When I chose to attend UCLA, I never thought I’d be segregated from my peers for being a Jew.
Nor did I suspect that my school’s administration would encourage and support antisemitic harassment, intimidation, and assault. This year, both nightmares became a reality for me and hundreds of Jews at UCLA. But following a federal court’s scathing condemnation of UCLA’s actions, the university may finally be starting to see the light.
On October 7, 2023, the world was shaken by Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack on Israel, the only Jewish state in the world. Over 1,200 innocent lives were lost in a horrific rampage that targeted the most vulnerable. This tragic event struck fear and disbelief in Jewish communities worldwide, echoing past horrors.
After the attack, I had hoped my university would ensure that Jewish students were safe. In fact, one reason I chose UCLA for law school was its reputation as a welcoming and diverse campus. UCLA boasts of its “open and inclusive environment” and emphasizes that it does “not tolerate acts of discrimination, [or] harassment.” But rather than practice what it preaches, university leadership allowed the campus to devolve into a hotbed of antisemitism.
Demonstrations broke out at Bruin Plaza, where activists chanted genocidal slogans and carried antisemitic signs. I witnessed hundreds—including some of my own classmates—swarm the law school’s courtyard, chanting “there is only one solution, intifada revolution.” That same day, other agitators elsewhere on campus smashed a piñata of Benjamin Netanyahu while chanting “beat that f—-ng Jew” through a megaphone.
UCLA promised to combat these shameful demonstrations. In a letter to the community, university leadership acknowledged the “rise in reprehensible acts of antisemitism” and pledged not only to “denounce the bigotry,” but to “actively work against it.” Unfortunately, these words also proved hollow. Over the following months, the university did not take a single step to protect Jews on campus. Nor did it publicly discipline any student who engaged in antisemitic harassment and calls for genocide.
The situation turned especially grim this spring. On April 25, activists set up an encampment on Royce Quad, the heart of UCLA’s campus. Those activists enforced a “Jew Exclusion Zone” where they stopped Jewish students and faculty, including me, from accessing the encampment and other parts of campus unless they denied Israel’s right to exist. They built barriers, used checkpoints, and locked arms to prevent Jews from walking through. They even issued wristbands to those who had been approved—but Jews like me need not apply.
Meanwhile, UCLA leadership—those entrusted to ensure the safety of students—told campus police to stand down, ceding control over public university property to antisemitic militants. The entire experience would have made Orwell blush.
I often walk through Royce Quad to get to class, take study breaks, grab a bite to eat, or call my wife. I’ve even brought my kids there to play as a family. But for an entire week, I was viciously harassed and forced to abandon my routes through campus because of the encampment. While participating in peaceful rallies supporting Israel, I was mocked as police stood idly by, had to assist a friend who was pepper-sprayed, and even witnessed UCLA security assisting the activists in setting up barriers.
Worse, UCLA’s failure to stop antisemitism forced me to cancel plans on campus with family and forgo opportunities to mentor incoming Jewish students during the upcoming orientation week. My own school—where I was so grateful to have been accepted—made me choose between being a regular student or a Jew. In a free nation like ours, no one should ever have to make that impossible choice.
With the help of two law firms, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Clement & Murphy, I filed a lawsuit in early June against UCLA alongside two other Jewish students to stop the university from abetting such bigotry again. Thankfully in August, federal Judge Mark C. Scarsi blocked UCLA from allowing and assisting antisemitism on campus, calling UCLA’s actions “unimaginable” and “abhorrent.” A day later, the university announced it would appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit, saying the court’s decision would “hamstring” its ability to manage its campus. That decision was rightfully met with widespread and bipartisan scorn, including from state legislators.
But barely a week later, UCLA threw in the towel, publicly asking the Ninth Circuit to dismiss its appeal on August 23. This move is hopefully a sign that the university recognizes it can no longer get away with assisting antisemites. And it should serve as a cautionary tale to other universities that think they can enable rampant Jew hatred.
Emblazoned on UCLA’s seal is a motto: “Let There Be Light.” The phrase comes from the ancient Hebrew יְהִי אוֹר (“yehi ‘or”) found in the first chapter of Genesis, when G-d created the heavens and the earth. Sadly, my university failed to live up to this lofty ideal. Instead of standing as a pillar of light, the university gave darkness a home on campus. I pray that this victory marks the beginning of a new chapter, where bright rays of justice will shine forth from UCLA and other college campuses once more.
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