By Alexei Koseff, Calmatters
As campus tensions escalate over student encampments to protest the war in Gaza — with canceled classes, violent clashes and mass arrests in recent days — Republican leaders in the California Legislature are calling for the state to use its upcoming budget process to punish demonstrators who they say have gone too far.
Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones of San Diego and Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Chico announced today that they would push to strip state financial aid from protesters found to have committed violent or criminal acts or violated other students’ rights.
They did not offer a formal proposal with details, but Jones and Gallagher said at a press conference that students who assault, harass and intimidate their peers or physically block them from attending class — as reportedly happened to Jewish students at UCLA this week — did not deserve to benefit from the Cal Grant program.
“You have to earn those,” Jones said. “We ought to be rewarding the students that want to use those Cal Grants to go to school, get educated and become productive members of society.”
Jones and Gallagher focused their ire on pro-Palestinian demonstrators, whose aggressive tactics they said have left Jewish students feeling unsafe and completely derailed some campuses, including Cal Poly Humboldt, which closed for the rest of the semester after protestors occupied an academic and administrative building. They largely sidestepped the attack earlier this week by pro-Israeli counterdemonstrators on the encampment at UCLA, which was dismantled by police early today.
“No violence should be condoned at all,” Gallagher said. “But let’s be clear, there was violence on both sides.”
The Republican leaders blamed university administrators across the state for not shutting down encampments sooner and Gov. Gavin Newsom for not intervening. They said they would also seek to withhold funding in the upcoming budget from University of California and California State University campuses that did not respond adequately to the protests — perhaps an amount equal to state resources spent on providing law enforcement and cleaning up damage.
“It’s outrageous and it’s unacceptable that we’ve allowed this chaos to ensue over weeks,” Gallagher said. “There does need to be accountability. Some people need to be fired.”
Any budget plans will require support from the Legislature’s Democratic majority, which did not immediately jump on board with Jones and Gallagher’s ideas.
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, an Encino Democrat who leads the Assembly budget committee and serves as co-chairperson of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, said he did not want to comment until he saw their proposals.
“These campuses are going to have to figure out how to move forward in a way that works for everybody,” Gabriel said. “That’s a difficult question and certainly something we’re doing a lot of thinking about.”
A spokesperson for Newsom’s office declined to comment but noted that the state has established a mutual aid system to provide additional law enforcement when college campuses request assistance. He provided a previous statement from the governor affirming that “those who engage in illegal behavior must be held accountable for their actions — including through criminal prosecution, suspension, or expulsion.”
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And yet they portray violent, armed insurrectionists as tourists. Cognitive dissonance much??
ANON – no, they’re just fundamentally dishonest people.
The United States started with an insurrection.
Rub – Spoken like a true victim of brainwashing, with an original that was not pre-shrunk.
What kind of idiot would equate an attempt to institute a dictatorship in this nation with the founding of our country by overthrowing a monarchical rule?
The GOP has certainly reaped its reward for pandering to greed and ignorance for the last 50 years or so.
How said anything about. A dictatorship? just an improved democracy.
RUBAIYAT – how do you honestly think someone who encouraged and then stood by as thousands of his followers attacked the cornerstone of our democracy (free and fair election and peaceful transfer of power) would employ anything close to an “improved democracy?”
Do you really believe that the people’s choice should be ignored? That outright and verified lies should give rise to overthrowing our government?
It’s downright TERRIFYING that some many seem to think like you. Should Trump win, it will surely be the downfall of a legitimate United States.
Trump discouraged the riot. But this country has man. many deep seated problems.
RUBAIYAT – Please explain how in any sense of the English word, “discourage,” that Trump did so while watching for OVER 2.5 HOURS as the traitors broke into our Capitol building?
How is doing nothing, “discouraging?” Also, how is fueling the crowd with lies and false information that HE KNEW was false, “discouraging the riot?”
Do MAGA folks not know English words?
Trump said “go in peace”
almost THREE HOURS after they started attacking cops and smashing windows.
What color do you think the sky is? Kinda worried about your ability to comprehend clear and simple facts.
ruby – Speaking of “deep seated problems.” We can start at the top with the president. For a person in his position I can’t think of anyone with more deep seated problems. The debate(s), if Brandon attends, will be quite a show.
Some people are good at denying reality. Either that, or they’re really, really bad at sarcasm.
Not coming from the J6 crowd of deplorables and their aspiring orange king.
You use the term insurrection like it is a bad thing, yet it was used to get England out of our pockets.
Except the orange moron wanted to get into your pockets. Insurrection in the wrong direction.
RUBAIYAT – insurrection IS a bad thing when it’s carried out like it was on Jan 6. How on earth could you honestly suggest that a violent attack on our very democracy based ENTIRELY on admitted lies is not a bad thing?
