UC Davis law students protest suspension of group supporting Palestine
Students at UC Davis School of Law walked out of their classes Wednesday morning in protest of campus administration dissolving the Law Students Association.
In March, the law school suspended the student government group after they approved a resolution boycotting monetary and academic associations to Israel. The group stated they implemented the boycott in opposition to the “ongoing genocide and occupation in Palestine,” according to past Sacramento Bee reporting.
Students stood in front of the Martin Luther King Jr. King Hall and marched their way across campus, shouting protest chants in the quad nearby the law school. About 70 students participated in the walkout.
“Listen up Chancellor (Gary) May, LSA is here to stay!” the students chanted.
While holding signs which read “Free Palestine” and “Free Palestine, U.S. tax dollars fund war crimes,” they demanded the reinstatement of the law school’s student government and to be allowed to implement their resolution. LSA controls the disbursement of law activity fees.
Bill Kisliuk, crisis communications manager for UC Davis, said the university suspended operations of the student association. The UC Davis School of Law’s administrators are now maintaining control of the group’s $40,000 funds.
Kisliuk wrote that the student group “knowingly violate(d) University of California” by implementing “a discriminatory resolution” through boycotting entities associated with Israel. He wrote that UC policy requires student government to maintain a “viewpoint-neutral basis.”
“UC Davis is committed to providing an environment free of discrimination, harassment, antisemitism and other forms of hate,” UC Davis stated.
During the walkout, a protester, who asked their identity to be kept anonymous for concern of their safety, shared a statement from alumni of UC Davis School of Law at Martin Luther King Jr. Hall, which said 30 alumni will be withdrawing all financial support until the students association is reinstated with “full funding and allowed to enact its own democratically passed measures,” the letter reads.
“We will actively discourage prospective students by warning them of the repressive nature of King Hall and encourage our fellow alumni to follow suit,” the letter stated. “We cannot in good conscience be associated with an institution that silences its student body in order to actively support genocide.”
Jordan Porterfield, a law student graduating this year, said that as law students, they are tasked to pursue justice and uphold democracy, which they believe they’re doing by standing up for the liberation of Palestine.
“Collectively, across the nation, students are being silenced and intimidated and rather than stand with us,” Porterfield said. “The school is trying to make an example of us and this resolution.”
In response to allegations that suspending the student group was a violation of free speech, Kisliuk wrote that “while student governments have the right to address and take positions on public issues as long as the statement does not purport to represent the views of the University.”
“The resolution goes beyond this by restricting University funds based on viewpoint,” Kisliuk wrote.
Shasun Sulur, a second year law student, said the passing of the resolution was well within the group’s rights. He said UC Davis must support its students, especially as the “Trump administration (begins targeting) students over their speech, illegally detaining legal residents of this country as well as their family members.”
“We’re at a time now when we see campuses across the country not just restricting student activism over Palestine, but actively harming students over their support of liberation and against this occupation,” Sulur said. “...We need loud and clear affirmations from our university that they’re going to protect students, not put them in harm’s way.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 4:03 PM.
