Withdraw All Disciplinary Charges Against Prof. Willoughby-Herard

On May 15, 2024, several hundred heavily armed police were called in to break up a peaceful encampment at UC Irvine in solidarity with the people of Gaza. Among those arrested that day was UC Irvine Global Studies Professor Tiffany Willoughby-Herard, a world-renowned scholar of race, global studies, and decolonial theory. Aware of the racialized police violence that had already endangered students on other UC campuses, Prof. Willoughby-Herard had gone to the protest site to protect her students. While following well-established protocols for deescalating confrontations between police and protesters, Prof. Willoughby-Herard was assaulted and harassed by police, significantly injured, and arrested. She was booked into a county jail facility where she remained for approximately 24 hours before being charged with resisting arrest.

Ultimately, the legal case against her was dismissed. However, almost a year later, UC Irvine charged her with having violated multiple sections of the faculty code of conduct. Following a lengthy hearing process, a UC Irvine Senate Committee has recommended that Prof. Willoughby-Herard be suspended for a quarter without pay and a letter of censure be placed in her personnel file. The final decision on any sanctions that Prof. Willoughby-Herard may face—including and up to her possible dismissal—now rests in the hands of  UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman.

We write to demand that all disciplinary sanctions against Prof. Willoughby-Herard immediately be dropped. Prof. Willoughby-Herard has already endured not only the racialized trauma of her arrest but also more than two years of punitive persecution by her own university. More broadly, UC Irvine’s attempt to further sanction her exemplifies the ongoing national assault on academic freedom and on faculty’s right to free speech.

Therefore, we demand that Chancellor Gillman, the UC Irvine Administration and the Academic Senate immediately withdraw all disciplinary charges against Prof. Willoughby-Herard and bring an end to the disciplinary process.

Organizational signatories

UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council

UC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine (UCFSJP)

Center for Racial Justice, UC Santa Cruz

UC Irvine Students for Justice in Palestine