Resolution Calling for the Immediate Resignation of Chancellor Gene Block if He Does Not Meet PSE Divestment Demands, Grant Amnesty to Affected Students, and Waive Medical Bills of Those Hospitalized

Sponsor:

Alicia Verdugo, Cultural Affairs Commissioner

Co-Sponsors:

Jonathan Valenzuela-Mejía, General Representative III

Adam Tfayli, International Student Representative

WHEREAS, the University of California-Los Angeles student body, the Los Angeles Community, and the general public is appalled by the events that took place at the Palestine Solidarity Encampment last week. These events did not occur in a vacuum; rather, they are the culmination of UCLA administration's refusal to address the ongoing genocide in Palestine and the repression of pro-Palestine voices on campus for the past seven months, and

WHEREAS, UCLA’s involvement in the abominable Israeli occupation has funded the genocide against the Palestinian people. Israel's violent occupation of Palestine has been ongoing for decades leading up to its most recent bombardment of Gaza^[1]. In just 210 days, Israel has murdered more than 45,000, injured over 77,000, displaced 2 million, and starved over one million Palestinians in Gaza, and

WHEREAS, despite Hamas agreeing to a ceasefire, Israel has proceeded with its invasion of Rafah, which is now the most densely populated place on earth due to the 1.3 million civilians who seek refuge there. The UN has warned that this invasion will kill hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and prevent humanitarian aid from reaching an area already devastated by starvation. Despite the ICC's potential legal action against Netanyahu, he has made it clear that, if unobstructed, Israel will continue with the genocide and violent displacement of Palestinians, and

WHEREAS, for years, Gene Block’s administration has constructed false narratives^[2] designed to place blame on non-violent demonstrators. Despite his efforts to frame the violence as indiscriminate, the UCLA community is acutely aware of the facts surrounding Tuesday and  Wednesday night, and now Monday morning, and

WHEREAS, students and community of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment were brutalized by a pro-Israel mob for five hours straight while Gene Block observed from a building. Over one hundred UCLA students and faculty were maced, bear sprayed, and physically assaulted. Zionist aggressors shot fireworks directly into the encampment. Twenty-five were hospitalized. Members of the encampment were burned, beaten, and traumatized as a result of his administration’s negligence and apathy, and

WHEREAS, Gene Block’s administration is directly responsible for enabling Tuesday night's tragedy. How dare he and his administration blame the encampment for the violence they endured as a result of his  negligence, and

WHEREAS, within 24 hours, Chancellor Gene Block used this attack as justification for a violent police sweep. Block claims that calling law enforcement to clear the encampment was the only way to protect our community following the attacks on Tuesday night. This is a blatant assault on truth. Block forced students to fight for their lives for two days straight. While students were armed with nothing but a human chain, PPE, and shields they forcefully took to make more defenseless^[3], police arrived in full riot gear and proceeded to shoot rubber bullets and flash bangs into the crowd of demonstrators. Students and faculty were tackled, thrown to the ground, and zip-tied; 210 protesters were arrested^[4]. Many were held all day without food or water, and police reported that UCLA administration had specifically asked them to hold and book students rather than citing and releasing them, and

WHEREAS, the UCLA community was twice besieged, first by pro-Israel white supremacists who acted with complete impunity, then by the police themselves — the same police who did nothing to protect our community just one night prior, and

WHEREAS, Gene Block’s refusal to acknowledge that the members of Palestine Solidarity Encampment were the victims of violence, not the perpetrators, is a direct reflection of the state repression imposed upon Palestinians by the US-funded Israeli government. It is telling that 210 nonviolent pro-Palestine protesters were arrested while the Zionist perpetrators of Tuesday night's attacks have faced no consequences for the harm they caused and continue to cause, terrorizing students and community members on campus, and

THEREFORE, LET IT BE RESOLVED THAT, the Undergraduate Students Association Council demands amnesty and justice for all those arrested. There must be no disciplinary measures taken against all those involved in the encampment and the victims of violence must be compensated. Students must not face academic repercussions and workers must not face retaliation from their employers. Imposing these consequences would constitute silencing of voices in support of Palestine, adding to the University's already inexcusable erasure and obfuscation of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED, that all five demands listed below are to be met by Chancellor Gene Block’s administration:

1. DIVEST all UC-wide and UCLA Foundation funds from companies and institutions that are complicit in the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and genocide of the Palestinian people.

2. DISCLOSE and provide full financial transparency surrounding all UC-wide and UCLA Foundation assets, including investments, donations, and grants.

3. ABOLISH POLICING to end the targeted repression and policing of pro-Palestinian advocacy on campus and sever all university ties with the LAPD.

4. END THE SILENCE and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation and genocide in Palestine.

5. BOYCOTT and sever all UC-wide connections to Israeli universities, including study abroad programs, fellowships, seminars, and research collaborations and abolish the UCLA Nazarian Center.

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED, that the USAC calls on university administration, the Academic Senate, academic departments, and individual professors to practice academic leniency for students and to take into account the needs of all students during this time, but especially those of Palestinian and Muslim identities who are the most unsafe and targeted individuals on campus right now. We strongly urge professors to accommodate their workload for students in need of it.

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED, that the USAC calls on university faculty and administration to take a public stance in solidarity with the Palestinian community and Palestinian students, donate to causes that provide aid for the Palestinian community, and publicly denounce the apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and settler-colonialism that Palestinian peoples are currently facing.

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED, that we urge the Academic Senate to have a vote of No Confidence on the position of the Chancellor and administration as it stands.

LET IT FURTHER BE RESOLVED, that the USAC calls on Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) to offer a greater number of counseling sessions to the most marginalized students who directly faced the most violence from UCLA administration and LAPD, LASD, and CHP, and to actively work to hire more diverse counselors in the future.

LET IT FINALLY BE RESOLVED, that the USAC calls on the immediate resignation of Chancellor Gene Block if he does not abide by the five demands stated above, if he refuses granting amnesty to students arrested, and if he refuses to waive any and all medical bills from those hospitalized because of mob and police attacks.