Free Republic

CAIR-LA crosses a very distinct line in its attack on UCLA's guidelines against anti-Semitism. Hussam Ayloush deserves credit for cultivating his reputation as a “moderate Muslim.” He has proven effective at winning over audiences -- including liberal Jews -- all the while aiming many of his relentless anti-Israel attacks at them. His worst detractors would concede he qualifies as the educated and polished face of CAIR-LA (Council on American-Islamic Relations). Ayloush showcased his rhetorical skill at the time he issued a “public statement” opposing UCLA’s new guidelines to Combat Antisemitism (released by Chancellor Julio Frenk and a 15-person action group)....

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- A 29-year-old man suspected in a series of assaults on the UCLA campus was taken into custody Friday. Olumuyiwa Akindahunsi was booked early Friday morning on suspicion of robbery, attempted kidnapping, assault with intent to commit a sex offense, and sexual battery, with bail set at $2.3 million, according to the UCLA Police Department. Police said Akindahunsi is not affiliated with the university and may be homeless. Officers responded at about 11:35 p.m. Thursday to reports of a robbery on Bruin Walk. According to police, a suspect approached a student from behind, forcibly stole her...

A group of antisemitic UCLA students beat their Jewish classmates unconscious, attacked them with sticks and pepper spray and created Jewish exclusion zones — all while the school did nothing to stop it — according to a new lawsuit against the University of California. The school allowed for vile antisemitic attacks on Jewish students on the campus following the Hamas attacks on October 7, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said in the suit, obtained by The California Post. “Antisemitic hatred against UCLA’s Jewish and Israeli students reached a point where students were physically assaulted, injured, excluded from campus,...

...“As in every movement, the more mistakes the government makes, the more chances we have to get support from the general public,” Wong said in an interview during his week-long visit to Los Angeles. He was invited here by UCLA to take part in a seminar on democracy movements. Wong, a co-founder of the student protest group Scholarism, became possibly the best-known face of the so-called umbrella protests that brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill for nearly three months last year. For Wong, the election protests were only the latest chapter in a youth spent organizing on Hong...

A taxpayer-funded California university partnered with a United Nations agency to teach Mexican officials how to make their justice system LGBT-friendly, records obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show. More than 220 Mexican judges, secretaries and officers in Mexico’s judicial branch participated in a virtual University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law course from October to November 2022 on upholding gay and transgender rights, according to materials received in a public records request and translated by the DCNF. The law school’s Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy provided the course in...

A civil liberties group told UCLA on Monday that the university should not stop a conservative student group from identifying demonstrators who protested a United States Department of Homeland Security lawyer’s campus event. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression – which advocates for free speech on college campuses – condemned an email sent by Bayrex Martí, the assistant dean for student affairs at the UCLA School of Law, which encouraged the UCLA Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization, to not publicize protesters’ identities. About 50 people disrupted an event hosted by the Federalist Society that featured DHS general counsel...

A civil liberties group told UCLA on Monday that the university should not stop a conservative student group from identifying demonstrators who protested a United States Department of Homeland Security lawyer’s campus event. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression – which advocates for free speech on college campuses – condemned an email sent by Bayrex Martí, the assistant dean for student affairs at the UCLA School of Law, which encouraged the UCLA Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization, to not publicize protesters’ identities. About 50 people disrupted an event hosted by the Federalist Society that featured DHS general counsel...

A disgraced San Francisco human rights chief and her longtime beau have been arrested for allegedly grifting taxpayer funds for personal use through a city program intended to help the city’s black communities. Sheryl Davis, former heard of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, and her nonprofit boss partner James Spingola were taken into custody Monday on suspicion of multiple felony counts of misappropriating public funds and conflicts of interest. “Public integrity matters because our communities must be able to trust that government agencies treat everyone fairly and serve all members equally,” said District Attorney Brooke Jenkins at a press...

The DEI practices at America’s colleges and universities have been justly criticized for being anti-meritorious, unconstitutional, racist, and costly. However, a recent lawsuit against UCLA’s medical school suggests that its discriminatory admissions policies could potentially have negative public-health consequences, as well. That’s quite an indictment against what has long been regarded as a premier medical school. Last May, the groups Do No Harm and Students for Fair Admissions, as well as an unsuccessful white applicant, sued UCLA’s medical school, arguing that “various UCLA officials [had engaged] in intentional discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity in the admissions process.”...

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss pulled out of a speaking engagement at UCLA due to security concerns. “We always follow our security team’s guidance. This situation is no different,” a CBS News spokesperson told Fox News Digital. The lecture honors the memory of slain Jewish journalist Daniel Pearl, who was kidnapped and beheaded by Pakistani jihadist terrorists in 2002. “We are working with the university to reschedule for a different date,” the network spokesperson added. Steve Lurie, UCLA’s Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Safety Officer, told Fox News Digital the university had a “comprehensive security plan” in preparation for Weiss’...

