The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today warned that new recommendations from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)’s “Initiative to Combat Antisemitism Action Group Report” risk further chilling free speech and advocacy on campus.
CAIR-LA also reiterated its call on the university to equally implement recommendations by UCLA’s Taskforce on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab, & Anti-Muslim Racism to protect Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and faculty and their allies.
The new report recommends the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s definition of antisemitism, which has been widely criticized, including by its own author, for its misuse in academic settings to conflate legitimate criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism and silence free speech and expression on college campuses.
The report also encourages instructors to “avoid intrusive political, religious, personal, or other material unrelated to course learning objectives.” As written, the initiative could impose vague and subjective standards on which topics can be discussed in the classroom, risking chilling speech by inviting politicized complaints.
In a statement, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said:
“No student should face discrimination because of their religion or background, and we wholeheartedly support increased efforts to protect all students, including Jewish students, on campus. At the same time, UCLA must not use a flawed antisemitism framework as a vehicle to suppress constitutionally protected activity or speech—including legitimate criticism of the state of Israel and its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“UCLA has a long history of targeting lawful student speech and activism on campus. It has failed time and again to take actionable steps to protect its Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students and faculty. It has also largely ignored the findings of its own Taskforce on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab, & Anti-Muslim Racism, which documents discrimination and violence directed at anyone—including Jewish students—who expresses anti-genocide viewpoints. The endorsement of one group’s recommendations over the other further signals to Muslim and Palestinian students that their safety on campus is not a priority to university leadership.
“We strongly urge UCLA to implement policies that protect the safety of all its students equally, while also ensuring that such policies do not erode their constitutionally protected free speech rights.”
SEE ALSO:
- CAIR-LA Condemns UCLA’s Ongoing Criminalization of Pro-Palestine, Anti-Genocide Speech on Campus
- CAIR-LA, Partners Demand Accountability for Assault on UCLA Pro-Palestinian Protesters and End to Crackdown on Student Speech
The UCLA Taskforce on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab, & Anti-Muslim Racism has issued three reports outlining the pattern of targeted discrimination and harassment of UCLA students and faculty speaking on Palestine. It offered several recommendations, which UCLA has reportedly ignored.
In August 2024, CAIR and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee designated UCLA as an “institution of particular concern” due to its complicity in the creation of a hostile campus environment for Palestinian, Muslim, Arab, and Jewish students, staff, and faculty opposing Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Last year, CAIR released its 2025 Civil Rights Report, which reveals that Islamophobia continues to be at an all-time high across the country. CAIR said viewpoint discrimination against those speaking out against genocide and apartheid was a key factor in many cases.
CAIR-LA is Southern California’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice and empower American Muslims.
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CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Manager Enjy El-Kadi, (714) 851-4851 or eelkadi@cair.com; CAIR-LA Senior Communications Coordinator Madi Hameed, mmorse-hameed@cair.com