The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by Jewish students and faculty members over the university's handling of anti-Israel protests, which involved protestors excluding Jews from part of the public campus, labeled a "Jew Exclusion Zone."
As part of the settlement, UCLA agreed to pay $50,000 to each of the plaintiffs and to donate $2.33 million to organizations that combat antisemitism. The total settlement will be over $6.13 million after final approval from a federal judge.
The lawsuit was filed last year by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, alleging the university failed to protect Jewish students when pro-Hamas protestors set up encampments last spring and prevented them from accessing parts of campus. The plaintiffs accused UCLA of "aiding and abetting" an antisemitic culture.
"Campus administrators across the country willingly bent the knee to antisemites during the encampments,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and an attorney for the students. “They are now on notice: treating Jews like second-class citizens is wrong, illegal, and very costly."
In August 2024, federal District Judge Mark C. Scarsi ordered the school to stop allowing anti-Israel protesters from banning Jews from parts of campus.
"In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith," said the court's finding. "This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating: Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith."
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Yitzchok Frankel, who has now graduated, was a third-year law student at UCLA during that time. He said he faced antisemitic harassment for wearing a kippah and was forced to use irregular routes through campus because of the protestors' "Jew Exclusion Zone."
“When antisemites were terrorizing Jews and excluding them from campus, UCLA chose to protect the thugs and help keep Jews out," said Frankel. "That was shameful, and it is sad that my own school defended those actions for more than a year. But today’s court judgment brings justice back to our campus and ensures Jews will be safe and be treated equally once again.”
In the settlement, UCLA has agreed to ensure that Jewish students and faculty are not excluded from any programs, activities or campus areas. The school also committed $320,000 for its Initiative to Combat Antisemitism, according to a press release.
"Antisemitism has no place at UCLA, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to eradicating it from our community," said Mary Osako, UCLA vice chancellor for strategic communications, according to Fox Digital. "We have reflected candidly on our progress and are working to expunge antisemitism from our community in its entirety."
"UCLA should be commended for accepting judgment against that misbehavior and setting the precedent that allowing mistreatment of Jews violates the Constitution and civil rights laws," said Rienzi. "Students across the country are safer for it.”
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