A statement from UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D., on free speech and campus safety at UC San Diego (May 6, 2024):
The University of California unequivocally upholds freedom of speech and First Amendment rights, including the right to protest. All students, faculty, staff, and visitors must exercise these rights within the law and in line with campus policies.
Yesterday, the UC San Diego campus informed those in the UC San Diego protest encampment that the encampment was unlawful and that it violated university policy. Early this morning, after the campus provided multiple written and verbal warnings, public safety personnel from the UC Police Department, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and the California Highway Patrol entered an unlawful encampment near Library Walk on the UC San Diego campus. Protestors were notified of their unlawful assembly and ordered to leave. When protestors resisted, officers began to make arrests.
I support Chancellor Khosla in taking this step, and I am grateful to our public safety partners for their help in protecting the safety of all community members on the UC San Diego campus. We are committed to being as flexible as we can on matters of free expression, including the expression of viewpoints that some find deeply offensive. But when that expression blocks the ability of students to learn or to express their own viewpoints, when it meaningfully disrupts the functioning of the University, or when it threatens the safety of students, or anyone else, we have a duty to act.