The University of California Board of Regents appointed a new chancellor of UCLA on Wednesday, naming Dr. Julio Frenk as the successor to the embattled outgoing Chancellor Gene Block.
Block, along with most of the university’s leadership, has been in hot water after deploying police on pro-Palestine demonstrators a day after failing to protect them from a violent attack by counter-protesters. UC is also facing a lawsuit from three Jewish students who claim the pro-Palestine demonstrations themselves were antisemitic.
Frenk, a public health expert who was Mexico's Secretary of Health before serving as president of the University of Miami, will be taking over UCLA at the most divisive time in the school’s recent memory.
Andrea Kasko, a professor of bioengineering and chair of UCLA's Academic Senate, spoke to KNX News’ Charles Feldman about the situation the new chancellor is facing.
“I think Chancellor Designate Frenk really needs to focus on rebuilding trust within the community and between the community and the public,” she said.
Kasko said leaning into transparency and shared governance will be key.
“If I were him, I would be trying to learn as much as I can about UCLA and public institutions in general,” she said. “And also starting meeting with our stakeholders early – our faculty, our staff, our students, our administration – to start to identify what things he can begin to address as soon as he gets here.”
Kesko said every university chancellor who’s dealt with protests on campus has faced “some really difficult decisions about how to balance free speech with campus safety.”
“At this point, I know a lot of our students and faculty are concerned that free speech and the right to peaceful protest and academic freedom is protected, and so that will be a key idea or key issue moving forward,” she said. “And we also have a lot of thinking to do about campus safety and what that means for a public institution.”
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She added that Frenk’s experience heading a university in a state where free speech rights and academic freedom are under fire “may give him some creative ideas” about how to navigate these challenges.
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