Federal Judge Rebukes UCLA Over ‘Abhorrent’ Discrimination Against Jewish Students During Protests
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A federal judge had harsh words for the University of California, Los Angeles, following allegations that Jewish students were discriminated against during pro-Palestinian protests earlier this year.
"Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom ..." U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi wrote in a preliminary injunction on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in June by three Jewish UCLA students, accused the school of failing to ensure fair access to the campus amid demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war. Protesters erected an encampment surrounded by plywood and metal barriers, the lawsuit states, and established checkpoints and a wristband system that prevented pro-Israel students from accessing classrooms, the library and other academic buildings.
In response, the university argued it had no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was created by third-party protesters.
Regardless of who initiated the exclusion, Scarsi wrote, the university cannot allow Jewish students to be blocked from accessing campus buildings, programs and services.
"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," he said.
Scarsi directed UCLA to guarantee that all campus areas, services, and activities remain equally accessible to Jewish students. He also instructed the university's student affairs division and security teams to avoid assisting in any obstruction of access for Jewish students.
"No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish," Yitzchok Frankel, one of the students who filed the lawsuit, said in a statement. "I am grateful that the court has ordered UCLA to put a stop to this shameful anti-Jewish conduct."
