UC Irvine protesters stage walkout over student suspensions

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- Several dozen students and supporters came together at UC Irvine Wednesday, one week after chaos unfolded on campus between pro-Palestinian protesters and law enforcement.

Some of them participated in a walkout from classes and work as they demanded the university drop the suspensions of those arrested during last week's protests.

"There's students who are trying to graduate," said Em Wang with the UCI Divest Coalition. "There's students who are still working on campus. There's students who just want to finish the quarter but they can't because of these university suspensions and arrests."

Police dismantled a two-week encampment on campus on Wednesday, May 15, after a small group of protesters barricaded themselves inside the Physical Science Lecture Hall. It triggered a mutual aid call by UCI police that brought out at least 16 law enforcement agencies from across Orange County.

By the end of the night, 47 people - which include 26 students, two UCI employees and 19 others not affiliated with the university - were arrested.

Groups like UCI Divest Coalition and Students for Justice for Palestine said students have now been suspended for up to 14 days.

"Now the university is doubling down on that by barring them from their homes, barring them from the health center," said Wang.

In addition, UCI Film and Media Studies assistant professor Meryem Kamil said "to prevent them from coming onto campus like they were the instigators of what happened last week is appalling."

"On top of that, they're still requiring the graduate students to teach, which is wild to me," Kamil added.

They now want UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman to resign and continue to push the university to disclose its financial investments and divest funds from so-called Zionist institutions.

"The way to have made the student movement die down was to ignore and the administration didn't do that, and it's only going to come back stronger," Kamil said.

UC Irvine had no comment. Student records, including those related to discipline, are protected under federal law.