By Zach Kessel

Three Jewish students filed a lawsuit against the University of California, Los Angeles, last week, alleging that the university allowed student activists to prevent them and other Jewish students from accessing parts of campus.

The filing states that, though they knew this was happening, UCLA officials did not stop the anti-Israel student activists from enforcing “what was effectively a ‘Jew Exclusion Zone,�segregating Jewish students and preventing them from accessing the heart of campus, including classroom buildings and the main undergraduate library.�/p>

If a student wanted to enter the area, he or she had to state that they agreed with the protesters, shared anti-Israel views, and have someone within the encampment grant an invitation before receiving a wristband serving as an entry ticket. As the filing notes, while not all those who disagreed with the protesters�aims were Jewish, the importance of Israel in Judaism means that, in effect, the overwhelming majority of Jews were denied entry into the central area of UCLA’s campus.

Erin Murphy, a partner at Clement & Murphy PLLC �one of two firms representing the students alongside the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty �told National Review that what happened at UCLA went even further than the harassment and intimidation of Jewish students that has occurred since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.

“What’s particularly egregious about what happened at UCLA is that the encamping students set up what was effectively an exclusion zone, and they would not let students pass unless they disavowed Zionism. This precluded our plaintiffs and other students from being able to physically access parts of the university,�Murphy said, “which is different even from some of the schools where students shut things down and prevented everyone from going to class. Certain students were blocking other students from being able to physically access the library and the buildings during exams week.�/p>

Murphy said that even when students reached out to the university for assistance, UCLA did nothing.

“What happened is when students would reach out to campus police or administrators to ask for help, they basically said, ‘No, we’re not going to. We won’t interfere,’â€?she told NR. “And at a certain point, they had campus police there to effectively facilitate the ability of the campers to keep people out and to discourage students who wouldn’t be allowed through from even trying. You had the university taking it beyond the level of not getting involved to adopting a policy of using the campus police to help them continue their activities.â€?/p>

Murphy argued that, especially because UCLA is a public institution, the decision of the university to, in effect, help the protesters keep Jewish students out of certain areas of campus violates both federal law and the United States Constitution.

“This is a clear-cut denial of access to education, educational facilities, and educational opportunities on the basis of religious views, ethnic identity, and even views protected under the First Amendment,�she told NR, “in the sense that students were told �with university support �that they would not get through and access parts of the campus unless they were willing to disavow beliefs that, for our clients, are deeply-held religious beliefs.�/p>

During the period of time in which the encampment at UCLA stood, video emerged showing protesters beating a Jewish woman unconscious, and footage of a separate incident appeared to capture protesters chasing down a Jewish man and holding him inside the encampment against his will.

Murphy told NR that finding parallels to the scene on UCLA’s campus would require looking to the Civil Rights Era.

“You’d have to go back to the kinds of things we were seeing that precipitated the enactment of civil-rights legislation and that created some of the provisions that say you can’t interfere with access,�she said. “You’ve certainly had incidents of harassment and discrimination against students on the basis of their religious beliefs on campus, but I just don’t think you’ve had this kind of systematic effort to exclude people or to interfere with access to education since the 1960s.�/p>

Murphy said the students suing UCLA seek multiple forms of legal relief, but the most important thing she said could come from the lawsuit is a coercive injunction making clear to the university that what happened in the spring cannot happen again.

“There’s just no question that universities have an obligation to ensure that students are not excluded on the basis of religion or ethnicity, or based on viewpoint discrimination, and this should never have happened in the first place,�Murphy told NR. “And if we have courts reminding schools so that before the influx of students returning in the fall, hopefully, that will help ensure that it doesn’t happen again anywhere.�/p>

National Review contacted UCLA for comment on the lawsuit but did not immediately receive a response.

Jewish Students Sue UCLA over Anti-Israel Encampment, Antisemitic Segregation | National Review