Statement of Members of the Department of History in Response to Clearing the Encampment, 2 May 2024

Our colleagues observed that the LAPD advanced on the student encampment, pushing and herding them, using the tactic of kettling. Forced closely together, the students made easy targets for police who shot them with stun grenades, chemical agents, and rubber bullets, striking one student in the face with a rubber bullet. Police beat them with batons. At least twenty-five students had to be hospitalized. They then arrested approximately 200 students, staff, faculty, dragging visibly injured students away. This wanton use of potentially lethal force culminated in the complete destruction of the encampment.

As our colleague Michael Meranze asserted, “No clearer message can be sent to those who disapprove of both dissent and American colleges and universities that their aggression will get them what they want.” Upon the night of the assault by a violent mob, law enforcement failed to protect the students. In contrast, in the early morning hours of 2 May, law enforcement assaulted and terrorized students participating in a peaceful protest. Unfortunately, the Chancellor’s message sent out in the aftermath of the expulsion seriously misrepresented these matters.

Given this abdication of the university’s commitment to protect our students and defend their rights, we join together to ask for the following:

1. A commitment on the part of the university to refrain from taking any disciplinary actions against peaceful protesters (such as suspensions and expulsions, retribution against employees);
2. An independent investigation into the actions of the university administration from the encampment’s founding until its destruction (including the complicity in the violent attack on the encampment, the Chancellor’s actions that overstepped his authority, and other problematic aspects of the handling of these issues);
3. Advocacy on the part of the university in support of the students within the legal system (including legal representation, requests for leniency);
4. University assistance to injured students through payment of medical bills;
5. A serious engagement on the part of the university with 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 Rutgers, Northwestern, Brown, and Evergreen State College, have agreed to form);
6. 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).