Photo of UCLA's Royce Hall, with pitched tents on the lawn

WASHINGTON A federal judge today ordered the University of California, Los Angeles, to craft a plan with Jewish student plaintiffs to protect them from antisemitic encampments that bar them from accessing the heart of campus. UCLA must discuss the plan with Becket and co-counsel Clement & Murphy PLLC, who are representing the Jewish students, and the parties must submit the plan to the judge by August 5.  

In Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, Jewish students filed a lawsuit against UCLA after it helped a group of activists as they set up an encampment where they harassed Jewish students and stopped them from accessing classes, the library, and other critical parts of campus. UCLA reinforced these zones—both by providing metal barriers and by sending away Jewish students—while taking no effective action to ensure safe passage for Jewish students. 

On June 24, three current UCLA students asked the court to put an immediate stop to UCLA’s actions so that they could return to class free from fear that they would be harassed and excluded for being Jewish. UCLA then doubled down, disavowing any obligation to protect its Jewish students, and claimed—despite the numerous encampments that have continued to mar the face of UCLA’s campus—that the students have nothing to fear when classes begin again. In response, the students pointed out to the court that the May encampment was hardly an isolated incident. Rather, it merely exemplified the unchecked antisemitism that ran rampant both before and after those appalling events took place. Given that UCLA has admitted to the court that UCLA itself set up barricades reinforcing the encampment and follows a policy that prohibits calling the police “preemptively,” it could not be clearer that “[w]hen activists discriminate against and threaten Jews, UCLA protects the activists, not their Jewish victims.” At the hearing today, Judge Mark C. Scarsi asked the parties to work out an agreed plan preventing UCLA from allowing discrimination against Jewish students. He ordered the parties to submit the proposed plan by Monday, August 5. 

“UCLA tried to force me to choose between being a student or being a Jew,” said Yitzchok Frankel, a rising third-year law student at UCLA. “I appreciate the chance to have my day in court, and I look forward to being able to return to campus safely next month.”  

Yitzchok Frankel is a law student and father of four who faced antisemitic harassment last semester simply for wearing a kippah and who was forced to abandon his regular routes through campus because of the Jew Exclusion Zone. Frankel detailed how UCLA’s continued failures have forced him to cancel plans on campus with his family and to forgo opportunities to mentor incoming Jewish students on campus during orientation week. Eden Shemuelian, another law student, has also had to avoid using campus facilities and participating in law school orientation events because of UCLA’s continuing failures to ensure the safety and equal access of Jewish students. 

“It’s disgusting that a prestigious American university would aid and abet antisemitic agitators who harass and segregate Jewish students,” said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and an attorney for the students. “UCLA’s behavior needs to change, and we look forward to working out an appropriate plan that protects Jewish students on campus.” 

The plaintiffs and defendants will submit a proposed plan to the court by Monday, August 5.