Press Release
MAY 8, 2024 UPDATE: After receiving our demand letter on behalf of the Young Americans for Freedom chapter on the UCLA campus, regarding free speech violations, UCLA has responded with approval of YAF’s event. This is a victory for free speech and the Constitution. This is not the first and will undoubtedly not be the last time YAF and Mountain States team up to protect free speech on college campuses.
“We are gratified that UCLA leadership has reversed course in response to our letter. The University was playing favorites: coddling leftwing anti-Israel activists while silencing voices with differing views. That was a violation of democratic norms and the Constitution. We are glad that UCLA has come to its senses on this matter.”” said Senior Attorney James Kerwin.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Carina Constancio & MacKenzie Guy
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INSTEAD OF RESPONDING TO ANTI-SEMITISM AND CHAOS ON ITS CAMPUS, UCLA IS SUPPRESSING CONSERVATIVE FREE SPEECH
LAKEWOOD, Colo. (May 1, 2024) — Mountain States Legal Foundation has issued a demand letter to UCLA, accusing the University of trampling on the fundamental rights of students enshrined in the First Amendment.
The controversy lies in the University’s failure to allow an on-campus event slated for May 15, featuring the prominent speaker and founder of Jihad Watch, Robert Spencer, about the topic, “Why Everything You Know About Palestine Is Wrong.” Despite Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) diligently following UCLA’s protocols and submitting all required documentation well in advance, the University has thrown up numerous roadblocks, delaying approval and stifling the free exchange of ideas.
It is evident that UCLA hasn’t yet granted permission for the event due to the content of Mr. Spencer’s speech, which rejects terrorism and sympathy toward Hamas in the Middle East conflict. This chilling attempt to silence his voice—along with the students who invited him—is nothing short of an assault on speech and the marketplace of ideas.
Compounding this egregious behavior is the University’s disturbing complacency in the face of an illegal encampment erected by anti-Semitic activists on campus. Reports of violence, intimidation, and obstruction of access to campus facilities have poured in, yet UCLA has failed to take decisive action, leaving students and faculty subject to physical injury.
But as if that weren’t enough, UCLA is now saying that YAF’s event can’t be approved until the encampment is gone, due to the tensions on campus surrounding the conflict in the Middle East! That excuse—where the school suppresses conservative speech based on its lack of will to quell leftwing violence—just won’t fly.
MSLF’s demand letter to UCLA insists on immediate approval of YAF’s event featuring Mr. Spencer, and a firm commitment to upholding the First Amendment rights of all students. Anything less is an affront to the principles of liberty and the marketplace of ideas.
MSLF Senior Attorney James Kerwin said in the demand letter, “UCLA’s course of conduct as a whole—coddling patently illegal and violent leftwing ‘protestors’ on the one hand, and imposing limitations on the pure speech of presenters with heterodox views on the other—cannot be viewed as anything other than discrimination on the basis of viewpoint. Put simply, UCLA tolerates illegal activity by some because they support the elimination of Israel, and at the same time, works tirelessly to impose roadblocks against actual speech and the exchange of ideas by others because they support Israel’s right to exist and to defend itself.”
UCLA’s failures are glaring. The University must immediately approve YAF’s event, reaffirm its dedication to academic freedom and its constitutional duties, and question why any university administrator at UCLA has tried to suppress conservative speech due to leftwing violence.
Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a nonprofit, public-interest legal firm established in 1977. MSLF is dedicated to individual liberty, limited and ethical government, and the benefits of the free enterprise system. MSLF defends its clients through pro bono litigation and seeks victory for its clients at the highest level possible to establish binding legal precedents to benefit millions of Americans. Through its litigation and public discourse, MSLF educates the American public on the threat unrestrained government presents to our liberties. Learn more at mslegal.org