In response to the administration’s decision to have police forcefully clear out the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, many students and faculty have called on UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla to resign immediately.
The department of ethnic studies called for Khosla’s resignation in an Instagram post on May 6.
“Faculty of the Ethnic Studies department at UC San Diego are outraged at the vicious suppression of students by our administration under the leadership of Chancellor Pradeep Khosla,” the post read. “While the Chancellor wrongly claims that the encampment threatened safety, it was the administration’s response that posed the real threat.”
The post further lists three specific demands: the immediate resignation of Khosla, amnesty for those involved in the encampment, and police permanently and immediately removed from campus.
Additionally, the San Diego Faculty Association and the undersigned faculty released a statement on the student protests with over 170 faculty members signing the statement as of 9 a.m. May 7.
“We strongly condemn the recent repression of students across the country and express our unmitigated support for the rights of students to engage in protest and dissent on their campuses and beyond,” the statement said.
The statement continued, “The militarized response has only chilled free speech, escalated tensions, reduced safety on campus, and destroyed the trust needed for negotiations and shared governance.”
These statements condemning the university’s action on May 6 are not limited to members of faculty; students have created a petition and letters of their own.
A petition on Change.org created on May 6 calling for Khosla’s resignation has received 4,079 signatures as of 9 a.m. on May 7.
The petition stated that “it is INHUMANE that chancellor Pradeep Khosla is willing to arrest some of his OWN STUDENTS for peacefully protesting against something as despicable as GENOCIDE.”
Over 485 Graduate students have also signed a letter condemning UCSD’s response to the encampment.
“We, the graduate students of UC San Diego, unequivocally condemn the administration’s aggressive response to the peaceful protests on campus,” the letter read. “We demand accountability from the UCSD administration. We call upon them to acknowledge the harm caused by their actions, to immediately cease all further use of force against peaceful protesters, and to engage in genuine dialogue and reconciliation with the affected members of our community.”
Many students have also taken to the r/UCSD subreddit to call for Khosla to step down.
One such Reddit post has received over 900 upvotes as of 9 a.m. on May 7.
“Khosla made no attempts to talk with SJP about [their demands] and come to any sort of compromise,” the post stated. “Then today he had police storm the encampment with riot gear and arrest our fellow students. This despite the fact that students had been peaceful and were unarmed.”
“Khosla has lost the trust and the support of the students of UC San Diego, and that’s why I’m calling on him to resign as Chancellor, and I hope more people will as well,” the post concluded.
