UCLA Academic Senate continues debate on Gene Block’s censure, no-confidence votes
Chancellor Gene Block is pictured. The UCLA Academic Senate adjourned its Friday emergency meeting with no official action in support of or against the vote of no confidence in Block, who is the first UC chancellor to potentially face retribution from their campus Academic Senate for their administration’s handling of recent pro-Palestine protests. (Jeremy Chen/Photo editor)
The UCLA Academic Senate will continue consideration of a vote to censure or a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Gene Block into its next meeting May 16 amid a lack of consensus from voting faculty.
The former, current and incoming chairs of the UCLA Academic Senate – Jessica Cattelino, Andrea Kasko and Kathy Bawn, respectively – released a statement Tuesday announcing the emergency two-hour teleconference senate legislative assembly meeting. The decision followed recent scrutiny of the UCLA administration for its response to the April 30 attack on the Palestine solidarity encampment and the subsequent police-led sweep of Dickson Plaza, which resulted in more than 200 arrests.
[Related: UCLA Academic Senate to decide on censure of no-confidence vote in Gene Block]
At around 6:30 p.m. Friday, the legislative assembly adjourned its meeting with no official action in support of or against the vote of no confidence in Block, following a meeting that started around an hour late and extended over two hours past its original end time, according to three sources with knowledge of deliberations who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Some motions failed to meet the two-thirds threshold needed, including one motion to end debate for a vote and another motion to table consideration, according to the sources. The deliberations are not open to the public.
Around 97% of United States campus demonstrations over the war in Gaza have been peaceful, according to a Friday analysis published by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, an independent nonprofit. The recent UCLA Palestine solidarity encampment demonstrations were among the 3% that saw violence.
Block is the first UC chancellor to face potential retribution from a campus academic senate over his handling of protests amid the Israel-Hamas war. Following the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Palestinian political party Hamas, in which the militant group killed around 1,200 people and took around 250 hostage, Israel’s retaliatory siege of Gaza has killed around 35,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to the Associated Press.
Kasko declined to comment, citing confidentiality rules for deliberations that have not led to a documented decision. It was not immediately clear how current deliberations would impact the resolution to censure, which is considered a lower level of criticism than a vote of no confidence.
