In May 1969 a National Guard helicopter hovered over the campus of UC Berkeley, spraying protesters with what the Times then described as “a heavy cloud of tear gas.”
This was the sixth consecutive day of protests on campus over plans to develop the known land. “People’s Park.” An ambitious governor who would go on to become president had called in 2,300 National Guard troops and hundreds of highway patrolmen. They brought guns, rifles and bayonets.
Issues, The then government. Ronald Reagan said in a loud televised broadcast appearanceIt all started because universities “let young people think they had the right to choose the laws they would follow, as long as they were doing it in the name of social protest.”
Reagan expressed no regrets in his response to the protests on campus, which was also home to large demonstrations against the Vietnam War. He called the student protests an “orgy of destruction.”
Governor Ronald Reagan walks with some of the 100 law enforcement officers gathered at University Hall upon his arrival to attend a meeting of the Regents of the University of California at Berkeley campus. A screaming crowd of protesters at UC Berkeley was dispersed with large volleys of tear gas, and Reagan later alerted National Guardsmen should their assistance be needed.
(Bateman/Getty)
Almost exactly 55 years later, California campuses are again overwhelmed by student revolts and police action, including violent clashes at UCLA last week. This time, over Israel-Hamas war,
And another ambitious governor from California is responding with a very different approach.
Governor Gavin Newsom has hid in the background as universities grapple with student protests that have led to protests At least 200 arrests at UCLA, Three Injuries at UC Berkeley And forced to take classes online Cal Poly Humboldt,
Although he has met privately with law enforcement officials and university leaders, Newsom has yet to speak to the news media about the unrest. He directed the state Office of Emergency Services to support police response to campuses when requested by local agencies, but not to activate the National Guard. He took to social media last week to condemn the violence at UCLA, with a written statement saying, “The right to free speech does not extend to inciting violence, vandalism or anarchy on campus.”
On May 19, 1969, students and activists gathered at Sproul Plaza on the campus of UC Berkeley for a protest related to nearby People’s Park.
(Garth Eliassen/Getty Images)
On Thursday, hours after his arrest at UCLA, Newsom posted a video Promotion of expanded national monuments, which featured him in a bay beneath trees on a sun-drenched hill – a move seen by some as tone-deaf.
For a governor who has rarely been shy about making headlines on controversial issues, Including new abortion restrictions And Newsom’s response to mass shootings and turmoil on campus has been far more low-key.
Reagan and Newsom are political rivals and led California at very different times. In many ways, their differing reactions to the campus unrest reflect how they presented themselves to the voters who elected them. Reagan, a Republican, ran for office during the first round of campus protests and promised to “clean up the mess at Berkeley.” Newsom, a Democrat, campaigned as a Champion to legalize marijuana and gay marriage, and supported ending California’s decades-old tough-on-crime policies.
But the responses also reflect different political eras and highlight the complexities Arising from the Israel-Hamas war, especially for the Democrats,
A lone protester stays behind to argue with National Guard troops who came to help California Highway Patrol officers break up a rally on the UC Berkeley campus on May 16, 1969.
(associated Press)
“Reagan’s actions suited the political climate and political dynamics of the time,” said Sherry Babich Jeffs, professor emeritus at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at USC.
“Newsom understands that if he (comes forward), he risks alienating important constituencies that he doesn’t have to go to at this time.”
Young people, progressives, people of color and Jewish voters are all important constituencies for Democrats, Babich Jeffs said, but the party is Division over President Biden’s response to Israel-Hamas war,
The division has paved the way for Republicans, even in Sacramento where they lack power. That didn’t stop GOP leaders from holding a press conference at the state Capitol last week to call for cutting state funding for administrators at those campuses and revoking Cal Grant scholarships from students involved in criminal acts.
“It is unacceptable that our governor has said very little about this and taken very little action to stop what is going on on our campuses,” Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) said Thursday.
Some Democrats have been raising concerns about the climate on California campuses for months.
In a letter in novemberA month after Hamas attacked Israel, members of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus called for “immediate action” from University of California President Michael V. Drake and California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia to protect Jewish students from anti-Semitism. called upon. ,
Newsom too, Then sent a letter to the university leaders Called for more to be done to stop threats against students who were “targeted because of their Jewish, Arab or Muslim identity.” He wrote that “some faculty members have incited discussion with violent rhetoric. This is unacceptable and demands action.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks during an event in San Francisco on November 9, 2023.
(Jeff Chiu/Associated Press)
In March, long before the protests reached the level of violence last week, the Jewish Caucus started a bill It would require California college leaders to adopt policies “prohibiting violence, harassment, intimidation, and harassment,” especially when it comes to any event that “calls for or supports genocide.”
Democrats leading the legislation have emphasized that they are not trying to limit free speech, but the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill, saying it goes even further than federal laws that previously existed. The U.S. does not protect hate speech or violence under the First Amendment and it could allow universities to “silence a range of protected speech based solely on viewpoint.”
Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who co-authored the campus bill and signed the letter to university leadership, said he supports the right to protest, especially on college campuses.
But what’s happening now “crosses a line,” he said.
“What’s different here is that in addition to the protests, we have targeted harassment of a specific group of students – Jewish students,” he said. “I want them to be able to protest the war in Gaza, call for a ceasefire and call for peace. …it’s healthy. But you have some people who are going even further and saying anti-Semitic things, and it’s undermining what they’re really protesting for.”
The governor has taken quiet action in recent weeks by calling Jewish and Muslim leaders, publishing a plan to combat anti-Semitism and communicating with Palestinian American communities about Islamophobia. He has said he supports Biden’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Newsom has no direct authority over California’s public universities, but he wields influence as an ex-officio member of the UC Regents and Cal State Board of Trustees. This gives them some responsibility for events on campus, said Bill Whalen, a fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institute who was a speechwriter for GOP Governor Pete Wilson.
Protesters have occupied a pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA since authorities broke in on Thursday.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
“Technically the governor owns these operations,” Whalen said. “Even though he’s behind the scenes, you would expect him to be very active.”
But politics within the Democratic Party have made it difficult for him to be too forceful, Babich Jeffs said. Newsom is also supporting Biden’s re-election campaign along with navigation Division among Democratic voters Who are angry at American support for Israel.
“If you’re Gavin Newsom and you don’t know whether it’s going to help or hurt you, just leave the battlefield,” Babich Jeffs said. “And apparently that’s what he did.”
Times librarian Scott Wilson contributed research for this article.
