UCLA student culture group accused of hiring discrimination against Jews

A hearing will be held next Tuesday following the acceptance of a petition this Tuesday of a petition outlining allegations of discriminatory anti-Jewish hiring policies and practices.

By MICHAEL STARR DECEMBER 4, 2024 17:19

People who took part in the protest remove the remnants of a protest encampment in support of Palestinians, that was broken down by police the previous night on the campus of University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), in Los Angeles, California, US, May 2, 2024. (photo credit: REUTERS/CARLIN STIEHL)

A petition alleging that the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) Cultural Affairs Commission (CAC) actively avoided hiring Jews because of their assumed Zionist perspective was accepted by the USAC Judicial Board on Tuesday, according to a memorandum. 

A preliminary hearing will be held next Tuesday for the petition filed by Ha'Am Jewish news magazine Editor-in-Chief Bella on Monday against CAC Commissioner Alicia Verdugo. 

According to Ha'Am, the petition contended that every student who reveal their Jewish identity in their applications for CAC staff was rejected. One rejected applicant allegedly said that they would need to observe shabbat during the staff retreat, and another noted that as a Jew one campus issue that was important to them was the right to express religious identity. 

In an allegedly leaked internal communications published by Ha'Am, Verdugo allegedly warned subordinates that "lots of Zionists are applying -- please do your research when you look at applicants and I will also share a doc[ument] of no-hire list during retreat."

Another supposed leaked document, CAC laid out its hiring policy as reserving the right "to remove any staff member who dispels anti-blackness, colorism, racism, white supremacy, Zionism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, misogyny, ableism, and any/all other hateful/bigoted ideologies.”

Signs in support of Palestinians in Gaza are set up along with reinforcements to block the doorway of a building at an encampment after protesters were asked to leave by UCLA campus police at the University of California, Los Angeles, California, US, May 2, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/AUDE GUERRUCCI)

Ha'Am noted that not only was the movement for the self-determination of the Jewish people in their historic homeland singled out among political movements to be included among forms of discrimination, antisemitism was not mentioned in the list. The petition reportedly argued that the references to Zionism and the rejection patterns indicated that Jews were not hired because it was assumed that because they were Jewish that they were Zionist. 

A UCLA spokesperson said that the institution condemned all forms of discrimination and was reviewing the complaint "as it is absolutely critical that every single member of our community is evaluated fairly for opportunities within student government.”

USAC leadership was unable to comment on the proceedings because it was an ongoing case.

Jewish Faculty at UCLA's statement

Jewish Faculty at UCLA, which claims to represent Jewish and non-Jewish faculty at the institution, said on social media last Wednesday that CAC's use of the term Zionist was code for being Jewish, and the word was being antisemitically twisted "into a slur to exclude Jews."

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo weighed into the situation by arguing on X on Tuesday that "of the many examples of antisemitism driven by campus DEI, UCLA may be the worst."

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Ha'Am noted that the Jewish magazine had previously accused Verdugo of denying access to four of its Jewish reporters to a November CAC event protesting the prohibition of on-campus encampments. 

On October 9, in the wake of the October 7 Massacre, Verdugo issued an official CAC statement declaring that they would continued to provide unwavering support to Palestinian "liberation."

"We also stand on the grounds that decolonization is not a metaphor," read a CAC Instagram statement. "Thus, we honor the Palestinians on the frontlines taking their land and sovereignty back! From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

The CAC Instagram post also recommended that followers read the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization's "Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine." PFLP is designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department.

Verdugo emphasized in the statement that the condemnation of Israel was not mutually exclusive with condemnations of antisemitism and assured that "Judaism is separate from the political movement of Zionism."