District Judge Mark Scarsi ruled on Tuesday that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from accessing classes and other parts of campus. He also sharply criticized the university's policy toward its Jewish students.
The district judge's decision was given after a lawsuit was filed against UCLA in June by two Jewish law students and another undergraduate student, who claimed that the university's leaders allowed pro-Palestinian activists to set up protest camps and denied Jewish students access to large areas on campus.
According to the students' claim, which was accepted by the judge, "the university allegedly forced the areas where Jews were not allowed to enter, by placing metal barriers and removing the Jewish students from the area. The university also took no effective action to ensure safe passage for the students."
Judge Scarsi accepted the Jewish students’ claims and harshly criticized UCLA, while bluntly condemning their behavior towards the Jewish students.
“In the year 2024, in the USA, 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.” Scarsi wrote.
Scarsi said that this fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent in the face of our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom, that it bears repeating: Jewish students were expelled from parts of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith. UCLA does not dispute this and, instead, claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was planned by the protesters.
Scarsi ruled that the university is prohibited from providing classes and access to buildings on campus if Jewish students are blocked from it.
The judge also ordered UCLA to submit a plan, together with the LA police, that would enable Jewish students to attend classes and other activities safely on campus.