(Bloomberg) -- Gene Block is about to be hit every which way. 

The chancellor for the University of California at Los Angeles will appear at a congressional hearing Thursday to defend the school’s handling of antisemitism in recent months, including why Jewish students were blocked from parts of the school by pro-Palestinian protesters, who allegedly displayed signs such as as “Zionists not welcome” at unauthorized encampments.

He’s also likely to be assailed — in the hearing and back on campus — over why UCLA at the end of April failed to stop a mob of pro-Israel demonstrators from attacking the student encampment for hours using metal rods, fireworks and pepper spray. Block called the violence “truly despicable.” 

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For the chancellor, who has a little more than two months left in office after 17 years running UCLA, the hearing led by Republican Virginia Foxx is expected to be searing but temporary. For the university, reeling from already considerable rifts among administrators, faculty and students, it could have more lasting consequences.

The House Education and the Workforce Committee event serves as a bookend to a tumultuous year on US campuses, in which student protesters from New York to California disrupted classes in the fall and built encampments in the spring. Prior committee hearings contributed to presidential resignations at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, and directly preceded a police crackdown at Columbia.

In written testimony submitted ahead of the hearing, Block said he regretted not clearing the encampment sooner. 

“With the benefit of hindsight, we should have been prepared to immediately remove the encampment if and when the safety of our community was put at risk,” he said. 

The congressional committee is seeking to examine how universities dealt with antisemitism on campus since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel. Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the US and European Union, killed more than 1,200 in the assault and is still holding hostages. Israel’s subsequent ground attack and bombardment in Gaza have killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, including children and women, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. 

The committee also summoned leaders from Northwestern and Rutgers, which made deals with students to take down encampments before their commencement ceremonies, including agreeing to discuss divestment from assets tied to Israel. The two schools said they were looking forward to addressing their efforts to combat antisemitism and prioritize student safety. 

Congressional Grilling

Some of the toughest questions are expected to revolve around how Jewish and Israeli students were treated by activists, particularly at UCLA. 

The encampment, which occupied the lawn between the California school’s library and music hall, was surrounded by metal barricades that blocked off access to the camp and the paths around it. It had about 500 people, some of whom weren’t affiliated with UCLA, Block said. 

Protesters were stationed at checkpoints to ascertain who could enter, cutting off access to the front entrances of those buildings for anyone who couldn’t pass.

In some cases, which were documented on social media in late April and early May, students were barred if they identified as Zionists. In others, students were blocked because of their appearance. 

Rick Chavez Zbur, a Democratic state assemblymember who represents parts of Los Angeles, called on the federal government to investigate. He cited video footage and first-hand accounts from his own staff that checkpoints throughout campus had signs such as “Zionists not welcome.” He said UCLA acknowledged the incidents but didn’t act to stop them. 

“Given that the overwhelming majority of Jews identify as Zionists, and the term is used to describe people of Israeli national origin, this can be very clearly interpreted to mean that Jewish and Israeli-American students may not enter university facilities, including libraries and lecture halls,” he wrote in a letter to the US Education Department. 

Allegations of civil rights violations would potentially endanger UCLA’s access to federal money, since schools receiving US funding are required to protect students from recurring harassment based on race, ethnicity, ancestry, color or national origin. In 2021, UCLA received $240 million from federal loans and grants for undergraduate and graduate student aid.  

“It’s not a question of whether the university has crossed the line in permitting this kind of antisemitic conduct on its campus,” Marc Kasowitz, an attorney representing students suing Columbia and Harvard over discrimination, said in reference to UCLA. “The line is completely destroyed. They’ve exploded it.”

Violent Counter-Protest

The campus tensions devolved into violence on April 30, when a group of pro-Israel demonstrators attacked the protesters in the encampment and tried to dismantle a barricade. Law enforcement stood by for hours before intervening. 

The next day, in an encounter witnessed by a Bloomberg News reporter, a man named Matthew was serving as gatekeeper. 

“Are you against the Zionists?” he asked those who tried to enter the area. 

Those who agreed were allowed passage. Others weren’t. 

“No way man,” Matthew told one student as he approached the checkpoint. “You look sketchy. No Zionists.” 

The encampment protesters had been ramping up their security even before the attack because of clashes with counter-demonstrators, said Elizabeth O’Brien, an assistant history professor at UCLA. 

“These students had little-to-no protection from the people entrusted with peace and security on campus,” she said. 

Police removed the encampment early on May 2. This week, the university’s police chief was “temporarily reassigned,” the school newspaper reported. 

Campus officers are working with the Los Angeles Police Department and the county district attorney to identify and prosecute the attackers. CNN investigated some of the counter-protesters and found that many of them weren’t students.

‘Horrible Precedent’

O’Brien, who said she was allowed into the encampment after someone inside vouched for her, said the protesters didn’t discriminate based on appearances or religion but on their assessment of an individual’s “intentions and motives for entering.” She acknowledged that protesters blocked some building entrances but said others remained clear. 

That’s the problem, said Ronald Richards, a lawyer and UCLA graduate representing a student who filed a criminal complaint against two professors who blocked him from entry. 

“It’s a horrible precedent,” Richards said. “What if next week White supremacists took over the square and said no Blacks allowed?”

In a speech on the House floor May 1, Congressman Kevin Kiley, a California Republican on the education and workforce committee, hammered “disruptive and dangerous” encampments on US campuses and cited the example of Jewish students who were blocked from parts of UCLA’s campus. 

Referring to upcoming committee hearings, he said lawmakers would call American university leaders to account. 

“Our university administrators have allowed this to happen,” he told fellow lawmakers. “It never should’ve gotten to this point.”

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