UCLA student files petition against Cultural Affairs Commissioner who allegedly warned against hiring 'zionists'

A student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has filed a petition against a student government official for discrimination against Jews in hiring.

On Nov. 25, Ha’Am, UCLA’s student-run Jewish magazine, reported that Editor-In-Chief Bella Brannon had filed a petition with the Undergraduate Students Association Council to review allegations of anti-Semitism involving Cultural Affairs Commissioner (CAC) Alicia Verdugo.

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”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,” the petition’s evidence of Verdugo’s alleged anti-Semitism included, according to Ha’Am. The outlet also reports that the petition says that all students who applied to roles with the CAC by writing about their Jewish heritage were rejected.

The CAC application reportedly asked prospective members, “What is an issue (social, political, etc.) that is relevant to you, and how would you like to address that through CAC?” One Jewish applicant is said to have been denied after answering, “An issue that’s relevant to me is the right to express one’s religion because, as a Jewish student at UCLA, it is imperative that I have the right to express my identity.”

Ha’Am also reports that Brannon’s petition makes the claim that all students who were hired for CAC positions this fall had not indicated anything about their Jewish heritage in their applications.

“By rejecting Jewish applicants and citing Zionism as a disqualifying factor, despite the applicants never explicitly referencing Zionism or their relationship to the State of Israel in their applications, Alicia Verdugo demonstrates their conflation of Judaism with Zionism,” the petition reportedly reads. “In doing so, they have intentionally created a correlation between Jewish and Zionist identities to systematically discriminate against Jews, a correlation they imposed, even though many Jewish individuals naturally consider Zionism an intrinsic part of their identity.”

Ha’Am also notes that CAC’s alleged anti-discrimination guidelines do not explicitly bar anti-Semitism: “We reserve the right to remove any staff member who dispels antiBlackness, colorism, racism, white supremacy, zionism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, misogyny, ableism, and any/all other hateful/bigoted ideologies.”

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The petition was filed with the Undergraduate Students Association Council’s Judicial Board, which “primarily adjudicates disputes involving infractions of the USA Constitution, Bylaws, and Election Code.”

According to its X account, the CAC holds events “that are socially, politically, and culturally relevant by and for BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color].”

On Nov. 6, the account reposted a message from a pro-Palestine user, who said: “If we’re tired - Imagine Gaza. Keep talking about Gaza. Keep Palestine in the algorithm.”