A Petition of Consideration was filed to UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council (USAC) Judicial Board on Nov. 25 alleging that USAC Cultural Affairs Commissioner (CAC) Alicia Verdugo discriminated against Jewish students when hiring staff members in the fall.
Ha’Am, a student-run newsmagazine at UCLA, first reported on the petition; the publication’s editor-in-chief, Bella Brannon, filed the petition, which was obtained by the Journal.
“Text messages and documents sent by Verdugo detail the vetting of applicants suspected of being associated with ‘Zionism’ and a hiring sheet revealing the rejection of Jewish students substantiate these claims,” Brannon’s petition states. Her complaint included documentation from the commission purportedly stating that “we reserve the right to remove any staff member who dispels [sic] anti[-]Blackness, colorism, racism, white supremacy, zionism [sic], xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism, and any/all other hateful/bigoted ideologies.” Additionally, her petition highlighted an alleged message from Verdugo to series heads stating that “lots of zionists are applying — please do your research when you look at applicants and I will share a doc of no hire list during retreat.”
“No student applicants for the Senate mentioned Zionism or any reference to Israel in their applications,” Brannon’s petition continued. “Even if they had, it should not be a basis for their disqualification. Instead, a policy was created that targeted and excluded Jewish applicants.”
Brannon claimed in the petition that all three openly Jewish candidates who applied for positions were rejected, including herself. “As a student passionate about hip-hop, I applied for a staff position with the Hip Hop Congress at the Cultural Affairs Commission,” wrote Brannon. “In my application, I shared my personal connection to hip-hop, my experience playing music, and my sincere interest in participating in hip-hop culture on campus. Despite my qualifications, I was rejected. Based on the texts and screenshots, I have every belief my identity as a Jewish student played a role in my rejections. Students who were aware of this directive from Verdugo have informed me confidentially that this was the clear instruction and that Verdugo took an active role in rejecting Jewish applicants.” In her application, which is included in the petition, Brannon stated in response to a question on if she would be able to attend a weekend staff retreat if hired: “I keep Shabbat, so would need to follow Jewish observance.” The Ha’Am report noted that another rejected Jewish applicant wrote that “an issue that’s relevant to me is the right to express one’s religion because, as a Jewish student at UCLA, it is imperative that I have the right to express my identity.”
“If you Google me, it’s very clear that I’m a Zionist, but I can’t say the same for the other Jewish applicants, especially one of them who is virtually unsearchable,” Brannon told the Journal. “It seems the only reason they were rejected was their Judaism. Obviously I consider Zionism a very important part of my Jewish identity — the majority of American Jews do — so even if it was discrimination on Zionism alone, it would still be mighty troubling.”
Benjamin Katz, who wrote the Ha’Am report summarizing the allegations in the Brannon’s complaint, told the Journal, “None of the Jewish applicants explicitly or implicitly mention their relationship to Israel or Zionism. The only thing that seemed to have relevance is their insistence on their Jewish identity and how that’s a relevant part of their life, which we thought was a really critical consideration.”
Brannon also alleged in the petition that Verdugo, from the official CAC account on X, blocked her, which Brannon contended “not only discriminatory but also raises serious legal concerns” since the X account is UCLA-affiliated. Further, Brannon highlighted screenshots from the CAC’s social media accounts that she argued promulgated “blood libel” as well as called for the destruction of Israel and celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led massacre against Israel. One screenshot purportedly showed an Instagram story from the CAC sharing an image of paragliders with Palestinian flags and the words: “Oct. 7 was natives breaking free. What followed was settlers unleashing genocide so the natives would never try to break free again.” Another screenshot highlighted in Brannon’s complaint showed the CAC X account reposting a graphic that called Israel a “genociding Holocausting pedophilic rapist sex trafficking organ & land stealing child murdering terrorist apartheid ethno-state.”
The complaint also highlighted a screenshot of a CAC Instagram post showing a display outside of a UC regents meeting in March depicting a pig holding a bag of cash and a Star of David cannister; Brannon claimed in the complaint that Verdugo “proudly shared on social media their involvement in creating” the pig display.
Brannon further claimed in her complaint that Verdugo was involved in the anti-Israel encampment established on campus during the spring and that there was an official “CAC tent” inside the encampment; more recently, Brannon alleged that Verdugo blocked “four Jewish students from participating in an open mic event ironically named ‘F*ck Your Bans.’ One of the students had a confirmed RSVP but was denied entry. Coincidentally, she was wearing a visible Star of David necklace.” The four Jewish students were Ha’Am reporters. Also, the complaint cites reporting from Ha’Am that Verdugo wrote in a group chat that they weren’t surprised at the USAC representatives that voted against mask mandates and other COVID-19 measures in 2023 because those representatives were “zionists”; when a Jewish student countered by saying that Zionism’s basic claims are accurate, Verdugo replied: “You are being tricked, you have been lied to. The only reason any support is garnered for zionism is because it is politically useful to have a militarized ally in the Middle East. But I think you’ve encountered all these facts before, you simply don’t have the will or empathy to look inside yourself and understand that your parents are liars. They are white, and benefit from white supremacy regardless of religious affiliation.” After facing backlash, “Verdugo issued an insulting, semi-apology,” per Ha’Am.
