UCLA, where all the antisemites go

OPINION:

The University of California, Los Angeles, just agreed to pay $6.45 million to settle a lawsuit over a “Jew Exclusion Zone” that was established during the school’s recent heydays of antisemitic protests, and further, to “enhance campus safety” so that Jewish students might feel safer on campus, according to the vie chancellor for strategic communications.

Bravo, UCLA. Who knew you couldn’t set up no-go zones for Jews — right? (Insert sarcastic tone here.)

It’s what U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said about UCLA that was most damning: “Our investigation into the University of California system has found concerning evidence of systemic antisemitism at UCLA that demands severe accountability from the institution,” she said, JNS.org wrote.

“This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand. DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system,” Bondi said.

Disgusting is right.

In fact, disgusting might very well be an understatement.

Here’s what the Justice Department discovered, on the heels of numerous complaints about and investigations into the UCLA campus atmosphere: University officials didn’t completely ignore complaints. But they might as well have.

“[Jewish and Israeli students] were subjected to severe, pervasive and objectively offensive harassment that created a hostile environment by members of the [protest] encampment [including being] assaulted, verbally harassed and physically prevented from accessing parts of the UCLA campus,” the DOJ wrote in a letter to UCLA officials.

No-go zones for Jews.

Brilliant. (Insert sarcastic tone here.)

So what did UCLA officials do when they learned of this tragic treatment of Jewish and Israeli students?

Nada.

“The university took no meaningful action to eliminate the hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students caused by the encampment until it was disbanded on the morning of May 2,” the Justice Department wrote in the letter.

So the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty sued, accusing UCLA officials of “aiding and abetting” a culture of antisemitism, specifically when they allowed anti-Israel protesters to prevent Jewish students from “accessing the heart of campus,” as Fox News reported, citing lawsuit documents.

There’s that no-go zone again.

Cha-ching for the victims.

But really, $6 million for such an egregious — an obviously egregious — offense is a pittance. The settlement should’ve been 10 times that amount — 20 times that amount.

Settlement aside, if UCLA has to be told that it’s unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional or even immoral to foster a climate of segregating Jews, then it’s painfully evident that this university is not so much a place of learning as a breeding ground for ignorance and evil. Those who aren’t antisemites need not apply.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “God-Given Or Bust: Defeating Marxism and Saving America With Biblical Truths,” is available by clicking HERE.