Senate, Assembly GOP Leaders Announce Budget Action On Illegal And Violent Protests On University Campuses

Senate Minority Leader Jones (R-San Diego) and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) announced on Thursday that they would be calling to revoke or reduce state funding of universities’ Administrations that fail to ensure campus safety and prevent unlawful activities, as well as cut state-funded grants for students found guilty and suspended for their involvement if they performed illegal acts during the protests.

For the last several weeks, multiple campuses across California have had large pro-Palestinian protests take. Some, such as those at UC Irvine and UC Berkeley, have largely remained civil and within the bounds of campus rules and regulations.  However, other have fared more dramatic. At UCLA, multiple fights between protestors occurred within a span in only a few days, culminating in the California Highway Patrol and the LAPD to clear the encampment on campus on Thursday morning, resulting on over 200 arrests. At USC, 93 protestors were arrested last week.

Building takeovers have also been common. 35 Protestors at Caly Poly Humboldt in Arcata were arrested on Tuesday as law enforcement officials retook two buildings on campus. And at CSU Sacramento, a large new encampment formed this week.

With so many protestor actions being taken throughout the state in recent days, GOP leaders in both the Assembly and Senate said that Universities and students should be held accountable for the violent and disruptive actions on the campuses. In an announcement on Thursday, Senator Jones and Assemblyman Gallagher stated that they would be calling to “revoke or reduce state funding of universities’ Administrations that fail to ensure campus safety and prevent unlawful activities.” In addition, the proposed “cutting state-funded grants for students found guilty and suspended for their involvement in these illegal acts.”

In a statement, Senator Jones said that “Violence and illegal activity of any kind is NOT protected by the First Amendment. The Administrations must swiftly regain control of the situation and guarantee a secure learning environment for our students. Their failure to control the illegal protests is unacceptable, particularly considering the substantial taxpayer funding allocated to our public universities. If the Administrations continue to allow this lawlessness, we must take action to reduce or rescind their state funding. Taxpayers should not be bankrolling administrations that falter in upholding law and order on campus.”

Assemblyman Gallagher added that “All Californians have a right to express their views but that right ends when you carry out acts of violence, destruction of property, and trample upon the right of others, the rights of fellow students to learn. It’s outrageous that school administrations did nothing while all of this transpired for weeks on end and it’s time to hold school officials and responsible students accountable for what’s happened across college campuses.”

While many think that this is a step forward, Capitol insiders told the Globe on Thursday that, barring more extreme measures taken by protestors, such action was unlikely to go far.

“This is a Democratic majority in both houses, and Democrats have been with the protestors right to free speech,” explained Capitol staffer “Dana” to the Globe on Thursday. “That being said, it is getting harder and harder to defend their actions. They’re clashing with police and taking over campus buildings now. All the antisemitic messages found during the UCLA cleanup today isn’t winning them any friends. So some Democrats, especially Jewish Democrats, might be splitting from this soon. Add in lawmakers from districts who have these campuses and angry residents demanding that something be done, and this could soon bear some weight.

“But for that to happen, a few more negative protestor events need to occur first. The CSU Sacramento situation, being so close to the Capitol, could push it over the edge. Jones and Gallagher need to highlight the high number of arrests, the destruction protestors caused, and all the hate speech they used. Hate speech is critical, because it is impossible to defend. For this to work, they need to ask their Democratic colleagues if they are for or against that. If they are for destruction of academic institutions. And they just stepped a foot in that direction with the announcement today.”

More on the budget action is to come out soon.