CV NEWS FEED // A federal judge on Aug. 13 ordered the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to guarantee Jewish students have equal access to all of the campus’s buildings after pro-Palestine protestors had barred Jewish students from entering classrooms and libraries.
U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi’s imposition of a preliminary injunction against UCLA, which went into effect on Aug. 15, was in response to three Jewish students’ lawsuit, Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, against the university, according to a recent report from EdSource.
Scarsi wrote in the ruling that UCLA knew about the discrimination against their own students, and the university did not deny it. However, Scarsi noted, UCLA argued that it had no obligation to protect their Jewish students because the discrimination was the result of “third-party protesters.”
“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,” Scarsi remarked.
The order forbade UCLA from “knowingly allowing or facilitating the exclusion of Jewish students from ordinarily available portions of UCLA’s programs, activities, and campus areas, whether as a result of a de-escalation strategy or otherwise.” UCLA had until Aug. 15 to inform campus security, police, and student affairs accordingly.
EdSource also reported that UCLA Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications 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.”
Scarsi had previously ordered UCLA to create a plan by Aug. 5 to protect Jewish students from antisemitic encampments and harassment, CatholicVote reported.