What I said was that insurrections were not necessarily bad – you make it sound like an insurrection is of course bad.
No, RUBY, you’re not reading this very well.
Some people are just weasels.
RUBAIYAT – please… PLEASE…. let me buy you a history book that wasn’t published in Texas or Florida. My treat, seriously.
What our founding fathers rebelled against was a real thing. Jan 6 was based on KNOWN LIES.
Very un-American of you to diminish the Revolution and creation of our country like that.
Amen
“students who assault, harass and intimidate their peers or physically block them from attending class — as reportedly happened to Jewish students at UCLA this week — did not deserve to benefit from the Cal Grant program.” – absolutely. Any student who physically assaults or intimidates others should be punished to some degree, even suspended or expelled, depending on the degree of the offense. However, let’s not forget that most of the protesters in the encampments have been peaceful, albeit perhaps in violation of school camping rules. Those protesters should be immune from any punishment beyond the normal sanctions for those violations, if at all.
I just hope that also goes for the violent Anti-Palestinian counter protesters who beat and attacked other students for hours at UCLA without any intervention by the police who were standing there watching.
It is funny though, how rapid and vengeful Republicans get about protesters who stand for something they don’t, like end to racial injustice and police violence against black people, end to oppression, occupation and bombing innocent children, etc…..
Obviously the violent counter protesters were wrong and should be pursued and charged to the full extent of the law.
One thing to note is that they were not at all uniformly “Pro-Israel” in their motivations. Some of them have already been identified through pictures as Proud Boy affiliated extremists and Anti-Vax and anti-education agitators and lunatics who really were just showing up to beat the shit out of a bunch of “woke” kids.
ALEX – yep, I’m surprised there weren’t more incidents like this. Dumb racists beating on intelligent, empathetic and yeah, “woke” students. Scum.
I saw a bunch thugs get hauled off. Can you document the anti-vaxers arrested? I’m interested in their activities.
Do your own work bud.
The colleges and universities should really rely on actual convictions to impose sanctions on students rather than their ridiculous some smelling internal processes / kangaroo courts that are not transparent and wholly susceptible to undue influence, incorrect and unfair conclusions, much less costly civil litigation. Real simple: convicted = sanctioned or booted on an open and evenly applied basis. They won’t do it.
I merely pointed out we were started with an insurrection. With our current state of affairs another could be on the table.
RUBY – Yes, if Trump wins again, there likely will be another sort of insurrection, once again led by him.
Agree
Is education so bad that people can’t distinguish that Jan 6 was a bunch of idiots, thugs, racists, freaks and common criminals who showed nothing but disrespect for law, their fellow citizens, and the greatest democracy in the history of the world? There is no comparison whatsoever to the 1770s era when insurrection was taken against a monarchic system that did not provide fair representation or legal right of protest. Trump could have gone down as a great President – instead he supported and continues to support and justify this kind of anti American criminal activity. Cheney and Pence and a few others are the true Americans and real Republicans. Without the insurrection Trump would be cruising to a landslide in 24. Unfortunately he has clearly shown that he doesn’t respect the American way and wants to drag us down to the autocracy of Russia and China. Too bad that a lot of people in the USA don’t realize what that means or even have the sense to care while others salivate exploiting it. Sadly that leaves us with Biden who is so conflicted about pronouns, willing to bankrupt the poor over climate, and unable to constitute cohesive immigration and foreign policy. But he’s still preferable to someone who would throw your democracy out with the morning trash.
LONGITMESB1 – while I don’t agree with you on Biden, or Pence really, I absolutely agree on the rest. Trump is so far from a true American it sickens me to see so many glorify him. Our country’s failing education system has contributed to this ability to be swindled so easily by the, often unintelligible, words of a professional con man and to truly believe his lies despite hard, clear evidence to the contrary. A large portion of our nation is following a cult, not Republicans. You can’t reason with a cult.
I actually miss the old days of “normal” Republicans!
“Trump could have gone down as a great President – instead he supported and continues to support and justify this kind of anti American criminal activity.”
Great, except for Jan. 6? I don’t think so.
DOULIE…. snicker, snicker…. ok so tell us why Trump was one of the best to “lead American’s? (sic)”
You gave us less than a second to respond about Biden, not even that, with your ridiculous “question,” so now, tell us…. what your guy did that was so great for our country? And no, not just what he did for rich, white men.
Anyone who thinks trump would be considered great in regard to anything besides grifting and self-aggrandizement has a screw loose in their evaluation mechanism for character and basic humanity.
