'That's Really, Really Odd': Michelle Steel Stunned By UC Chancellor's Response

6 months ago

At yesterday's House Education Committee hearing, Rep. Michelle Steel (R-CA) questioned UC Chancellor Dr. Gene Block about antisemitism on campus.

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Transcript

00:00 - Thank you, Dr. Fox, and thank you all the witnesses

00:03 coming out today.

00:04 And Chancellor Block, you've been talking about

00:08 this was really peaceful protest,

00:12 and UC system, under UC system,

00:15 unless absolutely needed,

00:17 that you cannot really use law enforcements.

00:20 But you know what?

00:21 If you watch that video,

00:24 that person physically slapped a Jewish student

00:28 and removed the Jewish student's head covering

00:31 and pull out a taser and follow that person,

00:36 I hope that you found out who that person is,

00:39 belong to your university or students,

00:41 and whoever that was, and I hope that you found out

00:45 and you did certain, you know,

00:48 you deal with him, I hope.

00:52 And you know what?

00:53 That should not happen for the Jewish students.

00:56 And your school that had the,

01:01 you know, I'm gonna just move on to that.

01:03 How much leaning faculty members offered extra credit

01:08 and better grades for those who took part in

01:12 chaos and disruption caused by the terrorists,

01:19 this is just really not heard of.

01:23 And what did you do?

01:24 Did you discipline this professor?

01:29 Or did you really do something,

01:32 or you are investigating, and then what's going on?

01:35 You know what, this should not happen

01:37 in the university campuses, such as UCLA.

01:41 It's prominent, prominent university in California.

01:45 Not just California, but in the nation.

01:47 So what did you do about it?

01:49 - Congressman, thank you for your question.

01:53 I'm unaware of the incident of offering extra credit

01:58 to, I'm just not clear of that incident.

02:02 I'm happy to look into it, but that particular incident--

02:04 - I really cannot hear you.

02:05 Could you pull your microphone?

02:06 - I'm sorry.

02:08 That particular incident, I'm not fully aware

02:10 of the one you're talking about.

02:12 We do know there have been cases where a faculty member

02:16 has offered extra credit to go to a tutorial on Gaza,

02:20 but offered the same credit to go to other events on campus,

02:24 including an event at our Nazarian Study for Jewish Studies.

02:27 But the incident you're talking about,

02:28 I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with.

02:29 I will make sure I'm aware of it,

02:31 and see how it was disposed of.

02:33 It may have been handled by Student Affairs.

02:34 I'm not certain.

02:36 - Well, Chancellor Block, I am aware of it, and you don't.

02:39 That's really, really odd,

02:41 because you are head of your university.

02:44 And then, you know what?

02:45 Anti-Semitism class is not mandatory,

02:48 but I have a little problem with your syllabus,

02:52 your school syllabus here, that on March 27th,

02:56 an activist gave a mandatory lecture

03:00 to your first year UCLA medical student.

03:04 It's part of the mandatory structure

03:06 of racism and health equity class.

03:10 During this lecture, the medical students,

03:12 the lecturer led the students

03:14 in a free, free Palestine chant,

03:18 and demanded the students kneel down

03:23 and keep repeating for Mama Earth, the prey.

03:28 And when you do mandatory,

03:36 why medical students required to stand up

03:39 and chant free, free Palestine in a mandatory lecture?

03:43 And some faculty have called for a course

03:46 to be suspended and investigated.

03:49 So, have you opened an investigation

03:52 and committed to an investigation today?

03:55 - So, we've undertaken fact-finding

03:57 to find out exactly what happened at that class.

03:59 I'm not familiar with the exact details.

04:01 I actually threw our Office of Compliance,

04:03 and I do believe that the School of Medicine

04:05 is re-looking over its first year program, generally,

04:08 to look at, the faculty committee is looking

04:10 at the course content of the first year program,

04:12 of which this was part of.

04:14 So, there's a review of the first year program

04:16 that I understand, and we are actually now

04:19 trying to confirm the facts of what has been claimed

04:22 during that course.

04:23 - How are you gonna fix that

04:24 and never gonna happen again, though?

04:26 - I think this is one where, again,

04:30 let's find the facts out first of exactly what happened,

04:33 and then we'll figure out what the remedies should be

04:35 to make sure that appropriate behavior occurs in classrooms.

04:39 - So, UCLA receives a lot of federal funding.

04:42 In fact, over $1 billion per year just for research.

04:47 It is a good use of taxpayer funds

04:49 to invite speaker who refer to the October 7th massacre

04:54 as justice.

04:57 Do you condemn the facts that someone at your university

05:01 referred to an October 7th attack on Israel?

05:06 They killed 1,200 people, and hundreds of people

05:10 were kidnapped as justice.

05:13 - Well, again, I'm not familiar with exactly

05:17 the individual you're talking about.

05:20 I think that would be a personnel issue.

05:21 I am deeply offended by statements like that.

05:24 That's personally offensive to me, particularly hurtful,

05:27 and I just would like to learn more about it.

05:30 - Chancellor Block, it seems like I'm not really

05:32 getting any answers from you, but you know what?

05:34 I hope these public universities,

05:37 especially getting federal fundings,

05:39 and you know what, you really have to teach our kids

05:42 how to think, not just brainwashing these kids.

05:45 So, thank you very much, Dr. Fox.

05:47 - I appreciate that.

05:48 I am, thank you.

05:50 - Dr. Adams, you're recognized for five minutes.

'That's Really, Really Odd': Michelle Steel Stunned By UC Chancellor's Response

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