Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Jewish students condemn UCLA for defending and assisting antisemitic encampments
Three Jewish students condemned the University of California, Los Angeles, yesterday for defending its actions, allowing and assisting antisemitic encampments that bar Jewish students from accessing the heart of campus. In Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, Becket and co-counsel Clement & Murphy PLLC filed a lawsuit against UCLA after it helped a group of activists as they set up an encampment where they harassed Jewish students and stopped them from accessing classes, the library, and other critical parts of campus. UCLA reinforced these zones—both by providing metal barriers and by sending away Jewish students—while taking no effective action to ensure safe passage for Jewish students.
On June 24, three current UCLA students asked the court to put an immediate stop to UCLA's actions so that they could return to class free from fear that they would be harassed and excluded for being Jewish. UCLA then doubled down, disavowing any obligation to protect its Jewish students, and claimed—despite the numerous encampments that have continued to mar the face of UCLA's campus—that the students have nothing to fear when classes begin again. In response, the students pointed out to the court that the May encampment was hardly an isolated incident. Rather, it merely exemplified the unchecked antisemitism that ran rampant both before and after those appalling events took place. Given that UCLA has now admitted to the court that UCLA itself set up barricades reinforcing the encampment and follows a policy prohibiting calling the police "preemptively," it could not be clearer that "[w]hen activists discriminate against and threaten Jews, UCLA protects the activists, not their Jewish victims."
"UCLA's attempt to dodge responsibility for the ongoing antisemitism on its campus is transparent and shameful," said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and an attorney for the students. "No one is fooled—UCLA alone bears the blame for allowing and assisting mobs of masked antisemites who threaten, assault, and segregate Jewish students."
Yitzchok Frankel is a law student and father of four who faced antisemitic harassment last semester simply for wearing a kippah and who was forced to abandon his regular routes through campus because of the Jew Exclusion Zone. Frankel detailed how UCLA's continued failures have forced him to cancel plans on campus with his family and to forgo opportunities to mentor incoming Jewish students on campus during orientation week. Eden Shemuelian, another law student, has also had to avoid using campus facilities and participating in law school orientation events because of UCLA's continuing failures to ensure the safety and equal access of Jewish students. With the beginning of the fall semester looming, the students are asking the court to ensure that Jews will never again face such antisemitic bigotry at UCLA.
"Universities that abandon their duty to protect students from vicious targeting must face the consequences," said Rienzi. "The court should hold UCLA accountable for its discriminatory behavior and ensure the safety of Jewish students before the start of the fall semester."
A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 29, 2024 in Los Angeles federal district court.
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