California Democratic Lawmaker Calls for Civil Rights Investigation Into UCLA Protests

Pro-Palestinian activists protest against the Israel-Hamas conflict on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles on April 25, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A California lawmaker urged the U.S. Department of Education to investigate potential civil rights infringements at UCLA, amid an eight-day pro-Palestinian encampment regarding the Israel-Hamas war that was ultimately dismantled on May 2, resulting in 210 arrests.

Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur, a Democrat, on April 30 called for an inquiry into possible violations of the 1964 Title VI Act—which prevents discrimination based on race—at UCLA, particularly regarding the protection of Jewish students from physical and verbal aggression.

“I am alarmed and extraordinarily disappointed that the university allowed the situation to deteriorate with seemingly little regard for Jewish and Israeli-American students’ personal safety and their civil rights as enrolled students,” he said in a statement on his website.

California state Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur speaks on stage at the Los Angeles Equality Awards in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, 2023. Rich Polk/Getty Images for Equality California

Mr. Zbur cited incidents where protestors were reportedly denying Jewish students access to certain locations on campus for identifying as “Zionists.”

“Given that the overwhelming majority of Jews identify as Zionists, and the term is used to describe people of Israeli national origin, this can be very clearly interpreted to mean that Jewish and Israeli-American students may not enter University facilities, including libraries and lecture halls,” Mr. Zbur said.

The legislator also called on the UC Board of Regents to launch an independent probe into what he called UCLA’s security failures and delayed law enforcement response to violence that started late in the evening of April 30 and spilled over into the early morning hours of May 1.

UC President Michael Drake recently announced the school has opened such an investigation.

On the same day, several other state lawmakers including Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher and Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, also a Republican, condemned the violence and vandalism that occurred during recent campus protests and said students who commit violent or criminal acts should lose their financial aid.