UCLA anti-Semitism task force publishes discrimination report, finds students were subject to ‘blatant antisemitism’
The report noted that UCLA’s condemnations of anti-Semitism often failed to result in significant action against discrimination.
One student said that they ‘would spend much more time at home than at the UCLA dorms in fear of [their] safety.'
A recent report from the University of California, Los Angeles anti-Semitism task force found that Jewish students were subject to significant discrimination during the previous academic year.
The report, dated October 16, states that school administration failed to stop many overtly anti-Semitic incidents despite criticizing such actions, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“Although UCLA leadership made some statements condemning the use of hate speech on UCLA campus, they did not interrupt these activities, describing them as a continuation of UCLA’s tradition of free expression,” the report reads.
The authors cite a 2024 study by the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats which surveyed 10,000 college students during December and January. The study found that although 80% of students disagree with “calls for genocide and violence,” as many as 13% expressed that instances of campus violence against Jewish students are often warranted because “they deserve it.”
“I would spend much more time at home than at the UCLA dorms in fear of my safety,” one student confessed to the task force.
The report includes numerous examples of anti-Semitic propaganda employed by anti-Israel protesters, including signs that read “FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA PALESTINE WILL BE FREE,” “STOP THE US WAR MACHINE,” and “israelis Are Native 2 HELL.”
The report also lays out several policy recommendations, which include creating anti-Semitism training, reworking the school’s complaint system, and strengthening existing enforcement measures.
A UCLA spokesperson said that Interim Chancellor Darnell Hunt expressed appreciation for the work done by the task force, noting its role in furthering the school’s commitment to combat anti-Semitic discrimination.
Campus Reform has closely followed anti-Israel protests at UCLA during the past year. Following a protest in April that resulted in hundreds of arrests, a federal judge ordered school administration to develop an anti-discrimination plan in order to protect Jewish students.
“Meet and confer to see if you can come up with some agreeable stipulated injunction or some other court order that would give both UCLA the flexibility it needs,” District Judge Mark Scarsi wrote in his April directive, “but also provide Jewish students on campus some reassurance that their free exercise rights are not going to play second fiddle to anything else.”
Campus Reform has reached out to UCLA for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.