Dozens of pro-Hamas protesters at the University of California, Irvine were arrested on May 16 as tensions escalated, triggering a harsh law enforcement response. The demonstration, which centered around an ongoing encampment near the Physical Sciences Lecture Hall, began around 2:30 PM. The protesters, advocating for the university’s divestment from Israel, blocked the building’s entrance using stacked tents as an improvised barrier.
As the situation intensified, a large contingent of police officers and sheriff’s deputies in riot gear arrived on campus. After declaring the gathering an unlawful assembly and issuing dispersal orders, law enforcement began detaining protesters and dismantling the encampment in the early evening hours.
UC President Michael Drake initially called on the leaders of its ten campuses to ban the encampments and all unauthorized structures. However, UC Irvine’s response to pro-Hamas campus protests drew attention for its severity compared to other universities. The institution suspended several student protesters without providing specific allegations of misconduct or allowing them to respond to the charges.
Due to the suspensions, at least two students were unable to graduate as scheduled in the spring. These individuals now face the prospect of enrolling in and financing an additional semester of coursework. However, they currently remain ineligible to register for classes in the upcoming fall term.
The UCI chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) also received a temporary suspension. This action aligns with a broader trend of SJP chapters facing bans and suspensions across various US campuses in response to their members’ violence. As a consequence of their suspension, the UCI SJP chapter was instructed to cease posting on their official Instagram account.
One female student told ABC News, “I was barred from my campus job. I was not able to go back and so those are wages I lost from the university. We also have a lot of classes that we need to take to finish but the university is not allowing us to do so.”
In July, five of the suspended students took legal action against the school’s regents and chancellor. Their lawsuit alleges that the university suspended them without proper notice or an opportunity to present their side of the story. Following the initial lawsuit, the students filed a motion requesting intervention from the Superior Court of California.
UCI spokesperson Tom Vasich said, “We do want to take the opportunity to reiterate that from the onset and throughout the course of the unauthorized encampment, any students participating were repeatedly notified that their actions were violating university policy and that they would face sanctions including disciplinary measures such as interim suspension.”
