UCLA names new chancellor as campus still reels from anti-Israel protests

Prominent public health researcher Julio Frenk, who will succeed Gene Block on Jan. 1, says his first mission will be to ‘listen very carefully’

Dr. Julio Frenk, right, smiles as he is confirmed as the next chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), during a meeting of the regents of the University of California system, June 12, 2024, on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Dr. Julio Frenk, right, smiles as he is confirmed as the next chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), during a meeting of the regents of the University of California system, June 12, 2024, on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

LOS ANGELES — The president of the University of Miami in the United States was chosen Wednesday to become the next chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, where the retiring incumbent leaves a campus roiled by protests over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Dr. Julio Frenk, a Mexico City-born global public health researcher, was selected by regents of the University of California system at a meeting on the UCLA campus, where there was a swarm of security officers.

Frenk will succeed Gene Block, who has been chancellor for 17 years and announced his planned retirement long before UCLA became a national flashpoint for US campus protests. This spring, anti-Israel encampments were built and cleared by police with many arrests, and again this week, there were more arrests.

Frenk has led the 17,000-student University of Miami since 2015 and previously served as dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and as Mexico’s national health secretary, among other positions.

In a brief press conference, Frenk said he was approaching the appointment with excitement and humility.

“The first thing I plan to do is listen very carefully,” Frenk said. “This is a complex organization. It is, as I mentioned, a really consequential moment in the history of higher education.”

Frenk did not comment on specific protests at UCLA this spring or the current administration’s response, which initially tolerated an encampment but ultimately used police to clear it and keep new camps from forming.

During public comment in the regents meeting, anti-Israel speakers criticized UC administrators, alleged police brutality, complained of a lack of transparency in UC endowments and called for divestment from companies with ties to Israel or in weapons manufacturing.

Other speakers talked about experiencing antisemitism on campus and called for an increased law enforcement response to protesters.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gather on the UCLA campus, June 12, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Later, about 200 people rallied, including members of an academic student workers union and the Faculty for Justice for Palestine group as well as students from other UC campuses. Participants held signs calling for charges to be dropped against protesters who have been arrested.

Block departs UCLA on July 31. Darnell Hunt, executive vice president and provost, will serve as interim chancellor until Frenk becomes UCLA’s seventh chancellor on January 1, 2025.

In previous roles, Frenk was the founding director of Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, held positions at the World Health Organization and the nonprofit Mexican Health Foundation, and was a senior fellow with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s global health program.

Frenk received his medical degree from the National University of Mexico in 1979. He then attended the University of Michigan, where he earned master’s degrees in public health and sociology, and a joint doctorate in medical care organization and sociology.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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