This post was updated on May 29 at 2:25 p.m.
About 15 students protested in support of Keith Fink, a lecturer in the communication studies department, outside Murphy Hall on Friday afternoon.
The protest was organized by Keep Fink at UCLA, a group of UCLA students and alumni that claims the administration is treating Fink unfairly because of his conservative ideology. Local media, including NBC News, sent reporters to the protest.
Fink is currently undergoing an excellence review process, which takes place between a lecturer’s 16th and 18th quarter of teaching, and determines whether or not their teaching contract will be terminated. However, because the committee that reviewed Fink was tied in its vote on whether to retain Fink, Laura E. Gómez, the interim dean of the UCLA College Division of Social Sciences, will make the final decision.
Tara Murphy, a second-year political science and sociology student, and Michael Mathis, a fourth-year philosophy student, led the protest. Murphy, who is also the spokesperson for the Keep Fink at UCLA group, and Mathis led students into Gómez’s office in Murphy Hall and submitted a list of demands.
The group demanded that the university retain Fink and that Kerri Johnson, the communication studies chair, resign, among other demands. Gómez was not present at the time.
The protesters also held posters saying “Good grief keep Keith” and “Free speech is under attack,” and chanted “Keep Fink” and “Rethink, keep Fink.”
Ana Ingles, a third-year communication studies student, said she protested because she thinks Fink is a great professor who students love. She added she thinks there were only few protesters because students were scared to show up.
Jennifer Gittess, a second-year communication studies student, said she took Fink’s classes and thought they were the best classes she has ever taken at UCLA.
“Nobody pays attention because our campus is so liberal,” she said. “Everybody deserves the right to free speech, even professors.”
Ryan Davidson, a fourth-year history student, said he wants other students to have the opportunity to take Fink’s classes.
“The administration should work on the issue to keep Fink,” he said.
Kiran Gill, a UCLA alumna, said she thinks Fink is an amazing professor who is loved by his students. She added she thinks only a few students attended the protest because it was on a Friday before a long weekend.
“It is really wrong what UCLA is doing,” she said.
Fink submitted an optional response letter to Gómez for consideration in his review, and said she should receive the letter by Friday.
Prof Fink was one of the greatest professors I’ve had on campus.
It’s extremely strange that UCLA will bend over backwards to keep Professor Piterbreg – a faculty member whose conduct (sexually harassing graduate students) was objectively disgraceful to the university – on campus. What’s more, UCLA’s permits (and requires) him to teach undergraduate courses that the vast majority of student don’t want to take simply because they’re taught by Piterberg the Predator.
By contrast, UCLA will employ any and all tactics possible to oust Professor Fink – a faculty member who was never embroiled in a disgraceful scandal – from campus. UCLA (namely Kerri Johnson, but with the support of everyone above her) first limited his class size to reduce student exposure to him, and now is trying to prevent him from continuing to teach. Professor Fink is extremely popular and student demand for his classes far exceeds capacity; students want to take these classes simply because they’re taught by Fantastic Fink.
The only plausible explanation for this hypocrisy is that Professor Piterberg conforms to the administration’s ideological values, while Professor Fink is not afraid to espouse competing viewpoints. The school wants to clean house of faculty they dislike, which weakens the intellectual diversity on this campus. Very shameful.
Kerri Johnson must resign – shes a disgrace.
I was gonna attend but there were many police guarding the area so I chose not to. Sad that the school will deploy police to prevent students from protesting in support of their conservative-leaning professor, but tries to force conservative student groups to foot the bill when they bring a speaker they dont like on campus
Get off Gomez’s nuts. Jesus Christ. What I got from that was, “GOMEZ WENT TO HARVARD, SHE’S BETTER THAN ALL YOU PEASANTS. BOW DOWN TO HER. ONLY HARVARD AND STANFORD GRADS ARE QUALIFIED. THE REST OF YOU PUBLIC SCHOOL LOSERS NEED TO LEARN YOUR PLACE ON THE TOTEM POLE. ALL HAIL GOMEZ.” F off.
I stopped reading your comment once I got to “Chicano Studies”… WTF is Chicano studies?