UCLA suspended two pro-Palestinian student groups Wednesday for allegedly vandalizing the Brentwood home of a UC regent and well-known Hollywood agent.
On Feb. 5, protesters rallied in front of the home of Regent Jay Sures. UCLA says demonstrators put red-colored handprints on the outer walls of his home and held up a sign with the message “Jonathan Sures you will pay until you see your final day.”
Protesters also surrounded the vehicle of a Sures family member, preventing their “free movement,” the university added.
Sures, who serves as Vice Chairman of United Talent Agency, represents some of the biggest stars in television. He’s also Jewish.
“That is why I am personally letting you know that the UCLA Office of Student Conduct has issued an interim suspension today to two registered student organizations, Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, based on its review of initial reports about the groups’ involvement in an incident last week at the home of UC Regent Jay Sures,” UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a campuswide message.
“There is no place for violence in our Bruin community.”
In a social media post, the now-banned Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine said they targeted Sures because of his close ties to the Anti-Defamation League and claimed he was behind a new UC policy that singles out their position over the war in Gaza.
The University of California regents in July 2024 approved a policy banning political statements from the homepages of individual schools. The new rules applied to Academic Campus Units — not individuals.
“The University affirms the rights of individual university members, and of groups of University members, to author and publish statements and circulate them in their own private networks or on an individual University community member’s page on a unit’s website,” the policy states.
UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said the university is conducting an investigation and students involved in the protest could face disciplinary action.
“Any act of violence undermines the foundation of our university,” he 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.”
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