A U.S. district judge has ordered UCLA to protect Jewish students following the headline-grabbing pro-Palestinian protest that took place in April. The order was signed by Mark C. Scarsi and filed on Tuesday.
Under this order, the defendants representing UCLA who will be referred to as UCLA from here on out – Michael V. Drake, Gene D. Block, Darnell Hunt, Michael Beck, Monroe Gorden, Jr. and Rick Braziel — are prohibited from offering any “ordinarily available programs, activities or campus areas to students” if these activities or areas are not “fully and equally accessible to Jewish students,” the court order reads.
Additionally, UCLA is prohibited from “knowingly allowing or facilitating the exclusion of Jewish students.” Under this order, exclusion of Jewish students includes excluding students “based on religious beliefs concerning the Jewish state of Israel.” Additionally, this ruling doesn’t prevent UCLA from excluding Jewish students who violate the UCLA code of conduct that is applicable to all students.
Either on or before Thursday, UCLA has been instructed to inform its Student Affairs Mitigator/Monitor as well as all campus security teams that they cannot obstruct access to regularly available activities, programs or locations to Jewish students.
“Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” Scarsi wrote in his court order, calling the incident “so unimaginable and so abhorrent.”
This all goes back to a pro-Palestine protest that took place on April 25. During that demonstration, a group of protesters took over Royce Quad, a central part of UCLA, and set up an encampment. As part of the demonstration, they created guarded checkpoints, requiring passersby to wear a specific wristband that indicated they were pro-Palestine in order to enter. Those who supported the existence of the state of Israel were kept out of the encampment and, thus, the centrally located Royce Quad.
The plaintiffs in this case are Yitzchok Frankel, Joshua Ghayoum, and Eden Shemuelian, three Jewish students who have stated they have a religious obligation to support the Jewish state of Israel. Because of their position, they were banned from entering the encampment, which blocked their pathways to classrooms.
UCLA hasn’t disputed that these students were discriminated against based on their religious beliefs. Instead, the university has maintained it has “no responsibility” to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students when it comes to third-party protestors.
An oral argument for the case was heard on July 29, which ended with the court ordering both parties to meet and find a compromise. That compromise failed to happen. “The Court deems this matter appropriate for decision without further oral argument,” the court order reads.
