DOJ backs Jewish students in lawsuit against UCLA over alleged anti-Semitism
The U.S. Department of Justice recently submitted a statement of interest in support of the Jewish students and faculty who previously filed a lawsuit against UCLA for allegedly failing to address anti-Semitism on its campus.
The suit accuses the school of excluding Jews and allowing Jewish students and faculty to be 'harassed, intimidated, and assaulted.'
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently submitted a statement of interest in support of the Jewish students and faculty who previously filed a lawsuit against the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for allegedly failing to address anti-Semitism on its campus.
The initial lawsuit, Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, was filed on June 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by the Becket Fund, on behalf of Jewish students and faculty at the school.
The suit accuses the school of excluding Jews and allowing Jewish students and faculty to be “harassed, intimidated, and assaulted.” Anti-Israel activists shouted “death to Israel” and “death to Jews” and erected a “Jew Exclusion Zone” on campus, according to the Becket Fund.
The DOJ’s brief, which was filed on March 17, joins in with the Jewish students and faculty, asserting that the case should not be dismissed.
“Even though UCLA may not dispute that the antisemitic campus environment at UCLA last year was ‘unimaginable’ and ‘abhorrent,’ the Individual Defendants moved to dismiss this action to evade liability for what happened on the campus that they are supposed to lead and protect,” the DOJ’s brief explains.
“The United States has a significant interest in the proper application of federal laws that ensure equal access to educational opportunities and facilities,” the statement of interest continues.
In the filing, the DOJ asserts that the policy of the United States is to “vigorously” combat anti-Semitism, including on college campuses, “using all available and appropriate legal tools.”
In a statement, Mark Rienzi, president of the Becket Fund, said that the DOJ had “thrown down the gauntlet” and that the filing should be a “wake-up call” for universities that have not adequately responded to anti-Semitism.
“DOJ has thrown down the gauntlet: if university administrators aid and abet mistreatment of Jews, they will pay the price,” Rienzi stated. “This is a wake-up call for every university that allows antisemitic hatred to fester unchecked. No Jewish student or professor should ever again face this kind of terror on their own campus.”
“Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated in our community,” Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph McNally for the Central District of California added about the filing. “Our office will enforce anti-discrimination laws to address the issue of antisemitism affecting our residents.”
Campus Reform has previously reported about anti-Semitism at UCLA. Last November, for instance, four anti-Israel activists at UCLA were arrested after a disruptive demonstration where protesters blocked access to campus to protest the alleged “genocide” in Gaza.
Campus Reform has contacted UCLA for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
