“No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish,” one plaintiff says in response to ruling on complaint against UCLA.
By Jessica Costescu, The Washington Free Beacon
A federal judge slammed the University of California, Los Angeles, on Tuesday for standing by as anti-Israel activists prevented Jewish students from accessing portions of campus.
“Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi wrote in a 16-page preliminary injunction. “This fact is so unimaginable and abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating,” he added, repeating the previous statement with emphasis.
Three Jewish students, who filed the complaint in June, alleged that UCLA officials “routinely turned their backs on Jewish students, aiding and abetting a culture that has allowed calls for the annihilation of the Jewish people, Nazi symbolism, and religious slurs to go unchecked.” The suit argued that the university knowingly allowed anti-Israel activists to enforce a “Jew Exclusion Zone” that segregated Jewish students, prevented them from accessing the heart of campus, and forced them to disavow their religious beliefs in order to obtain access.
Scarsi’s ruling is the first of its kind against a university pertaining to anti-Israel protests. The judge ordered the school to ensure its Jewish students had equal access to campus by Thursday. He also said school officials and campus security teams “are not to aid or participate in any obstruction of access for Jewish students to ordinarily available programs, activities, and campus areas.”
The judge also denied UCLA’s request to stay the permanent injunction.
“UCLA claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was engineered by third-party protesters,” Scarsi wrote. “But under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who engineered the exclusion.”
One plaintiff, Yitzchok Frankel, a rising third-year law student at UCLA, celebrated the judge’s decision.
“No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish,” Frankel said. “I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put a stop to this shameful anti-Jewish conduct.”
A lead attorney for the students, Mark Rienzi, similarly celebrated.
“Shame on UCLA for letting anti-Semitic thugs terrorize Jews on campus,” Rienzi said. “Today’s ruling says that UCLA’s policy of helping anti-Semitic activists target Jews is not just morally wrong but a gross constitutional violation. UCLA should stop fighting the Constitution and start protecting Jews on campus.”
UCLA spokeswoman Mary Osako said the “ruling would improperly hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground and to meet the needs of the Bruin community. We’re closely reviewing the Judge’s ruling and considering all our options moving forward.”
“UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment,” she said.
Other elite universities face similar lawsuits, including Harvard University, which is accused of failing its Jewish students and neglecting to address anti-Semitism on campus.