Report: UCLA Prevents Conservative Student Group from Hosting Pro-Israel Event

On Wednesday, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) allegedly locked the doors to the room where a conservative student group was set to host a pro-Israel event with a conservative speaker.

According to Fox News, the event was set to feature Jihad Watch founder Robert Spencer, and was organized by the UCLA chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. But when the group attempted to enter the room where the event was scheduled, “the doors of the Bruin Viewpoint Room were locked,” YAF claimed in a statement.

The group’s chairman, Matthew Weinberg, issued a statement declaring that he was “deeply disappointed in UCLA’s failure to protect our First Amendment rights.”

“All we wanted was a successful Pro-Israel event where people of all backgrounds and viewpoints can engage in the free exchange of ideas and hear a different perspective not heard across university campuses, and the school made that impossible,” Weinberg continued. “This is nothing but an act of pure cowardice.”

Weinberg previously claimed that administration officials did not respond to the group’s initial request to host Spencer, even after multiple weeks. He says he eventually met with school leaders to discuss the proposed event, but was told that “there is no timeframe” for when the event could take place.

When Wednesday came, the university told the chapter that “the event would need to be moved to a low-traffic, remote location,” which Weinberg called “an unacceptable last minute change that would have significantly impacted the event’s attendance and impact.”

A UCLA spokeswoman directly denied Weinberg’s version of events, claiming that “the event took place in the designated location after it shifted to a closed, recorded event as proposed by the organizer and agreed to by UCLA.”

In response, YAF spokesman Michael McGonigle said that “the statement from UCLA is not correct. To be clear, our event did not take place.”

YAF accused UCLA of caving to pressure from the ongoing anti-Israel riots that have rocked the campus in recent weeks, leading to vandalism and destruction of property as well as protesters assaulting innocent bystanders and clashing with police. UCLA is one of many colleges to face widespread anti-Israel protests, alongside other such campuses as Columbia University in New York.