Sacramento, CA – On Thursday, Sept. 19, the UC Board of Regents approved requests for additional military equipment from nine UC police departments, including Los Angeles (UCLA), Berkeley, and San Francisco. The equipment includes assault rifles, drones, projectile launches, and “non-lethal” impact munitions such as pepper balls.
The decision follows months of violence and militarized censorship faced by student protesters across UC campuses as they call for an end to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. In May, both UCLA and UC Irvine deployed law enforcement officers in riot gear to forcibly remove and arrest students participating in the universities’ anti-genocide encampments.
The officers at UCLA were armed with guns shooting rubber bullets as they shut down the encampment.
At UC San Diego, law enforcement reportedly sprayed pepper spray directly into a crowd of peaceful student and community protesters. Several students at the UC Santa Cruz anti-genocide encampment said that officers beat them with batons.
According to UCOP’s staff report, “All these tools are meant to provide officers with the ability to de-escalate or overcome self-destructive, dangerous or combative individuals without having to resort to deadly force. These tools are not used indiscriminately but with caution to protect the lives of UC community members/visitors and UC officers when bringing an incident to a conclusion with the least amount of force.”
They noted, “UCPD did not have any complaints related to the use of military equipment, and audits did not reveal any violations with the policy.”
“The University’s use of this equipment provides UC police officers with non-lethal alternatives to standard-issue firearms, enabling them to de-escalate situations and respond without the use of deadly force,” spokesperson Stett Holbrook said.
The equipment is “not military surplus, nor is it military-grade or designed for military use,” Holbrook said.
CAIR-CA condemned the approval, calling on the Regents “to immediately halt the purchase and use of military equipment on UC campuses and foster an environment of dialogue and understanding rather than one of fear and suppression.”
While the UC administration states that military equipment is utilized by campus police officers for de-escalation purposes to promote public safety, these incidents show that the equipment has instead been used to silence and suppress students’ peaceful protests for Palestinian human rights.
CAIR-CA Justice Reinvestment, Associate Manager Leena Sabagh said, “The UC Board of Regents’ decision to expand its arsenal of military equipment is deeply concerning. In recent months, we have seen campus police use this military gear to violently confront students peacefully calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“At the same time, outside mobs, such as the pro-Israel extremists who attacked student protesters at UCLA, have faced little to no police intervention. This decision will only serve to further enable the violent censorship of peaceful student protesters expressing solidarity with Palestine on UC campuses.
Sabagh added, “Rather than investing in resources and programs that promote education and student well-being, the UC Board of Regents has instead opted to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to arm campus police. This is a gross misuse of funds and a direct assault on students’ rights to free speech and peaceful protest.”
