UCLA named a new leader Wednesday amid continued campus turmoil over pro-Palestinian activity — two days after police arrested two dozen demonstrators who tried to erect yet another encampment protesting the war in Gaza.
The university’s new chancellor is Julio Frenk, a public health researcher serving as president of the University of Miami. Frenk, who will start his new role on Jan. 1, will be the first Latino to lead the school in its 105-year history. He previously served as dean of Harvard’s School of Public Health and as Mexico’s national health secretary.
Frenk replaces Gene Block, 75, who served as UCLA’s chancellor for almost 20 years but who announced last year that he intended to step down at the end of July. At the tail end of his tenure this spring, Block came under fire for his handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus, with faculty narrowly failing to vote to censure him.
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“I approach this designation with great excitement and also with humility,” Frenk said at a news conference Wednesday. “I think of this position as chancellor as the dream job.”
UCLA leaders said Wednesday that Frenk will work to reunify the school, with UCLA Board of Regents Chair Richard Leib calling him “a man of healing” who will “help bring campus together.” Frenk promised that he would facilitate dialogue proving to everyone at UCLA that “there’s a commonality, a common humanity that unites everyone.”
The selection of Frenk comes after a turbulent period for the university, which became a hotbed of violence this spring as pro-Palestinian protests spread across college campuses nationwide. At UCLA, counterprotesters in late April attacked a student encampment with fireworks and irritant gases, as well as fists, metal poles and wooden planks — but police failed to intervene for more than three hours, a Washington Post investigation found. The next night, police in riot gear cleared the encampment and arrested more than 200 people.
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In the aftermath, UCLA announced its school police chief had been reassigned and that officials had created an Office of Campus Safety to examine security concerns. School leadership also commissioned an external investigation of the university’s response that night, as well as a separate investigation into the violent acts committed by perpetrators. The school has asked the FBI for help.
Frenk said Wednesday he was aware of the two ongoing investigations, adding that he looks forward to reviewing investigators’ findings and recommendations.
On Monday afternoon, about 100 protesters attempted to reestablish protest encampments at UCLA in the final days of the spring quarter and as students sat for final exams. The demonstrators tried to set up two encampments and dispersed both under orders from UCLA police, according to a statement from the school’s police force. At one point, demonstrators entered a campus building where students were taking exams, police said.
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The demonstrators then marched to a courtyard and set up a third encampment, ultimately leading UCLA police to arrest and charge about 25 people with disrupting university operations, according to the police statement. Police released the 25 people and ordered them to stay away from UCLA property for two weeks.
Asked how he would handle pro-Palestinian student protests Wednesday, Frenk did not answer. Instead the president of the University of California system, Michael Drake, interceded, saying: “Our job is to try and make those safe. … That’s a daily activity for us.”
Frenk gave no specifics in response to a question about how he would ensure students feel safe on campus. He said his goal is to protect the right to freedom of expression while also making clear UCLA will not tolerate harassment or discrimination.
“If we have clarity on all of that, then I think we can move forward,” he said. “That to me is the basic ingredient to guarantee that sense of safety.”
Another challenge facing UCLA’s new head is Republican lawmakers’ skepticism over whether the school is appropriately handling charges of campus antisemitism.
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Last month, outgoing chancellor Block was called before Congress alongside the leaders of Rutgers and Northwestern universities to account for how they handled pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
On Wednesday, Frenk spoke at length about how institutions of higher education across the country face an erosion of trust, not only from lawmakers but from the general public. He said he hopes to revive that slipping trust by emphasizing what UCLA can offer the world. He said colleges and universities can and should be “the main sources of opportunity, social mobility and … talent” for society.
UCLA in particular, he said, can offer cutting-edge research illuminating advanced health-care techniques.
“We should never lose sight of the incredible value that universities add to societal well-being … we need to use that value we add, and continue to defend that value, as a way of earning trust,” Frenk said. “Trust is not received, it’s earned.”
The announcement of the new chancellor comes shortly before UCLA’s graduation ceremonies, which are taking place this weekend and are expected to draw more protests.
