More than 40 faculty condemn arrests of Occupy UCLA protesters in letter to Chancellor Block

Dozens of faculty have condemned the arrest of 14 Occupy UCLA protesters Friday in an open letter to Chancellor Gene Block, citing concerns about limitations on free speech.

More than 40 UCLA faculty members have signed the letter, dated Nov. 20. Calls for restraint also come as sister campuses UC Davis and UC Berkeley respond to harsh criticism for police actions toward on-campus Occupy movements.

Interactions between police and Occupy protesters at UCLA have so far been peaceful. On Thursday, Occupy UCLA protesters set up about 30 tents in Wilson Plaza, planning to stay for the night.

The day before, administrators had repeatedly warned protesters of a ban against temporary structures on campus grounds. A campus curfew is also in place between midnight and 6 a.m. Occupy members were told of the university policies they were violating, UCLA spokesman Phil Hampton said on Friday.

Around 5 a.m. on Friday, the Occupy camp was circled by university police. Thirteen students and one alumnus who refused to leave the grounds were arrested on misdemeanor charges of unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. They were cited and released about six hours later, police said.

But the authors of the letter say the administration did not have a valid reason to clear the plaza and arrest the protesters.

“Their crime, formally, was to violate a campus policy against camping,” the letter stated. “But in reality they were arrested for engaging in political speech at a time and in a manner that did not please the campus administration.”

Entire Article at Daily Bruin

UCLA Faculty

Category: Professors, Teachers