By Joseph Ax
(Reuters) - The University of California in Los Angeles cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from accessing campus buildings, classes and services, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi's order appears to be the first ruling against a U.S. university connected with the demonstrations protesting the Israel-Gaza conflict that erupted at hundreds of college campuses earlier this year.
The decision to issue a preliminary injunction against the prestigious university, issued on Tuesday, came as part of a lawsuit filed in June by three Jewish students, who said pro-Palestinian protesters blocked them from campus based on their faith.
"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 portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith," Scarsi wrote, calling it "unimaginable" and "abhorrent."
He barred the school from offering any programs, activities or access to campus buildings if it knows any of them are not available to Jewish students.
In court papers, the school had argued it could not be held legally responsible for alleged discrimination perpetrated by third parties. The university also said it worked with law enforcement to dismantle encampments and had taken steps to improve its response to protests in the future, including creating a new campus safety office and blocking at least three new efforts to occupy parts of campus.
The school's vice chancellor for strategic communications, Mary Osako, said in a statement that UCLA was considering "all our options" in response to the ruling.
"UCLA is committed to fostering a campus culture where everyone feels welcome and free from intimidation, discrimination, and harassment," she said. "The district court's ruling would improperly hamstring our ability to respond to events on the ground and to meet the needs of the Bruin community."
One of the students who brought the lawsuit, law student Yitzchok Frankel, said in a statement, "No student should ever have to fear being blocked from their campus because they are Jewish."
UCLA was thrust into the national spotlight when masked assailants attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment on April 30 with clubs and poles, sparking a fight that saw both sides exchanging blows and pepper spray.
The next night, police forcibly dismantled the encampment and arrested more than 200 people.
Activists criticized police for responding too slowly to the attack and then for moving too aggressively to take down the tent camp a day later. The chief of the campus police department was reassigned pending an outside review.