California university president put on leave for 'insubordination' after meeting Gaza protesters' demands
Source: Politico
California State University placed Sonoma State campus President Mike Lee on leave Wednesday after he agreed to protesters’ demands to involve them in university decision-making and pursue divestment from Israel.
Lee sent a campus-wide memo Tuesday indicating that he had made several concessions to occupants of a pro-Palestinian encampment on campus. The memo was sent “without the appropriate approvals,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García said in a statement, adding that she and the 23-campus CSU system’s board are “actively reviewing the matter.”
“For now, because of this insubordination and the consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave,” García said.
The punishment marks perhaps the harshest disciplinary action against a campus chancellor or president in California over the handling of protests of the war in Gaza. It also underscores an unwillingness to divest from Israeli weapons manufacturers — as pro-Palestinian protesters across the country have increasingly demanded the last few months — among leaders of the CSU system and its sister University of California system.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/15/sonoma-state-president-leave-gaza-00158285
= new reply since forum marked as read
you are a university president you have to "seek appropriate approvals" before writing a letter that says you will look into something?
Otherwise you will be put on "administrative leave? These times are truly awful. It won't be long before no sane person will want anything to do with a position of responsibility and those will be left completely to the Trumps of this world. 