Campus head put on leave for agreeing to protester demands

California State University (CSU) placed Sonoma State Campus President Mike Lee on leave on Wednesday 15 May after he agreed to protesters’ demands to involve them in university decision-making and pursue divestment from Israel, writes Blake Jones for Politico.

Lee sent a campus-wide memo on 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”. García said: “For now, because of this insubordination and the consequences it has brought upon the system, President Lee has been placed on administrative leave.”

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.
Full report on the Politico site