UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk announced on Feb. 12 that the university has issued an interim suspension to the university’s Students in Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine (GSJP) chapters for their reported involvement in targeting UC Regent Jonathan “Jay” Sures’ home on Feb. 5.
In his statement, Frenk said that the university’s Office of Student Conduct’s issued the suspensions “based on its review of initial reports about the groups’ involvement” in the Feb. 5 incident outside Sures’ home. Sures is Jewish.
“On Feb. 5, 2025, individuals affiliated with the student groups harassed Mr. Sures and members of his family outside his home,” Frenk said. “Individuals surrounded the vehicle of a Sures family member and prevented that family member’s free movement. Individuals pounded on drums, chanting and holding signs with threatening messages such as ‘Jonathan Sures you will pay, until you see your final day.’ Individuals vandalized the Sures home by applying red-colored handprints to the outer walls of the home and hung banners on the property’s hedges.” Frenk noted that these were based on media reports as well as social media posts from the SJP chapters.
The suspension will be in effect while the Office of Student Conduct engages in an administrative review of the matter; further disciplinary measures could be taken if the review confirms the reports.
“Any act of violence undermines the foundation of our university,” Frenk said. “As a citizen of the world, I know that no one can promise a society free of violence. But as your chancellor, I can commit to you that whenever an act of violence is directed against any member of the university community, UCLA will not turn a blind eye. This is a responsibility I take most seriously.”
The Jewish Faculty Resilience Group at UCLA thanked Frenk and the university in a post on X. “SJP’s been weaponizing political dissent to mask blatant antisemitism — using disinformation, intimidation, harassment and violence — to divide and destabilize campus for too long,” the group wrote.
👏 THANK YOU @UCLA & @UCLAchancellor! SJP is suspended! 👏 SJP's been weaponizing political dissent to mask blatant antisemitism—using disinformation, intimidation, harassment & violence—to divide & destabilize campus for too long.
🚨 Read more here: https://t.co/8wWiDbNzLC… pic.twitter.com/LlBZFDFT35— Jewish Faculty at UCLA🇮🇱🇺🇸🎗️ (@JFrgatUCLA) February 13, 2025
“Hillel at UCLA commends Chancellor Frenk’s strong stance against violence and violence-inciting rhetoric, which has no place at UCLA, or any other campus,” Hillel at UCLA Executive Director Dan Gold said in a statement to The Journal. “Our organization champions open discourse and dialogue. Our pluralistic Jewish Bruin Hillel community at UCLA thrives on these principles and is grateful for Chancellor Frenk’s commitment to ensuring that we can do so free of any threats or other forms of antisemitism.”
Our pluralistic Jewish Bruin Hillel community at UCLA thrives on these principles and is grateful for Chancellor Frenk’s commitment to ensuring that we can do so free of any threats or other forms of antisemitism.” – Dan Gold
UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh wrote in Reason that he would like “to know more about what exactly constitutes the ‘harass[ment],’ which in this context is pretty vague. I’d also like to know the context behind the ‘you will pay’ message (since in some contexts this might be a threat of professional or political retaliation and in others it might be a threat of illegal conduct).” However, “students should indeed be punished for blocking people in their cars or vandalizing their homes,” Volokh wrote. “The e-mail doesn’t mention investigation of any students who were involved, but I hope they too would be punished to the extent they participated in the forbidden conduct (or conspired to do so). And when this sort of action is part of an officially organized student group event, the group can also itself be suspended for it.”
Prior to the suspensions, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles organized a solidarity letter with Sures that was signed by more than 500 entertainment leaders and community leaders, including actors like Michael Douglas, David Schwimmer, Mayim Bialik and Noa Tishby, according to The Jerusalem Post. Sures is also the vice chairman of the United Talent Agency.
“The UC system has a clear and consistent policy against calls for boycott and divestment from Israel. Yet, the protesters singled out Sures, one of 18 UC Regents, around these divestment-related policies, with one sign threatening ‘divest now, or you will pay,’” the letter stated. “Sures has been a steadfast advocate, outspoken in his commitment to protecting Jewish students and ensuring that UC remains a safe and inclusive space for all. He has used his platform to combat antisemitism and push back against false narratives about Israel. This attack is an attempt to silence those who stand against hate. We will never tolerate the suppression of free speech through intimidation. Sures has been a steadfast advocate, outspoken in his commitment to protecting Jewish students and ensuring that UC remains a safe and inclusive space for all.” The letter had called for “law enforcement and university officials to fully investigate this hateful incident and ensure that all those responsible are held accountable. Furthermore, we urge local elected officials and university leadership to unequivocally condemn the protesters’ unlawful and antisemitic actions and reaffirm their commitment to protecting the safety and dignity of all individuals and groups, including the Jewish community.”
UCLA’s SJP and GSJP chapters had posted a statement to Instagram on Feb. 6 along with the UCLA Rank & File (R&F) for a Democratic Union claiming that Sures had “maliciously” described their actions in front of his house the day before as “hate crimes.” They said they came to his house “to demand divestment from corporations directly involved in the oppression and genocide of the Palestinian people. Sures responded by calling in over thirty police officers and security guards, many provided directly by UCLA, with less-lethal firearms and riot gear.” Their statement claimed that Sures is “guilty of bankrolling genocide against Palestinians and profiting off of the demolition of their homes and lives.” They also accused Sures of targeting “pro-Palestine speech & advocacy on campus.” “The Regents have repeatedly kicked us out of their meetings, canceled forums for public comment, and criminalized our attempts to protest investment policies,” the statement read. “We have taken our issues straight to the Regents because they have systematically militarized our campus in response.” The groups reiterated their calls for UCLA and the UC system to divest from “companies and institutions involved in the Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide of the Palestinian people.
“We will not let you sleep in your mansion,” the statement concluded. “You have blood on your hands. Dear Jonathan Sures: we will be back.”
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As of publication time, the SJP chapters have not yet issued a statement to social media addressing the suspensions. An SJP member told The Daily Bruin that they are in the process of crafting a statement.
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