On May 8, the UCI administration issued interim suspensions to several student protesters who participated in the school’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment—including at least three members of the encampment’s negotiation team, who had been meeting with UCI administrators to discuss the student protesters’ demands for divestment from university investments tied to Israeli apartheid.
CAIR-LA sent a letter to UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman and other members of UCI leadership, demanding that they reverse the suspensions against the students and take immediate action to protect students’ rights to peaceful speech and assembly on campus.
However, on May 15, UCI called in multiple law enforcement agencies to aggressively and violently arrest several individuals and break apart the encampment. Students and faculty who were arrested have been ordered to stay away from campus, including on-campus housing, for 7 to 14 days. UCI is also moving forward with the protesters’ suspension hearings.
Students across the country, including at several Southern California schools, have faced censorship, harassment, violence, arrests, and retaliation from their schools in an attempt to suppress pro-Palestinian speech.
UCI students have the constitutionally guaranteed right to engage in peaceful protest and assembly on their campus against Israel’s genocide, ethnic cleansing, and forced starvation in Gaza.
Tell UCI administration to immediately reverse the suspensions of the peaceful student protesters, protect and respect its students’ rights to free speech and peaceful assembly, and ensure students and faculty have access to their housing and possessions.
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