The DOJ accuses UCLA of evading the responsibility of the alleged anti -Semitism

For more than seven months, UCLA He has fought in a federal court against the accusations of Jewish students and a member of the faculty that the university allowed anti-Semitic actions during a pro-Palestinian camp of the last spring campus.

In judicial presentations, the lawyers on both sides argued whether the actions in the camp, which included Jewish student leaders, were anti -Semitic To block pro-Israel or Zionist individuals to wear catwalks next to the camp. Both parties have indicated the fingers on who was responsible for the camp. Was it the university that did not eliminate it immediately and whose staff helped reinforce it with metal barriers? Or the protesters who took care of a small portion of campus?

Monday, the Trump administration He entered the conflict when the Department of Justice presented judicial documents that support the right of the students and the power to demand for discrimination and accusing UCLA of trying to “evade responsibility” for alleged anti -Semitism.

The Department of Justice said that the action is the work of a new Federal Multi -Legence Working Group to combat anti -Semitism. The group said previously that he planned to visit UCLA, USC and eight other American campuses. No dates have been announced.

“The president, the attorney general Pam Bondi, and the task force know that each student must be free to attend school without being discriminated on the basis of his race, religion or national origin,” said the member of the LEO TERREL Working Group, principal lawyer of the Attorney General of Civil Rights. “The Department of Justice is working to combat anti -Semitism using all tools at our disposal.”

People who participated in the protest eliminate the remains of a protest camp in support of the Palestinians, which was broken down by the police last night at the Campus of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), in Los Angeles, California, USA. UU., May 2, 2024. (Credit: Reuters/Carlin Stiehl)

Mark Rienzi, president of Becket Fund, a non -profit organization that represents the Jewish plaintiffs of the UCLA, said in a statement that the Trump administration has “thrown the glove: if the university administrators help and abet the mistreatment of the Jews, they will pay the price. This is a call of attention for each university that allows the anti -Semitic hatreds not to be nun.”

In response to the Department of Justice, a UCLA spokesman said the university was “committed to eradicating anti -Semitism.”

“Foreign Minister Julio Frenk, who joined UCLA in January, has a strong history of fighting anti -Semitism and is actively working to help UCLA achieve our goal of promoting an environment where all members of our community can live, work and learn, freely and peacefully,” said Mary Osako, Vice Chancellor for Communications, in a statement. The University has launched the “initiative to combat anti -Semitism” to address “our shared and unwavering goal of extinguishing anti -Semitism.”

The Trump administration movement occurs when the University of California, the State University of California, the USC and other universities of California face an avalanche of federal research or warnings, of the Department of Justice, the Department of Education and other agencies, for accusations that they have mistreated the Jewish students and employees.

The Administration has threatened to revoke federal funds, including the main subsidies of health and science research, of universities that, in their opinion, do not comply with federal anti -discrimination law. This month, the federal authorities canceled $ 400 million in subsidies to Columbia University, accusing it of mismanagement of pro-palestinian protests and ignoring the alleged incidents of anti-Semitism.

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Trump has also requested the deportation of foreign manifest students whom he accuses of being “Hamas supporters.” Federal authorities arrested at least two foreign students from Columbia University and tried to arrest another who fled to Canada.

Critics accuse the White House of weapons concerns about the anti-Semitism of attacking the freedom of expression of the campus and say that the administration is inaccurately painting the pro-palestinian protests as anti-Semites. They point out that although the White House pays deep attention to the Jewish communities of the Campus, it has had little to say about other religious and racial groups, including Muslims and Arab American, who have also informed increases in the hate incidents of the campus in the wake of October 7, 2023, the attack of Hamas against Israel, which caused the Israel war in Gaza.

On Tuesday, dozens of Jewish members of the Faculty of the UCLA sent a letter to the University Administration that asked the leaders to resist “any attempt by government officials to damage students, staff or pro-palestine faculty who face the current McCarthyite dictates of the Trump administration.”

“The federal government opposes ourselves to the efforts to arrest, deport or press universities to discipline students, staff or the Faculty of UCLA or in any university that is considered politically unacceptable by virtue of their support for freedom for the Palestinian people,” said the letter. “Let us resist all calls to help compile lists of the attacked for arrest, deportation or discipline and reject without equivocal any attempt to invoke our name to harass, expel, arrest or deport the members of our communities of the campus. These actions do not protect the Jews, but are a direct attack against democracy and freedom of discourse.”

The letter arose when the regents of the Cu -UC began three days of meetings in UCLA, where the response of the UC system to a variety of federal actions, on anti -Semitism, diversity initiatives and in the research of health and science, are on the agenda.

On Tuesday, more than 100 students also carried out a protest outside the regent meeting, asking the system to disinvest the investments related to arms and Israel companies. A postgraduate student speaker for justice in Palestine accused the regents of “using Trump’s threats as a pretext” to tighten the rights of freedom of expression and actions against war.

Speaking of events in Columbia, the student then added: “Is UCLA as follows?”

The case of the current UCLA court focuses on a pro-palestinian camp in Royce Quad that increased on April 25. It was one of the largest and controversial of those built on university campuses in the United States when a mafia attacked the camp on April 30, the response of the application of the law was delayed for hours. Police broke the camp on May 1 and arrested more than 200 people.

Before the camp, they were carried out in the Duel of Pro and Anti-Israel manifestations, and a handful of videos became viral in which Jewish students said they were denied access to walk through the camp on their way to university buildings.

The protesters and their supporters said they did not prevent Jewish people from walking, but tried to redirect Pro-Israel and Zionist people to reduce conflicts and confrontations.

UCLA opposes suit

UCLA has opposed the demand, saying that his actions of the camp focused on the safety and decallation of tensions, not discriminating against Jewish peoples. His lawyers have indicated important changes that the UC system has made to guarantee everyone’s safety during protests. The UC system also adopted a zero tolerance policy for any protest that breaks the Campus codes.

In UCLA, the authorities quickly closed multiple camps after the original was clear and created a new campus security office. The new protest rules in UCLA restrict the areas of the campus where demonstrations could take place.

A federal judge in August issued a preliminary judicial order against the UCLA, ordering the university to guarantee equal access to the campus to all.

“According to constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when UCLA knows that other students are excluded for religious reasons, regardless of who designed exclusion,” wrote the United States district judge, Mark C. Scarsi.

The students and the faculty they demanded have asked the judge to issue a permanent court order on the same matter.