Anonymous – The “great” president Trump will return to the White House in 2025 to MAGA. You and those like you best stock up on aspirin or whatever else you use to calm yourselves. As far as anyone having a “screw loose” you might want to review recent videos of the moron that is now reported to be a president.
Sociopath.
DOULIE – can you define “MAGA?” Not what it stands for, but when it was? When was America “great?”
WW2 years and 20 years before and after
Back when bigotry was acceptable, and we ignored fascist dictatorships until attacked? Brilliant!
Make America Gullible Again!
Reactionaries always spurn progress and yearn for an imaginary past..
Also, if Trump didn’t MAGA his first term, how do you expect him to do it his second term? I mean, if you folks are still whimpering MAGAMAGAMAGA, then he clearly failed his first time around….
I agree. When I ask MAGAns exactly when they define America’s past great time, they never have an answer. It’s a myth, similar to claiming that America is a Christian country or that racism has been solved. I think that if MAGAns would take a good look at Trump and their own wishful thinking, they might conclude that Trump is actually Satan, and that they are being duped by a con man. The only thing DJT cares about is DJT. He has no affinity for the general population, other than using them as a tool to massage his ego and achieve his personal gains.
Another thing that I don’t get, is that people seem to forget how awful life was during the Trump administration. People ask “are you better off now than you were four years ago” and my answer is definitely “YES”. While net worth isn’t the ultimate measure of personal happiness, it is one component. During the Trump administration, our net worth increased by 40%. So far, during the Biden years, our net worth increased by 100%. This would be slightly affected by inflation, but not the magnitude of the difference. Besides monetary considerations, my personal happiness and peace of mind are much better now, knowing that a rational thoughtful adult has the keys to the White House, rather than an impulsive immature egotistical bully. Biden’s staff and appointed secretaries seem to have the best interest of their departments in mind. Trump appointed secretaries who didn’t believe in the purpose of the departments they headed (such as DeVos in Education and Zinke in Interior) and did their best to dismantle or nullify those departments.
PATRICK – more spot on points. Peace of mind is one of the most important measures of happiness in my book and, under Biden, I think most people have it. Trump was chaotic, an embarrassment and in my opinion, deadly (see how many died of Covid due to his “advice” about vaxxes) in his first term. The thought of the damage a 2nd term Trump could do is terrifying.
Also, I have the privilege of being born a white, straight male, so my “peace of mind” about my job, healthcare, overall rights, is not close to what others felt during his last term and what they must be fearful of in his next, should it happen.
Biden pissed off whiney Cons with all his pro-environment, pro-being good to others policies, but Trump could actually do real damage to people who aren’t born like him.
People will actually suffer under Trump, not just have to watch their tax dollars be spent protecting the future of our planet or the livelihood of others.
In other words, Biden didn’t hurt anyone. Trump did and will.
LOLZ. All you weirdos have is hate. Trump doesn’t hurt me. In fact I benefit from his economic positions and policies designed to place the burden on the middle class and scrape every penny possible for the higher net worth folks.
But I know exactly what he is. I’ve known it for a long time. I know people that have been in his orbit from back in the 1980s and 90s. I know someone that was literally offered money by him to try and blackmail an innocent person–surprise, surprise, an attractive woman who rejected him. I know that he is nothing but a black hole of total power hunger.
People who blind themselves to what the man is are quite pathetic.
Some people are happy to follow a pied piper, even when he’s monochrome orange and blatantly manipulative of people with weak mentalities.
I’m more worried about what would follow Trump if he wins, than I am of Trump himself. By the end of the term democrats will mostly be in jail or exile and whoever stayed will be praying for Jared and Ivanka to run a coup when President Vivek, Stephen Miller, or Don Jr. step up to the podium. Lofl except we’ll all be crying.
You know some of us feel the country is in dire straights already.
The word you wanted is “straits”, but we don’t expect erudition, given past examples.
Longtime – How many democrats did Trump jail or were exiled during his presidency? Did all positive results that Trump completed during his presidency only impact republicans, or all Americans, including democrats? Did you benefit by anything president Trump did while he was in office? It appears you are “crying” now. I guess Trump resting in your head does hurt.
DOULIE – What Republicans were “exiled?”
It’s pointless to talk sense with the senseless
If Biden had some balls none of these protests would’ve happened. He’s continuing to send guns and dollars to Israel as we speak and has been throughout the war there. Israel is killing innocent civilians left and right. To a lot of the world he’s making the US look like absolute fools.
Free speech? Not in your world, apparently.
If Biden had balls and a competent AG the Trump saga would have been settled a couple of years ago. He would be guilty or innocent and the 2024 election would be based on issues, rather than competing personality cults of aged demagogues
But… there’s only one of those aged demagogues out there, and he’s orange.