Pro-Palestinian students, faculty sue UCLA over handling of anti-Israel demonstrations
35 students, faculty members, legal observers, journalists say school failed to protect activists at campus encampment amid clashes with counter-protesters
A group of 35 pro-Palestinian students, faculty members, legal observers, journalists and activists filed a lawsuit Thursday against the University of California, Los Angeles, over its handling of last year’s anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles came days after the Trump administration joined a separate lawsuit filed in June against the university by Jewish students and a Jewish professor, accusing it of failing to protect them.
The demonstrations at UCLA became part of a movement last spring at campuses nationwide against the Israel-Hamas war, sparked by the terror group’s onslaught on October 7, 2023.
Many Jewish students at the university said they were made to feel unsafe due to antisemitic statements and banners at the demonstrations.
Last month, the Trump administration opened new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at Columbia University, the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University.
UCLA was repeatedly roiled by protests and the way administrators were handling the situation.
The student encampments attracted particular scrutiny last April after campus police failed to promptly intervene when protesters erected physical barricades on campus, preventing pro-Israel students from crossing. School security instead instructed Jewish students to avoid the encampments.
The tensions culminated the night of April 20 when a group of counterprotesters began dismantling an anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian encampment.
The lawsuit said UCLA failed to protect the demonstrators when dozens of people, some in white masks and some draped in Israeli flags and armed with fireworks, hammers, baseball bats and other weapons, attacked the encampment while the loud sound of crying babies played on the jumbotron.
Several protesters were injured during the incident, which happened after private security had left and police had not yet arrived, the lawsuit said.
“Encampment members witnessed the mob’s extreme violence, threats of violence, and UCLA’s failure to intervene,” it said. “They saw people get their heads split open, suffer from open wounds and concussions, scream in pain and fear, with fireworks and mayhem all around them.”
The university did not immediately respond Friday to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Los Angeles Police and California Highway Patrol officers arrested dozens of protesters on May 1 and 2 as the camp was cleared.
The episode led to the reassignment of the campus police chief and the creation of a new campus safety office. A subsequent attempt to set up a new camp was also blocked.
The lawsuit also named the Los Angeles Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and 20 people it describes as members of a “mob.” It sought monetary damages for physical and psychological injuries suffered by the protesters.
Last June, three Jewish students and a Jewish professor sued the university saying it allowed pro-Palestinian protesters to block them from accessing classes and other parts of campus. The students alleged they experienced discrimination on campus during the protests because of their faith and that UCLA failed to ensure access to campus for all Jewish students.
A federal judge ruled in a preliminary injunction last year that the university cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from accessing classes and other parts of campus.
On Monday, the Trump administration filed a brief supporting the Jewish students and professor in their case against UCLA.
“DOJ has thrown down the gauntlet: if university administrators aid and abet mistreatment of Jews, they will pay the price,” said Mark Rienzi, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and an attorney for the students and professor.
“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.”
The Times of Israel Community.