Several California Republican legislators May 2 condemned the recent college and university campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war, calling on administrators to “restore order” and said students who commit violent or criminal acts should lose their financial aid.
Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, during a press conference with Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, said he supported free speech on campuses, but added that “when that moves to acts, where you are taking away other people’s rights where you’re harassing, intimidating, and committing assaults on Jewish students, when you are blocking people’s access to get their education, and they’re free movement on campus, it’s a totally different story.”
During the 15-minute press conference, held at the state capitol, he suggested passing legislation and said that students who “trampled other students’ rights” and were found convicted of violence related to a protest should lose any state funds and scholarships they received. He said such would “hold people accountable.”
Mr. Jones agreed, saying “when we put our kids on these campuses, we expect them to be safe and get a good education.”
The two spoke the same day police disbanded a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California–Los Angeles and arrested more than 200 protesters. Classes on the campus were canceled for the rest of the week.
Other protests have occurred across the country over the past few weeks.
Protesters are calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, which began Oct. 7 with Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel that killed 1,400 people and saw the taking of 253 hostages.
Since then, Israeli strikes have killed about 33,600 Palestinians and injured more than 76,200, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported last month. Some hostages captured by Hamas have been released, but at least 32 have reportedly been killed in captivity.
New York’s Columbia University recently cleared its own similar encampment, retook a building on campus where protesters had barricaded themselves, and began suspending students, after demonstrators defied a deadline to leave on their own.
The University of Southern California recently canceled its main graduation ceremony, citing safety concerns over protests on its campus, located in Los Angeles.
And at Cal Poly Humboldt in Northern California, authorities cracked down April 30, clearing two buildings that had been occupied for a week and arresting more than 30 protesters, according to university officials.
