendable manner they did that night. Trust me, I am not alone in this belief.
Joseph
November 21, 2011 at 1:09 am
I was arrested at Wilshire. Those of us who did that knew what we were doing and in fact our intention was precisely to bring the normal operation of things to a halt, at least to a tiny degree in one part of the world, to make the point that the normal operation of things is extremely destructive. I’m sure you at least credit us with enough rationality to understand the implications of our choice of location, which makes the discussion about Wilshire a strategic one. But we don’t have to get into that because my point is simply that this letter is not about the Wilshire arrests, which are qualitatively different than the arrests that took place at Angela Davis (Wilson) Plaza, and that conflating the two is an error.
The encampment was a peaceful gathering of students intent on maintaining, indefinitely (that is, until such time as the students recognized reasons to close down or relocate), a space for intellectual exploration, personal sharing, and creativity. It is true we did not ask permission to show up on the space and conduct our business. But that is part of the point – the only way for students to have a non-structured, open-ended, and autonomously governed space even on their own campus is to do so illegally. If one of us had owned property we could have held our activities with their benevolent support, or more concretely it is likely that had we complied with administrative processes and negotiated the particulars with management they may have “allowed” us to stay. But again, I return to the above point, that the campus is designed to make the real exercise of student power even in its most limited and harmless manifestations a crime and that management is willing to deploy massive force (60-something riot police with shot guns, tear gas guns, and pepper spray) to maintain student speech as something that is only tolerated with prior notification, permission slips, and negotiation.
It is very naive to think this is about the neutral enforcement of regulations and to impose an abstract Liberal framework of the necessity of the rule of law onto this. This is about who has the right to decide, who has the right to use force, and how that use of force generates relationships of power at the university. Context is key. Personally I find having to fill out a permit, negotiate, impose structure prior to the space coming into existence, and to otherwise ask to have our space problematic in two key ways. First, it’s just degrading. I’m a student and this is a university – at such time that our activities begin to have a negative effect on something other than the perception of management’s final right to decide and discipline, we can have discussions about shutting us down. Second, the regulated speech process and rituals that management have chosen necessarily impose ways of speaking and relating to each other that impose prior limitations on what can be said and done – the permit process itself requires the imposition of a hierarchy, leadership, and individual accountability that is not in line with forms of political speech and participation favored by many of our participants. If we are forced to abandon our politics at precisely the moment we become political, we don’t have freedom.
Take a minute and think about what the crackdown has exposed: it is impossible, even for students at the university they attend, to have an indefinite, unstructured, political conversation and creative space within the bounds of the law. Then ask yourself if this is the kind of world you want to live in or university you want to be associated with.
Jason Ball
November 27, 2011 at 1:46 am
1. These professors are staking their personal and professional reputations on their support for the exercise of peaceful protest and civil disobedience. It’s certainly anyone’s prerogative to comment in partial or complete anonymity…. but in my opinion, it’s just weak, cowardly, and disrespectful.
2. The above critique of this letter ignores the precise American traditions that the letter is aimed at defending. The letter of the law is a starting place in American society, not a foregone conclusion. Perhaps it is no coincidence then that the preponderance of signatories are from the Department of History where the expression of dissent is a topic necessarily examined.
3. It’s inappropriate to analogize the closing of Wilshire – an act that obviously has externalized impacts that transcend the mere expression of opinion – and the benign congregation of students in Wilson Plaza. And these are not “any other students” and it’s not “any other day”. It is a time of crisis wherein the stewards of this public institution are demonstrating a limited ability to negotiate the administrative and financial challenges that threaten to compromise the future and integrity of the UC System and higher education across California. Rules limiting mobility and expression in a public space are constantly submitted to heightened scrutiny. Rather than blindly follow University regulations, it would behoove the authorities to err on the side of caution in both directions: the protection of public safety / enforcement of rules and regulations AND respect for the freedom of assembly and expression of political speech that is tacitly demanded at ALL times …because they are freedoms woven into the very fabric of our society.
Bravo to Faculty United for showing their support of student activism.
Max Sloves
Graduate Student
UCLA Dept. Spanish & Portuguese
Max
November 21, 2011 at 9:52 am
Dear Joseph: we may have to agree to disagree. I do think the students’ protest is of a different character than ordinary “camping.” Moreover, we all know that campus police and administrators apply regulations flexibly all the time. No one wants to see here at UCLA the kinds of things that happened at Berkeley and Davis recently. But those terrible scenes transpired because UCPD and administrators applied campus policies so narrowly as to value a tent-free campus over the safety of students.
