A UC Irvine lecturer was banned from campus after his arrest at an event. Why it matters for other faculty

On the afternoon of May 15, Brook Haley made his way to UC Irvine’s physical sciences quad. There, the longtime humanities lecturer joined other faculty and students who’d gathered to commemorate the 1948 Nakba, draw attention to the ongoing siege on Gaza and reflect on the aftermath of crackdowns on campus protests.

Last spring, hundreds of police officers in riot gear dismantled UCI’s Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Haley was among dozens of activists who were arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for failing to disperse. This year, the event’s organizers, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), invited him to make a short speech. Haley prepared remarks about the suppression of speech and academic inquiry.

But before Haley got the chance to speak, he said, campus police descended on him and pulled him from the crowd.

At the time, Haley told LAist, he had no idea why he was being detained. He would eventually be told it was for vandalism of a campus fountain.

“I was shaking,” he said. “I couldn't believe it.”

Haley was arrested, jailed and banned from campus for two weeks. Faculty who can't come to campus, can't teach. Faculty who can't teach, can lose their jobs.

And while Haley has managed to hold onto his, the incident shows the precarious position for faculty who want to join in activist movements but who otherwise lack job protections.

What happened at the protest?

UCI has not turned over any video of the incident.

One video from a community member shows at least three police officers leading Haley away from the group. One of them held Haley by the wrist. The other held on to Haley’s elbow. Another officer followed close by. Haley wore a disposable surgical mask, a pink trilby hat, a keffiyeh and a black backpack.

When they got to the patrol car, Haley said, the officers informed him that he’d been arrested under suspicion of felony vandalism.

And then, for the second time in a year, Haley was taken to a Santa Ana jail.

Haley, a UCI alumnus, is a lecturer in the school of humanities.

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Courtesy Brook Haley

)

UCI spokesperson Tom Vasich said via email that campus police arrested Haley for vandalizing the Infinity Fountain in the center of campus “by pouring red dye into it.” A student was also arrested for vandalism, he said.

In California, vandalism can be a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the amount of damage caused by the suspect. Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the O.C. District Attorney's Office, said prosecutors have not decided whether to press charges against Haley and the student.

Haley was released on bond the following day.

Why was Haley banned from campus?

When he and the officers got to the patrol car the day of his arrest, Haley said he was told they had video evidence of him committing the crime. LAist asked UCI for the footage but was denied. In an email, Vasich said: “This remains an active investigation, and [campus police are] still acquiring information.”

On top of the potential felony charge, Haley was banned from campus for two weeks.

According to Haley, a detective filled out the ban notice while they were still in a campus parking lot. The notice cites California Penal Code Section 626.4:

The notice warned Haley that he could be arrested if he entered campus before the ban was lifted.

Jonathan Markovitz, a senior staff attorney at ACLU of Southern California who specializes in freedom of expression, said the penal code section allows for a ban of up to 14 days.

But, he added via email: “[T]he ban is only allowed when there’s reasonable cause [to believe that] the person has willfully disrupted the campus, AND can only last for as long as the university has reason to believe the person CONTINUES to pose that kind of threat.”

Initially, one of Haley’s colleagues helped cover his class. Then, Haley’s supervisors in the school of humanities let him continue teaching on Zoom. Without their help, Haley told LAist, he could have lost his job.

What is due process at a public university?

LAist sent a list of questions about the two-week ban to UCI, including:

• Is a two-week ban standard when a non-tenured faculty member is arrested on campus?
• Would it be accurate to say that when a non-tenured faculty member is arrested on campus, they are usually fired, since they are unable to perform their work duties given the two-week ban?

Vasich, the campus spokesperson, said the university “would not have a comment about a personnel issue.”

State law allows ban recipients to submit a written request for a hearing. In a separate email, Vasich added: “Any UC Irvine affiliate can request a hearing to appeal the decision.” He also shared a blank copy of the notice Haley received.

Fearing his employment was at risk, Haley asked his union — the University Council of the American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) — to represent him in conversations with the UCI’s Academic Personnel office.

In an email, Haley said the office’s response “made us feel that an appeal was not a timely or productive way to face the threat of my dismissal.”

