Like many higher education leaders, the University of California president doesn’t want to see a repeat of the insanity that unfolded on campus last year. President Michael Drake has apparently sent out a notice to other campus officials that makes it pretty clear. No masking and no encampments that restrict movement.
KQED News has details:
UC President Orders New Rules on Encampments, Masks as Students Return to SchoolUniversity of California President Michael V. Drake directed campus leaders on Monday to communicate and enforce rules on protest encampments as students prepare to return to class after last spring’s demonstrations against the war in Gaza.In a letter to the chancellors of the 10 UC campuses, which does not specifically mention the last year’s protests or violence at some schools, Drake outlined required policies that ban putting up tents and campsites on university property, blocking access to university buildings and masking to evade being recognized.“As we prepare to begin a new academic year, it is important that we reaffirm our commitment to fostering an environment that encourages free expression and debate while protecting the rights of all community members to teach, study, live, provide and receive clinical care, and work safely,” the letter reads.The policies also require that people on campuses identify themselves to university officials.Drake acknowledged that existing policies cover the requirements at most campuses but directed chancellors to develop or amend policies where they don’t.A spokesperson for UC Berkeley confirmed that the school’s chancellor, Richard K. Lyons, had received the letter, which was distributed to all students, staff and faculty Monday morning.
Zach Kessel of National Review reminds us that Drake may be motivated in part by a recent legal decision:
Drake’s letter to the chancellors comes on the heels of a federal judge’s ruling that the University of California, Los Angeles, may not allow student activists to create effectively Jew-free zone on campus — activists had been doing so by barring passage to Jews unless they disavowed Israel and also their religious faith. The clarification that individuals on the UC system’s campuses may not block others from moving throughout the campus does not mention Jewish students specifically, and Drake made no mention of this court case in his letter, but the timing of the letter suggests that it is in response to the injunction — which the UCLA administration has appealed.
It’s estimated that the Anti-Israel protests of last year cost the University of California upwards of $29 million dollars in damages and increased security.
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