Tobias Higbie
November 21, 2011 at 11:42 am
I agree with the cause of the OccupyUCLA movement. What I am concerned about is the legal consequences of the UC allowing individuals and groups to camp or lodge on UC grounds. My concern is that fringe elements will have just as much right to set up shop on campus as OccupyUCLA does. A few years ago we had counter protestors that showed up and the safety of both sides became a concern. I also wonder if disregarding enforcement for some would allow homeless, vagrants or others to essentially live out in the open UC. I don’t think the courts would like to see selective enforcement being practiced.
john
November 23, 2011 at 7:28 am
Dear John: UCLA officials apparently make all sorts of exceptions to the rules on camping. So “selective enforcement” is already the norm. I’m not sure who you mean by “fringe elements,” maybe you could be more specific in your concerns. You seem to lump “counter protestors,” homeless and vagrants into this category of “fringe.” This seems overly diffuse to me, especially considering that all the “Occupy UCLA” group are affiliated directly with UCLA as far as anyone can tell.
You mention concerns about “a few years ago.” People in the campus administration seem to believe the problems at the 2009 Regents protest were caused by “outsiders” (if they don’t quite use the old chestnut “outside agitators”). That claim is very narrow. I think they are referring to students from other UC campuses and unionized UC staff. In my opinion, these are not “outsiders” to the deliberations of the UC Regents. And in any case, it was UCLA students who took the brunt of the UCPD excessive force (esp. Tasers).
So while I recognize your concerns, and know that they are shared by UCLA administrators, I don’t think vague concerns are reason to stop peaceful political protest on campus.
Tobias Higbie
November 23, 2011 at 8:42 am
I have arrived to my office suite to find the remnants of someone sleeping in the hallway numerous times. They left urine, partially eaten food, various forms of pornography and boxes strewn about. I have female colleagues that don’t feel safe working late in their office because of this type of activity. My problem of selective enforcement is that the courts and ACLU don’t care about the “noble” causes for selectively enforcing laws. We are all equal in the eyes of the court. If we allow our own students (or anyone else) to violate the laws on the books for their cause, we MUST allow it for everyone.
Between the traditional media outlets, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Meyerhoff Park, chalking, editorials, etc. their concerns have been voiced. I don’t think we need to afford them the ability to break laws and get away with it. They have knowingly chosen their path and should learn to deal with the consequences of their choices. We invalidate their decision to be arrested by asking for them to be pardoned. Their “sacrifice” means nothing otherwise.
john
November 23, 2011 at 9:51 am
Judging from the experiences you describe, the UCPD is already selectively not enforcing campus regulations. I don’t buy your analogy between what you see in your office suite and what students are doing with their encampment. Nor do I think a student encampment is likely to undermine the safety of your female colleagues.
I do want to be clear that the demand that the campus administration drop charges on the 14 students arrested for protesting is a *faculty* request, not that of students. Faculty don’t speak for the students, but I imagine they could eloquently defend themselves if they were put on public trial for violating these policies. And I imagine it would be a pretty good opportunity to rally other students to their cause. My guess is that the administration would like these charges to go away, too.
The faculty that drafted the letter, and I assume those who added their names, think the administration should drop the charges because we disagree with the decision to clear the encampment in the first place. Looking at other UC campuses, we can see where this practice often ends. And it isn’t pretty.
Tobias Higbie
November 23, 2011 at 10:13 am
I didn’t imply that the student encampment would undermine the safety of my colleagues directly. Does selective enforcement happen? Of course it does in this imperfect world full of imperfect people.
The point is that anyone with an axe to grind with the university can conduct themselves in the same manner as these campers and violate laws. The same officers that are told to look away here must look away the next time they see an unaffiliated camper/lodger on the campus. Our laws must be enforced in as neutral and even-handed a manner as possible. When we tell law enforcement to selectively enforce laws, we create other legal problems for ourselves. I don’t know the reason behind all of these laws but the ones being enforced don’t seem to be unreasonable.
Please don’t minimize what these students are doing by saying that they are violating policies. You cannot be arrested for policy violations nor are the police responsible for enforcing policies. C.S.P. and the Dean of Students office have that responsibility.
john
November 23, 2011 at 8:53 pm
Punishment must fit the crime, and must be sensible and pragmatic. Filing criminal charges in this case is excessive and draconian. When I travel at a speed of 70mph on a freeway I am not usually pulled over even though this is technically illegal. Even when I was pulled over for going 15 over the limit, the officer said he would let me off if I had a true emergency, demonstrating pragmatism. Thus, every violation does not have to lead to a criminal record. The problem in this case is that the students indeed have a legitimate grouse. Tuition has been rising astonishingly quickly and there is no attempt to reign in costs. Working for a public university at a professional school or administrating at one is one of the best deals going. A guaranteed base of 250K plus, a guaranteed pension of up to 250K for life, and a minimal teaching load. For a university that is funded via public legacy such cost escalations seem highly inappropriate. The mission seems to be to pay the highest possible salaries for people at the top with complete insensitivity to students and other stakeholders. When such callousness happens, it provokes unrest, and such unrest needs to continue to allow voices to make an impact.
Andrew
December 3, 2011 at 3:00 pm
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