Stay up-to-date with free briefings on topics that matter to all Californians. Subscribe to CalMatters today for nonprofit news in your inbox.
Minutes after a UC regents committee began debating the purchase of additional less-lethal weapons and ammunition this afternoon, pro-Palestinian students in the UCLA meeting room drowned them out.
“Why did you shoot us?” one shouted — a reference to the less lethal rounds used at last spring’s campus unrest .
Regent Jay Sures, chair of the compliance committee, showed little patience for what has become a common protest tactic.
“If you want to disrupt the meeting, you can disrupt the meeting,” he told them. “We’re going to clear the room. It’s not going to be productive. You’re all going to waste your time. What I would suggest is you listen. If you have issues, you can send letters for regents.”
He then called on UC police to declare an unlawful assembly and moved the committee to an adjoining room, where it swiftly approved the purchase of drones and ammunition such as pepper bullets and sponge rounds. There was no debate.