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UCLA Tag

Posted by CampusClimatologist on May 13, 2014 4 Comments
Legal Insurrection has learned that Students for Justice in Palestine-backed UCLA student president-elect Devin Murphy, whose supporters accused his anti-divestment opponent of corruption and conflict of interest for taking a sponsored trip to Israel from a pro-Israel organization, took a sponsored trip to Israel from a pro-Israel group in January 2013. Murphy, who defeated anti-BDS candidate Sunny Singh by a mere 31 votes in an election with 8,200 cast, went to Israel on a California Student Leaders  trip sponsored by the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange. http://youtu.be/jUGZwLb2XiE?t=3m15s That Murphy went on such a sponsored trip but is pro-divestment, shows that such trips are merely educational, and do not dictate a particular pro- or anti-divestment result. SJP filed a judicial board conflict of interest complaint not only against Singh for going on a trip sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, but also against Lauren Rogers, another anti-BDS council member who also went on a Project Interchange Trip. Murphy also signed a letter pledging not to take sponsored trips to Israel from various groups, which accused numerous pro-Israel organizations of promoting bigotry against Muslims, Blacks, and Armenians. Questioned about his trip (video clip here, and embedded below), Murphy claimed that he had no conflict of interest because he was not a member of the council at the time.  He also did not indicate that he would recuse himself from related matters while on council.

Posted by CampusClimatologist on May 12, 2014 3 Comments
Two months ago, after a contentious meeting that lasted until dawn, UCLA’s student government (USAC) defeated a BDS resolution on a 7-5, essentially party-line vote.  The hard work of hundreds of students and alumni, aided by numerous pro-Israel organizations, secured a hard-fought victory. But Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and their allies dried their tears, regrouped, and returned for another round.  Their strategy was two-fold:  Cut off the vital supply lines between campus activists and the real world, then use the morally-backwards campus environment to wield the myriad "anti-racist" tools as weapons against Israel and Jews. [caption id="attachment_85855" align="aligncenter" width="475"]Screenshot 2014-05-11 20.44.54 Students gather to hear USAC election results at UCLA on Friday afternoon[/caption]

Campus Lawfare As Political Tool

As reported here last week, SJP filed a case with USAC’s judicial board, claiming two anti-BDS-voting council members, Sunny Singh and Lauren Rodgers, had violated conflict of interest rules by receiving a free educational trips to Israel.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 07, 2014 10 Comments
We previously covered the UCLA anti-Israel divestment resolution, which was voted down 7-7 by the student council after an intense and contentious all-night session. One of the co-sponsors and a strong supporter of the resolution was Community Service Commissioner Omar Arce, as reported by The Daily Bruin (emphasis added):
Facilities Commissioner Armen Hadjimanoukian of the Bruins United slate, Community Service Commissioner Omar Arce, an independent councilmember, and General Representative Lizzy Naameh of the LET’S ACT! slate sponsored the resolution.... In a second straw vote later in the meeting, no councilmembers changed their vote. Student Wellness Commissioner Savannah Badalich, Naameh, External Vice President Maryssa Hall, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Jessica Trumble and Arce still said they would support the resolution.
Arce not only sponsored the resolution, he also endorsed a letter claiming "Islamophobic commentary" in opposition to the divestment resolution necessitated a "Diversity Requirement." The Daily Bruin reports that Arce has been arrested on charges of false imprisonment related to alleged sexual batteries:
An undergraduate student council member was arrested by university police Wednesday on a charge of false imprisonment. On Wednesday, a female student reported a series of sexual batteries between October and March. The report led to 21-year-old Omar Arce’s arrest, according to a police report released Thursday afternoon. UCPD arrested Arce, the Undergraduate Students Association Council Community service commissioner and a fourth-year international development studies student, at 10:47 a.m. Wednesday and transported him to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in West Hollywood. Arce was booked about 11:30 a.m. on $50,000 bail. He is currently being held at the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
The local Fox affiliate further reports on the arrest:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on February 26, 2014 9 Comments
After an all-night session, the UCLA student council defeated an ant-Israel divestment resolution by a vote of 7-5.  (Featured image is moment vote announced.) The vote received enormous attention, and was trending in the U.S. on Twitter. This is a huge defeat for BDS on campus. Divestment resolutions recently were overturned at UC-Riverside and defeated at UC-Santa Barbara. I can't say whether this is a national trend, but it does signify that pro-Israel students now are more organized than in the past. (added) Ben Shapiro made a "guest" appearance against the resolution: In this image, one of the student council members a student note taker, who appears to have supported the resolution, is crying and screaming that she's never been so disappointed and that "we just fucking blew it." (UPDATE -- Video HERE) UCLA student we just fucking blew it

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 30, 2013 3 Comments

I have an update on a legal hearing involving UCLA’s Dr. James Enstrom, whose brave whistleblowing actions involving the school's Department of Environmental Health Sciences cost him his job. William Creeley, the Director of Legal and Public Advocacy for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education...

Posted by Leslie Eastman on March 17, 2013 9 Comments

UCLA's Dr. James Enstrom is one of my personal heroes of the "Tea Party" movement. The importance of his work on behalf of Californians cannot be understated. The Environmental Health Sciences professor has been fighting the false science behind some of our state's most onerous regulations for...

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