A UC Irvine lecturer who faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly failing to disperse when police attempted to clear a student encampment said he has not faced any repercussions professionally.
The charges stem from last May when law enforcement officials arrested more than 40 students on the university's campus after weeks of protests calling for an end to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Jonathan Brook Haley, a lecturer in humanities who goes by Brook Haley, told LAist on Thursday that the university has not contacted him at all regarding his arrest.
“I'm teaching a full course load for this coming year, and I'd like to say that the kinds of suspension and banning that students suffered were not applied to me,” Haley told LAist.
UC Irvine students who led the encampment have filed a lawsuit against the university alleging they were given harsher punishments and banned from campus.
“Some of them have difficulty getting their diplomas, transcripts,” he said. “All of UCI financial aid recipients [who were arrested] had delayed information over the summer. So, it's really causing a conundrum for these students to have more ways to be punished, more ways to be publicly described and named in documents.”
A spokesperson for UC Irvine declined to comment on Haley's allegation, saying they can't get into disciplinary action against staff and students that concerns personnel issues and student conduct issues.
Charges being considered for dozens more
Over the summer, as students set up encampments across campuses, law enforcement were called in to break up the protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Students were also calling on their universities to sever ties and disclose their financial investments with weapons manufacturers.
The O.C. District Attorney’s office announced misdemeanor charges Wednesday against 10 people involved in the UCI protests, including four students. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said that the Special Prosecutions Unit spent months reviewing evidence before moving forward with charges. Possible charges are still being considered for dozens more arrested.
LAist has reached out to the O.C. District Attorney's office for comment.