Two lawsuits alleging antisemitism—one involving Stanford University and another tied to the spring 2024 anti-Israel encampment at the University of California, Los Angeles—will move forward, the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law announced on Jan. 22. The Stanford case stems from a July lawsuit filed by the Brandeis Center on behalf of Shay Laps, a Jewish Israeli researcher who alleges that he faced “discrimination and insidious, malicious conduct intended to permanently tarnish his reputation and career” at a Stanford lab, including tampering with his research, being locked out of a lab and a fabricated sexual harassment complaint...

The city of Pasadena, California, and the Rose Bowl Operating Company have reportedly sued UCLA for allegedly trying to move its college football games from one of the sport's most iconic stadiums to the much newer SoFi Stadium. The Times reported UCLA’s outside counsel, David L. Schrader, sent a letter to Pasadena attorney Nima Mohebbi in March, saying the school’s efforts to conduct "preliminary discussions" about relocating games did not constitute a "material breach" of its contract. "The potential economic and reputational damage of UCLA's attempt to break its lease is significant to the Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena residents, and...

In mid-September, UCLA's Race and Equity Director Johnathan Perkins was placed on leave for social media posts he made about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.He did this on Bluesky, which is a hive of Leftists cheering on political violence. Here's just a sample of what he said:And here's more from ABC7 about Perkins' suspension from UCLA:UCLA's director of race and equity has been placed on leave over social media posts he made about the killing of Charlie Kirk, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.Jonathan Perkins, an official with UCLA's Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Office, apparently published the remarks on BlueSky....

The Chief Bee Whisperer, a leftist UCLA ‘rabbi’ who kicked a pro-Israel Jewish woman, the lecturer behind ‘an Introduction to Islam for Jews’ and a rabbi who claimed Hamas is ready for ‘peaceful coexistence’ signed a letter attacking Israel’s campaign against Hamas after Oct 7. The ‘open letter’, billed as a “Jewish Orthodox response” and a “call for moral clarity” against Israel has been written up by anti-Israel outlets like the New York Times is mostly made up of anti-Israel activists and leftists, appeasers and the completely deluded. “In my assessment it is possible to make peace with Hamas,” Rabbi...

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to restore a portion of the 800 federal science research grants that it suspended at UCLA last month, delivering a major setback to efforts to force the university into a $1 billion settlement. California district court judge Rita F. Lin ruled Tuesday that the suspensions violated her June preliminary injunction in which she ordered the National Science Foundation to restore 114 grants it had terminated at the University of California and blocked the agency from cancelling other grants at the UC system. ”NSF’s actions violate the Preliminary Injunction,” Lin wrote. Her June order...

A 38-year-old man from the Bay Area, who went by at least three aliases, managed to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rare historical Chinese manuscripts dating back to the 13th century from the University of California, Los Angeles’ library, federal officials announced. In a U.S. Department of Justice news release, federal prosecutors allege that Jeffrey Ying, who also went by the names Jason Wang, Alan Fujimori and Austin Cheng, stole the manuscripts between Dec. 2024 and July 2025. Because of their value and rarity, UCLA does not keep the books in regular circulation, requiring a reservation to...

The Trump administration’s suspension of grants at UCLA totaling $584 million has imperiled research in an array of subjects. Professors at the university said that some researchers rely on the funding to pay their salaries, and the loss of the money could be devastating. Their medical research focuses on potentially lifesaving breakthroughs in cancer treatment, and developing tools to more easily diagnose debilitating diseases. Their studies in mathematics could make online systems more robust and secure. But as the academic year opens, the work of UCLA’s professors in these and many other fields has been imperiled by the Trump administration’s...

The Trump administration is targeting UCLA again for the second time in a week, seeking to force the school to pay a $1 billion fine for alleged antisemitism on campus. The news broke Friday, a week after grant funding to the university was frozen. The Los Angeles Times reports that the federal government’s proposal would restore that grant funding, worth more than $500 million, in exchange for the $1 billion fine. University of California System President James Milliken confirmed that they’ve “just received a document from the Department of Justice and [are] reviewing it.”

UCLA has agreed to pay over $6 million to settle discrimination complaints stemming from last year’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in which Jewish students and faculty were allegedly prevented from accessing classrooms, the library and other campus locations. Meanwhile, in a separate action, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday afternoon it has determined that the university violated the rights of Jewish and Israeli students by failing to “adequately respond to complaints of severe, pervasive and objectively offensive harassment and abuse” between Oct. 7, 2023, and the present. “Our investigation into the University of California system has found concerning evidence of systemic...

The Department of Justice said Tuesday that UCLA violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students who reported harassment and intimidation during a spring 2024 pro-Palestinian campus encampment... In a letter addressed to UC President Michael V. Drake, DOJ officials said “Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA were subjected to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment that created a hostile environment by members of the encampment.” The letter faulted UCLA for not taking down the encampment until after it was attacked by pro-Israel group. In addition, the department found UCLA was “inadequate” in its response to complaints from Jewish...