Following months-long protests and unrest on college campuses around the country, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles in California is asking universities to better protect students this upcoming year.
In an open letter obtained by Fox News Digital, Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and CEO of Jewish Federation Los Angeles, details how universities and their surrounding communities can protect Jewish college students as they head back to school.
Farkas said that as Jewish students prepare to go back to college, schools and administrators must acknowledge what happened on campus to Jewish students last year, calling it a “national failure and moral tragedy.”
“The failure to uphold rules around protests, the slow and inept response by security, and the lack of uniform rules enforcement, led to students and faculty being harassed, doxxed, and denied entry to parts of campus just for openly identifying as Jewish,” Rabbi Farkas wrote.
UCLA STUDENT SLAMS UNIVERSITY FOR ‘ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE,’ TURNING CAMPUS INTO ‘WAR ZONE’: ‘THIS IS A DISGRACE’
Hundreds of students protest at UCLA on May 1, 2024. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
Protesters set up an encampment at UCLA in support of Gaza on May 1, 2024. (Grace Yoon/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Things have gotten so bad that Congress has stepped in to investigate and, in some cases last year, forced Jewish students to question their place on campus and create their own graduation. This must never happen again,” he continued.
Farkas said just as the anti-Israel protesters have promised to return to disrupting campus life, their organization has been planning a strategy based on democratic values that will support local students and faculty and educate others.
The three-component strategy he outlined in the letter includes: supporting the campus Jewish community, uniting Jewish students across Los Angeles, and ensuring universities uphold their true purpose.
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Former MLB star and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey weighed in on this issue and told Fox News Digital that it was important for Jewish leaders to come out with this letter.
“In order to prepare students for what’s to come, I think it was very important to educate the Jewish community on campus, uniting Jewish teams throughout Southern California, and then addressing leadership, as to what their responsibilities are and to protect these students. And now it’s up to leadership on the campuses,” Garvey said.
Garvey continued by saying that because the unrest started so late in the spring, we saw less of what could have happened if it occurred in the fall.
“It was clearly an attack on the Jewish students, the Jewish name. To treat these activities on campus as crimes and the attack on the Jewish students was essentially a hate crime. Nobody wanted to say that, but it’s exactly what it was,” Garvey said.
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Steve Garvey, former MLB player and Republican Senate candidate, said it’s time for change on college campuses as the new school year approaches. (Getty Images)
Garvey added that the single most important thing is to hold the leadership of the college universities accountable and provide a safe environment across the board for all students.
“The best way to deter it is actually to take these people and to prosecute them and to show people that you just can’t do this in a lawful society,” Garvey said.
Last school year, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) was one of the colleges experiencing anarchy with anti-Israel agitators taking over the campus in violent riots.
According to UCLA’s own warning, the university said the agitators “could” face consequences, but it did not definitively identify a punishment.
“If you fail to leave and remain present in the encampment or unauthorized tents or structures in Dickson Plaza, regardless of your purpose for remaining, you will be in violation of the law and those who choose to remain could face sanctions. For students, those sanctions could include disciplinary measures such as interim suspension that, after proper due process through the student conduct process, could lead to dismissal,” the warning read.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the violence “absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.”
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky also spoke out against the violent demonstrations taking place at UCLA, saying in a previous statement that “everyone has a right to free speech and protest, but the situation on UCLA’s campus is out of control and is no longer safe.”
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Gov. Gavin Newsom told Fox News Digital that he “condemns antisemitism in all its forms.”
Nearly 2,200 anti-Israel agitators were arrested at college campuses across the United States during the riots,
The riots forced police to use riot gear, tactical vehicles and flash-bang devices to clear tent encampments and occupied buildings to restore order.
The protests were in response to criticism facing the Israel-Hamas war and the mounting Palestinian civilian death toll.
Fox News Digital reached out to UCLA for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Lawrence Richard contributed to this report.
