UCLA Chancellor Gene Block faces censure, no-confidence vote as graduation ceremonies start

With UCLA graduations underway, members of the university's faculty senate held an emergency special meeting to decide whether to deliver a censure and a no-confidence vote on UCLA Chancellor Gene Block for his handling of the pro-Palestinian encampment.  

Dozens of faculty members marched to Block's office Thursday in protest. Critics blasted Block, claiming his inaction allowed the encampment to be attacked for hours last Tuesday and for calling the Los Angeles Police Department to dismantle the tent city the following morning, leading to more chaos and arrests. 

Now, the area around Royce Hall and the library where the encampment once stood is a ghost town and the last of the metal barriers where it once stood have been removed with graduations going on as planned. 

Tiffany Juarez earned her master's degree in law and said the weeks leading up to the ceremony were challenging. 

"It's been really hard," she said. We had final exams in person, so everything was going on in the school, [and] we were still in exams."

For undergraduates, there are big questions about what, if any, changes may be made to their ceremonies next month. 

"I mean, there's a little bit of uncertainty for sure," senior Oscar Moreno said. "Not much communication has been going on."

The vote would largely be symbolic as Chancellor Gene Block announced his retirement this summer.