“The illegitimacy of my arrest and the trauma of the experience dissuaded me from pursuing the appeal once the union determined what was best for me as a member,” Haley added. “The open hostility that the chancellor has shown for Palestine activism generally and leaders of SJP, who had invited me to speak, also made it harder to see the appeal as a reasonable step.”

Honora St. Clair, a UC-AFT’s field representative, said via email “the university's position was that there was no appeal process, that this was a criminal matter and not an employment matter.”

“I argued that a wrongful arrest accompanied by a two-week campus ban impacts his employment and therefore our position is that this is an employment matter. [The Academic Personnel office] disagreed and told us there is no role for the union in this matter,” St. Clair added. “Dr. Haley did not commit any vandalism and we believe he was targeted because of his activism. We will aggressively pursue every avenue available to clear his name and hold the university accountable.”

The union launched a letter writing campaign to urge UCI chancellor Howard Gillman to lift the ban. More than 7,400 people signed on.

Haley said he is “absolutely confident [that his arrest] will lead to no charges or eventual innocence.” Following his release from jail, Haley had to navigate other obstacles to teaching, including getting locked out of the university assignment portal. The police confiscated his backpack when they arrested him, which contained more than a dozen midterm exams that still needed grading.

Thanks to colleagues in the school of humanities, Haley was able to retrieve his bag. When he opened it, he found his students’ papers, his dry erase markers, and a draft of the speech he didn’t get to deliver. The police kept his phone, his hat and his keffiyeh.

'It could happen to any of us'

On May 15, political science professor Cecelia Lynch arrived on campus in the afternoon to join the protest, she told LAist. She noticed a growing police presence.

“One is now left to wonder: Were they determined to arrest somebody or make a show of this? . . . I really don't know,” she said.

The student organizers had laid out a banner charging chancellor Gillman with being complicit in Israel’s war effort. The student activists also placed stuffed sheets with red markings in the quad, “to look like baby bodies,” Lynch said. At the time, the UN warned that if Israel did not allow aid to enter Gaza immediately, 14,000 babies could die.

Lynch was close to Haley throughout the event, she said. As she was planning to leave, she noticed Haley was being detained.

Last year, Lynch served as a liaison between pro-Palestine student activists and the police. Students asked her to take on the role again this year. Clad in an orange vest, Lynch approached the officers who encircled Haley.

“Excuse me, I’m a police liaison,” she remembered saying. “Can you tell me what’s going on?” One of the officers, she said, simply told her to “back up.”

In conversation with LAist, UCI professors who participated in this year’s event discussed Haley’s arrest in the context of a nationwide crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists, including the high-profile detention of visa holders and permanent residents.

“It is as though the chancellor and the university are almost doing the Trump administration's bidding — that's how it feels,” Lynch said.

Associate professor Sanghyuk Shin also attended the event. He described Haley's arrest as an “escalation of the repression that we've been seeing.” UCI “definitely sent a message,” he added, “whether intentionally or unintentionally.”

“What happened to Brook could happen to any of us,” Shin said. “I think we all need to stick together.”

Vasich shared the following statement: “UC Irvine respects the rights of individuals to free speech and peaceful assembly. At the same time, we are committed to helping maintain a safe and lawful campus environment and to protecting university property. The university continues to uphold its policies and all applicable laws.”

Getting back to his students

Haley earned his master’s degree and doctorate in comparative literature at UCI. And he remains a proud anteater, he said, in reference to the school’s mascot — in spite of his two arrests.

Haley said he has received dozens of emails from people expressing support. Emails from students have been especially moving. “They're telling me that I'm teaching them even though I'm not in class. That’s very powerful to me,” he said.

In March, Haley spoke with LAist about how campus protests might change in light of the Trump administration’s targeting of activists who aren’t U.S. citizens.

“I really thought, ‘Hey, I'm a white guy with U.S. citizenship. I have [multiple] degrees, employment from UCI for almost 30 years now.’ I thought that would provide me with some safety against suppression and persecution,” he said. “I do now believe that I was wrong.”

This realization, however, hasn’t changed Haley’s attitude toward activism.

Once he’s back on campus, he said, “I expect to be attending any rally for the organizations that I specifically support, especially my unions, affiliated unions, [and] SJP.”