UCLA faculty are on the front lines after being asked to leave by UCLA campus police in May. (File)
The University of California, Los Angeles cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to deny Jewish students access to campus buildings, classes and services, a federal judge has ruled.
The order from U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi appears to be the first ruling against an American university related to the demonstrations against the Israel-Gaza conflict that erupted on hundreds of college campuses earlier this year.
The decision to issue a preliminary injunction against the prestigious university, issued Tuesday, came as part of a lawsuit filed in June by three Jewish students, who said pro-Palestinian protesters blocked them from campus on basis of their faith.
“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the state of California, and in the city of Los Angeles, Jewish students were barred from parts of the UCLA campus for refusing to denounce their faith,” Scarsi wrote. ‘inconceivable’ and ‘repulsive’.
He prohibited the school from offering programs, activities or access to campus buildings if it knows they are not available to Jewish students.
In lawsuits, the school had argued that it could not be held legally responsible for alleged discrimination by third parties. The university also said it was working with law enforcement authorities to dismantle camps and had taken steps to improve its response to protests in the future, including creating a new campus security office and blocking at least three new attempts to enter parts of the campus to occupy.
The school’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, Mary Osako, said in a statement that UCLA was considering “all of our options” in response to the ruling.
“UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from harassment, discrimination and intimidation,” she said. “The court’s ruling would inappropriately hinder our ability to respond to events on the ground and meet the needs of the Bruin community.”
One of the students who filed the lawsuit, law student Yitzchok Frankel, said in a statement: “No student should ever have to fear being excluded from their campus because they are Jewish.”
UCLA was thrust into the national spotlight when masked assailants attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment with bats and sticks on April 30, leading to a fight in which both sides exchanged punches and pepper spray.
The next night, police forcibly dismantled the encampment and arrested more than 200 people.
Activists criticized police for reacting too slowly to the attack and then moving too aggressively to take down the tent camp a day later. The head of campus police was reassigned pending an external investigation.
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