UCLA Police Chief Reassigned Day Before Chancellor Testifies in of Congress

UCLA police chief John Thomas has been reassigned in the wake of the chaotic pro-Hamas protests engulfing the campus.

The reassignment comes one day before UCLA Chancellor Gene Block will testify in front of Congress about antisemitism on campus and the handling of the protests – and counter-protests.

The new chief of campus security, former Sacramento police chief Rick Braziel, reportedly informed Thomas of his removal earlier this week.

Thomas has faced strong criticism for his handling the weeks-long protest and the skirmishes that broke out when pro-Israel counter-protesters attempted to storm the protestors’ encampment.

After that April 30 scuffle, Thomas was criticized for not being prepared for the event and failing to quickly call in other law enforcement agencies for additional personnel to help calm the situation.

Conversely, Thomas’ supporters blamed a waffling administration for the length of the encampment and the violent outbreak on April 30.  The then-overseer of campus security, administrative vice chancellor Michael Beck, has also faced sharp criticism and calls for his resignation for his failure to properly cope with the Royce Quad encampment.  

“The UCLA administration owns the failure of any protest response, and the public should reject their attempts to shift blame to law enforcement,” said Wade Stern, chief of the Federated University Police Officers Association, the union that represents UC and other school cops.  “What unfolded at UCLA calls into question whether UCLA complied with the guidelines.  The response to the protests appears ad hoc and devoid of the structured planning mandated by the UC system.”

The shoving aside of Thomas comes just a day before UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is slated to speak to Congress about the protests, allegations that Jewish students were kept from entering school buildings, and why the encampment was allowed to last so long and, in the end, got so violent.

Earlier this week, the chair of the  House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce – which has been holding a number of hearings on educational antisemitism – made it clear that colleges and universities have fallen down on the job – badly.

“The Committee has a clear message for mealy-mouthed, spineless college leaders: Congress will not tolerate your dereliction of your duty to your Jewish students,”  said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC).

Past hearings involving college presidents have not ended well – both Claudine Gay, president of Harvard, and Liz Magill, chief of Penn, were bounced from their jobs because of the dismal, intersectional, “mealy mouthed” testimony.

With Thomas “reassigned,” one can assume his name will come up quite often at tomorrow’s hearing:

“Can you explain why the protest got out of hand?”

“John Thomas.”

“Can you explain why the counter-protest got out of hand?”

“John Thomas.”

“Can you explain why the UCLA community seems to tolerate antisemitism?”

‘John Thomas.”

“Can you explain why my kid failed algebra?”

“John Thomas.”

Well, maybe not the last one but something similar could very well occur Thursday morning.

You can watch the hearing here.

https://x.com/EdWorkforceCmte/status/1793370671407624631