CCAS Faculty Statement of Solidarity

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We, the undersigned faculty of the Department of Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA, express our full support and solidarity with our students who have been peacefully protesting and demanding that the university divest from ongoing war and genocide. Many of us have visited the encampment throughout its time on our campus and have personally witnessed the vibrant, respectful, highly-disciplined organization and learning happening there. Indeed, we felt the beautiful collective spirit of international solidarity they were building and were proud to see them take academic lessons on decolonial theory and put it into praxis.

We stand unequivocally against the physical and sensory attacks on our students on the night of 4/30/24 by a violent mob that was permitted to brutalize them for hours without protection from our university leadership, the city, or the state. On 5/1/24, we witnessed yet another attack against our students, this time at the hands of the LA Police Department, LA Sheriff’s Department, and the California Highway Patrol. The university administration has gotten it wrong every time and shamefully put our students’ lives in danger. As a department that exists in large part thanks to acts of civil disobedience, we feel especially strongly that the university must protect our students’ rights to free speech and peaceful protest. We demand dropping all legal and disciplinary charges against students who were peacefully protesting. And given that his decisions imperiled students’ lives, we also call for the resignation of Chancellor Gene Block.

In solidarity,

Leisy Abrego

Karina Alma

Matt Barreto

Charlene Villaseñor Black

Maylei Blackwell

Floridalma Boj Lopez

Hector Calderon

Genevieve Carpio

Laura Chavez-Moreno

Jason De Leon

Alicia Gaspar de Alba

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda

Gaye Theresa Johnson

Robert Chao Romero

Chris Zepeda-Millan