Anti-Israel student gov official resigns before meeting to discuss accusations of anti-Semitism
The official resigned two days before she was scheduled to meet with the Undergraduate Student Association Judicial Board to discuss accusations of anti-Semitic discrimination.
Cultural Affairs Commissioner Alicia Verdugo had been accused of discriminating against Zionists and Jews in hiring for student government roles.
A student government official at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) resigned from her post just two days before she was scheduled to meet with the school’s Undergraduate Student Association Judicial Board to discuss accusations of anti-Semitic discrimination.
On Feb. 4, Undergraduate Students Association Council Cultural Affairs Commissioner Alicia Verdugo stepped down from her role due to concerns over personal safety, according to the Daily Bruin.
In November, Ha’Am Editor-in-Chief Bella Brannon filed a student government petition against Verdugo, who was accused of discriminating against Jewish applicants.
”PSA ... lots of zionists are applying — please do your research when you look at applicants and I will also share a doc of no hire list during retreat,” Verdugo allegedly told hiring student government officials. Ha’Am also alleged that all applicants who wrote about their Jewish heritage in applications for Verdugo’s Cultural Affairs Commission were rejected.
In response to Verdugo stepping down, Brannon told the Daily Bruin that the move was “long overdue.”
”Verdugo’s legacy at UCLA has been characterized by exclusion and harassment,” she said. “We think that this is a step toward having … an inclusive campus and a commission that truly represents cultural affairs.”
Verdugo also has a history of anti-Israel activism, as noted by the Daily Bruin.
Last year, the former cultural affairs commissioner sponsored a BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) student government resolution against the Jewish state.
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The resolution, which the UCLA student government passed, called on the university to sever ties to Israel, due to the nation’s alleged “flagrant violations of international law and human rights,” including “illegal annexation of territory, colonialism, apartheid, denial of the right to self-determination, war crimes and crimes against humanity, or that discriminate on the bases of race, color, caste, gender, religion, national origin, ethnicity, disability, or age.”
The Daily Bruin also reports that Verdugo has said she was arrested during a pro-Palestine encampment against Israel that took place on UCLA’s campus last year.