Brannon’s petition concluded: “This repeated pattern of discriminatory behavior demonstrates that Alicia Verdugo cannot fairly represent all students. Their actions are inconsistent with the principles of equity and inclusion required of their office. We recommend their immediate removal as Cultural Affairs Commissioner and a thorough investigation into the practices of their office.”
Katz told the Journal that Verdugo authored a statement that was posted to the CAC’s Instagram page on Oct. 9, 2023 stating that the CAC “stands in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation from Israel.” Verdugo’s statement also states that “condemning the actions of the state of Israel is not mutually exclusive with condemning antisemitism” and that “Judaism is separate from the political movement of Zionism. Establishing this distinction is important to the safety of Jewish and Palestinian individuals alike. Jewish individuals are not uniformly White, do not support White supremacists and are not colonizers or oppressors.”
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“As demonstrated by her hiring practices, she seems to conflate the two very naturally,” Katz told the Journal about Verdugo’s views on Zionism and Judaism. “And it’s not coincidental in the slightest.”
Brannon told the Journal: “Alicia Verdugo has repeatedly and unabashedly discriminated against Jews in their tenure as Cultural Affairs Commissioner: From social media posts on UCLA-affiliated accounts calling for violence against Zionists to barring students wearing a Magen David at the door from an event. I applied to staff as someone who can rock on the bass, has a family background in Hip-Hop, and knows that music is an amazing art form that brings people together. I believe that their directive to exclude Zionists was a thin veil to discriminate against Jews, as evinced by the fact that every student who identified as Jewish in their applications was denied.”
Verdugo told Ha’Am in response to the allegations in the petition: “The Cultural Affairs Commission (CAC) is an organization that has historically, and continuously, stood with marginalized and vulnerable populations. As such we do not tolerate or endorse hateful rhetoric or actions of any kind from the world, the university, and especially our staff members. As CAC aims to continue being an organization that fights for the protections and inclusion of marginalized, we will continue to hold our staff to a standard that puts the safety and needs of the communities we serve first.” The Ha’Am report noted that Verdugo did not respond to their follow-up questions on asking why Zionism was included in a list of “bigoted and hateful ideologies” and if they consider “Jewish students to be a group you serve to uplift.”
“At UCLA Cultural Affairs, Jewish students were allegedly rejected for ‘Zionist ties’ — code for being Jewish,” the Jewish Faculty Resilience Group at UCLA posted on X. “Zionism is simply about Jewish self-determination. Twisting it into a slur to exclude Jews is antisemitism.”
At UCLA Cultural Affairs, Jewish students were allegedly rejected for ‘Zionist ties’—code for being Jewish. Zionism is simply about Jewish self-determination. Twisting it into a slur to exclude Jews is antisemitism.https://t.co/ILOXI0c25J via @anteksiler
— Jewish Faculty at UCLA🇮🇱🇺🇸🎗️ (@JFrgatUCLA) November 28, 2024
Judea Pearl, Chancellor’s professor of computer science at UCLA, National Academy of Sciences member and president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, posted on X that the CAC’s purported hiring policy excluding Zionists is “the most racist document I’ve seen through my 55 years at UCLA” and that “it ought to be fought aggressively, not through useless EDI channels, but through the California Legislature.”
The most racist document I've seen through my 55 years at UCLA (CAC’s hiring policies): “We reserve the right to remove any staff member who dispels antiBlackness, colorism, racism, white supremacy, zionism, xenophobia". homophobia, transphobia, sexism, misogyny, ableism, and… https://t.co/BbMPlatea2
— Judea Pearl (@yudapearl) November 28, 2024
UCLA Hillel Executive Director Dan Gold said in a statement to the Journal, “Hillel at UCLA leadership is currently reviewing the evidence and the details outlined in this petition, but we are appalled that UCLA student leaders would once again openly discriminate against Jewish students. We have been sounding the alarm for months about the hate spewed on social media and in their activism, but these text messages, if validated as real, illustrate just how brazenly anti-Jewish hate is expressed unchecked at UCLA. We can see clearly how it can discriminate against Jewish students. This must end – students and faculty must be held accountable for their hateful and discriminatory actions against Jewish Bruins.”
UCLA and Verdugo did not immediately respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
UPDATE: The university said in a statement to the Journal, “UCLA unequivocally condemns discrimination in all forms. We are actively reviewing this complaint as it is absolutely critical that every single member of our community is evaluated fairly for opportunities within student government.”
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