They are crosstown rivals and civic landmarks. One is public, one private. One is surrounded by some of the priciest real estate in the nation; the other’s neighborhood is decidedly more working-class.
Over the past couple of weeks, though, the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles, have had one thing in common: being publicly slammed for mishandling campus protests.
After anger over a canceled valedictory speech culminated in an uprising at U.S.C. last week that led to 93 arrests on campus, the university’s president faced criticism that she had called in the Los Angeles police too quickly. This week, U.C.L.A.’s chancellor is fielding accusations that the university’s call for police backup took too long.
U.C.L.A. had taken a relatively tolerant approach to protests, adhering to a University of California-wide policy of avoiding calling in outside law enforcement unless “absolutely necessary to protect the physical safety” of the public campus. But on Tuesday, the school declared that an encampment of pro-Palestinian demonstrators at U.C.L.A. was an “unlawful assembly.”
Some observers wondered whether the shift had come because of escalating violence. Or maybe it was because the chancellor, Gene Block, was summoned Tuesday to testify later this month in front of a Republican-led congressional committee that has grilled other university presidents on how their campuses have handled pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
That night, as a pro-Palestinian group resisted orders to disperse, counterprotesters descended violently on their encampment. Several students were injured before the Los Angeles police — who did not have the primary jurisdiction necessary to respond without an invitation — were finally called in.