Pro-Palestine protesters showed up at UC Merced for Regents’ meeting. See what happened

Following the lead of many other university students throughout the country, a handful of UC Merced protesters against the Gaza conflict set up an encampment in the Wallace Dutra Amphitheater on May 12.

Like other national protesters, they flashed signs like one reading “End the silence, Divest, Reinvest, and Academic Boycott.”

However, there was no violence or arrests during the 9-day protest that coincided with a meeting of the University of California Board of Regents.

UC Merced spokesperson Sam Yniguez first witnessed the protesters gathering in the plaza after the university’s final commencement ceremony on May 12. Families were also in the plaza celebrating graduates.

“Even though they (the protesters) were distracting from the festivities, you know, they were peaceful, so we let it be,” Yniguez said

That may have been because of increased security – including Merced County Sheriff’s Officers, Merced police, and CHP officers – or the fact protesters were in regular contact with university officials.

“We’re peaceful. We’re here for a good change,” said a pro-Palestine protester who asked to be be identified as “Floaty.” He is a local high school student.

“We want no violence whatsoever, no escalation. No one in this camp wants to see a UCLA situation or a Columbia University situation,” said Floaty. “We are just enacting our First Amendment right to have freedom of speech, freedom to freely gather peacefully, and Free Palestine.”

The Israel-Hamas war that has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to The Associated Press, has led to university students setting up encampments, occupying and barricading lecture halls, and interrupted commencement ceremonies.

More than 3,000 protesters across more than 40 campuses have been arrested since April 18, said the AP. Last week, UC Irvine protesters occupied and barricaded a lecture hall which resulted in arrests.

Protesters interrupted Regents’ meeting, were led out

The UC Regents, the governing board of the University of California system, met Tuesday through Thursday, and some protesters interrupted a meeting. They were escorted out by CHP officers.

According to an Instagram post by “Students for Justice in Palestine UC Merced,” the protesters are demanding:

▪ An immediate ceasefire.

▪ Financial divestment of all UC system funds “that directly support the genocide in Gaza.”

▪ An academic boycott that cuts all university ties with Israel, including scholars who study abroad in that country.

▪ Amnesty for all protesting students “who have faced the gross and brutal repression and violence at the hand of the UC system.”

▪ Reinvest in the students by redirecting financial support to students’ needs, and investing in aid to Palestine.

UC Merced officials kept in constant contact with protesters

Yniguez said the university held frequent discussions with the protesters, and university liaisons met at multiple times with the protesters.

The police presence, he said, is standard practice for UC Regents’ meetings and had been established several weeks ago. The university did not have the cost it bore for the security.

Floaty, however, was uneasy with the police.

“We do understand that there needs to be some police presence. However, we do feel that the way it’s set up or where they’re stationed is kind of hostile towards us,” Floaty said.

Protester Kristine Wyndham said she had an encounter with police while trying to enter the UC Regents meeting. Wyndham filed an online request for a public comment but was turned away due to capacity, she was told. When Wyndham’s friend expressed anger the police started to move towards them.

“I saw 10 or 15 of the police who were standing there like all start to kind of beef up and come close to us, which was really [a] disproportionate reaction to someone who was justifiably angry for being shut out of the public comment,” Wyndham said.

Campus personnel deescalated the situation, said Wyndham.

In response to the incident, the University of California, in an email, said the space available for the public can change and staff do their best to get speakers in the room.

The UC also stated that: “Signing up for public comment does not guarantee a speaker time to speak in person; the Regents hear from as many members of the public on as many topics as possible during the 30-minute public comment period, both in the meeting room and by phone. Members of the public are also free to provide comments to the Regents in writing.”

A Thursday Instagram livestream by Students for Justice in Palestine UC Merced showed five regents – Joel Raznick, Jose Hernandez, Josiah Beharry, Merhawi Tesfai, and Keith Ellis – meeting with protesters near the encampment.

Protesters took down their encampment and left Monday. No arrests or other conflicts were reported.

In response to the events at UC Irvine, UC President Michael V. Drake said the university system supports the right to protest, but that “this right is not, however, absolute.”

“We must exercise our rights within the broad confines of the laws and policies we ourselves have established,” Drake said in a statement.