CORRECTION: In the article’s third-to-last paragraph, Gallagher-Geurtsen said “community specialists” send regulatory emails to faculty; administrators send these emails.

Around 100 students, faculty, and community members gathered on April 2 at Silent Tree for a press conference calling for UC San Diego to remove sanctions against two professors.

Organizers said the timing of the sanctions — nearly two years after May 2024 and after legal authorities declined to file charges — raises concerns about faculty and student safety on campus.

In its Instagram post announcing the conference, the Council on American Islamic Relations San Diego also wrote that the University sends community specialists to attend and document controversial campus events without prior notice, and “They make substantial changes to Time, Place, Manner policies without faculty, student, or staff input to create even more bureaucratic capacity to punish speaking out against the genocide in Gaza.”

The conference’s speakers called on the University to drop all disciplinary actions related to protected protests and reverse the suspensions of the two professors. They also urged the University to take meaningful steps to ensure that TPM policies do not “restrict or suppress protected speech,” said Omar Abusham, an outreach coordinator for CAIR San Diego.

The event follows CAIR’s designation of UCSD as a hostile campus. CAIR defines institutions identified to discriminate against Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, Jewish and other individuals opposing occupation, apartheid, and genocide. 

Alongside CAIR-SD, UCSD Faculty for Justice in Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine San Diego organized this press conference to address pending disciplinary actions tied to the 2024 Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

Lily Hoang, a literature professor at UCSD, is facing a potential sanction of up to one quarter without pay. BT Werner, a professor of environmental physics and complex systems, is facing a potential two-year suspension without pay. The University alleges that both of these professors were present at the encampment.

“These charges are being brought forward two years later, after the city attorney declined to

press charges and after the statute of limitations had already passed,” an SJP representative said at the conference. “So, we have to ask, why now?” 

The SJP member added that sanctioning these professors “sends a message to faculty and students that they can still be targeted, a message that standing with students can come with consequences.”

Werner said they first received notice of the investigation in June 2024. 

“The next communication I received from the administration was in late February 2026, when I was informed that I was being charged with violating faculty and university conduct rules,” Werner said. 

“Currently, my lawyer and I are preparing for a hearing before the UCSD faculty senate privilege and tenure committee, to be held in May,” Werner continued. “The committee then will send a report to the chancellor, who will decide on which punishment to impose.” 

Werner said they believe the disciplinary processes are politically motivated. 

“These processes have been applied to both students and faculty to suppress speech that is inconvenient to the senior administration,” they said. Werner added that politically motivated disciplinary processes contribute to a climate of fear on campus and further limit free speech. 

Speakers at the press conference criticized the administration for contributing to the marginalization of Arab and Muslim students.

Tricia Gallagher-Geurtsen, an ethnic studies lecturer, said that the community specialists “send emails to faculty with regulations about what cannot be discussed in the classroom, despite their attempts to frame these initiatives as contributing to our community’s safety.”

William Simpson, Associated Student president, noted that universities fail their mission when they prioritize outside pressure over their own principles. 

“When they act out of concern for how they are perceived at the federal level rather than what is right for their students, that is when they fail their mission,” Simpson said. “Your responsibility is not political pressure, your responsibility is to your students, to protect their voices, to uphold their rights.”