A federal judge on Tuesday reprimanded UCLA for its handling of pro-Palestinian encampments and ordered the university to ensure equal access to Jewish students, three of whom alleged in a lawsuit that the university allowed protesters to block Jews from parts of campus because of their faith.
In issuing his preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi sided with the students, whose lawsuit filed in June alleged that the university helped enforce a “Jewish exclusion zone” on campus during pro-Palestinian protests when UCLA erected bike barriers around an encampment. The lawsuit also alleged that UCLA hired security guards who allowed protesters into the encampment but not Jewish students.
“In the year 2024, in the United States of America, in the State of California, in the City of Los Angeles, Jewish students were excluded from parts of the UCLA campus because they refused to renounce their faith. This is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating: Jewish students were excluded from parts of the UCLA campus because they refused to renounce their faith,” Scarsi wrote.
“UCLA does not dispute this. Rather, it claims that it has no responsibility to protect the religious freedom of its Jewish students because the exclusion was orchestrated by third-party protesters,” Scarsi wrote. “But under constitutional principles, UCLA may not allow services to some students when it knows that other students are being excluded on religious grounds, regardless of who orchestrated the exclusion.”
The judge’s order gives UCLA two days, through Thursday, to order UCLA police, security and student affairs to “not assist or participate in any obstruction of Jewish students’ access to programs, activities and areas of campus that are customarily available.” It coincides with the law school’s fall semester orientation. Classes for the first fall term begin in September.
Scarsi’s decision is not the final word on the merits of the case. Rather, it indicates that the students who sued risked irreparable harm if he did not issue a preliminary injunction while the case proceeds.
In a statement, one of the plaintiffs, Yitzchok Frankel, rejoiced.
“No student should have to fear being kicked off campus because they are Jewish,” said Frankel, who will be a third-year law student in the fall. “I am grateful that the court ordered UCLA to stop this shameful anti-Jewish conduct.”
Frankel and two other students were represented by the nonprofit Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the law firm Clement & Murphy.
A UCLA official said in a statement that the order would “inappropriately hamper” how the university could respond to events on campus.
“UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from bullying, discrimination and harassment,” said Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications. “The district court’s decision would inappropriately hamper our ability to respond to events on the ground and meet the needs of the Bruin community. We are carefully reviewing the judge’s decision and considering all options available to us moving forward.”
UCLA indicated in court documents filed before Tuesday that it would appeal the injunction.
The case centers on a pro-Palestinian encampment set up on Royce Quad on April 25. It was one of the largest and most controversial protests set up on U.S. college campuses to demand that universities divest themselves of their financial ties to Israel. When a mob attacked the encampment on April 30, law enforcement was delayed for hours. Police dismantled the encampment on May 1 and arrested more than 200 people.
UCLA had opposed the lawsuit, saying its actions related to the encampment were aimed at ensuring safety and easing tensions, not discriminating against Jews.
The university’s lawyers also argued that significant changes have taken place since the April encampment that make concerns about future protests less relevant. Those changes included the closure of several newer encampments on the same days they were set up, the creation of a new campus safety office, the hiring of a new police chief and strict enforcement of UCLA’s rules, including those that prohibit overnight camping.
Whether the encampment discriminated against Jews has also been the subject of significant debate. Pro-Palestinian students and faculty at UCLA, including a group from the Faculty for Justice in Palestine that filed an amicus brief, have made a distinction. They argue that the protests were anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish, and that many of the protesters were Jewish.
But for many Jews, Zionism — the belief in a Jewish state in the Jewish ancestral homeland — is key to Jewish identity. In his order, Scarsi agreed with that view, saying the plaintiffs “assert that support for the Jewish State of Israel is their sincerely held religious conviction.”
Tuesday’s court order increases pressure on University of California regents and campus leaders, who have said they will no longer tolerate encampments and will enforce protest rules.
President Michael V. Drake is working with UC leadership on a systemwide plan for how campuses will respond to potential fall protests against the Israel-Hamas war and violations of free speech rules. State lawmakers are withholding $25 million in state funding until Drake delivers a report on those efforts by Oct. 1.
