If you’re a public university administrator at an institution which was just ordered by a federal judge to not “knowingly allow or facilitat[e] the exclusion of Jewish students from ordinarily available portions” of the school’s programs, facilities, and activities, and which was just accused in a separate lawsuit of violating its students’ First Amendment rights by blocking a student organization-sponsored speech entitled, “Everything You Know About Palestine Is Wrong,” you’d probably pause for a beat or two before placing all manner of roadblocks in the path of that same organization related to a planned campus speech by a famous Jewish commentator.
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But for some reason, UCLA administrators still think they can get away with placing restrictions on Young America’s Foundation’s planned October 21 on-campus event featuring Ben Shapiro.
Back in May, 2024, administrators bent a knee to the pro-Hamas rage mobs who demanded that Robert Spencer not be allowed to speak on campus at a YAF-sponsored event because his views don’t align with theirs by moving the speech to an outer-campus computer science hall at the last moment. As Susie covered last week, YAF filed a federal lawsuit as a result, and in that complaint asked for a preliminary injunction to prevent the university from “engaging in viewpoint discrimination” while that suit goes forward – specifically mentioning the planned Ben Shapiro event.
Now, just days before the event, UCLA bureaucrats are getting in the way again, coming up with various restrictions related to ticketing, security, and other aspects of the event. YAF at UCLA organizers have been advertising the event and set up an Eventbrite page for people to acquire tickets, which are free. But now, five days before the event, administrators forced YAF to shut that down, invalidate the tickets, and redirect attendees to UCLA’s central ticketing office to obtain tickets.
As of press time, though, the Eventbrite site is down but UCLA’s central ticketing office doesn’t have a link for the event, and more than a dozen attendees who spoke to RedState were confused about what was happening with the event, if it was really occurring, or how to get tickets.
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With UCLA overseeing the ticketing, there’s no way for YAF to know ahead of time if people who are known agitators or security threats are registering, or what efforts are being made to ensure that a bunch of lefties don’t gobble up the 1,200 available tickets then no-show the free event. One strategy YAF has successfully employed at other large campus events is to have a standby line, so when people don’t show up or when lefties stage a walkout, those who actually want to participate in the event can be allowed in.
YAF has asked UCLA administrators for permission to have a standby line but UCLA has so far refused, citing the vague new “major events” policy it enacted in September 2024, arguably to grant administrators the ability to shut down events in which unpopular viewpoints would be expressed – and over which they’re being sued.
In a letter to UCLA administrators from YAF’s attorneys, obtained by RedState, they explain:
“When pressed, UCLA has not stated any reason whatsoever for this unreasonable stance, other than to cite to its own policy number 862, which simply states that for “major events,” (i.e., events presenting disfavored points of view that may result in counter-protests), “[n]o standby line will be allowed unless advance approval [is] provided by UCLA Fire Department and with limited standby Tickets offered,” without providing any justification for this limitation or explanation as to why approval has not been given in this particular case.”
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They further state:
Given UCLA’s past conduct discriminating against the expression of conservative and pro-Israel points of view…it is clear that the refusal to approve the use of the standby line procedure exacerbates the unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination that UCLA engages in. Moreover, UCLA owes a constitutional duty to impose only reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on speech. There is nothing reasonable about UCLA’s refusal to approve a procedure that has been used by all of its peers in the university community to great effect, and without any appreciable harm to any university’s interests.
YAF is giving UCLA until close of business on Thursday, October 17, to agree to the use of a standby line or “YAF may be forced to seek immediate relief from the court.”
Spencer Brown, YAF’s Director of Communications, told RedState:
“UCLA has shown itself willing to unlawfully discriminate against conservative and pro-Israel expression already, actions for which Young America’s Foundation has sued UCLA. Such unconstitutional viewpoint-discriminatory behavior makes it all the more concerning that administrators are now levying unreasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on YAF’s upcoming campus lecture with Ben Shapiro. UCLA must follow the Constitution, approve this procedure used by all of its peers in the university community, and ensure that a heckler’s veto does not interfere with YAF students’ expression as it was last semester.”
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And if UCLA doesn’t decide to get out of the way and allow true freedom of expression on its campus, YAF won’t be backing down. Brown added:
“YAF will amend its initial complaint if UCLA continues its pattern of unconstitutional discrimination against conservative students this semester.”
RedState will provide updates as they become available, and will be at UCLA covering Shapiro’s speech on Monday.
Read the full letter here.
Letter from YAF to UCLA regarding Ben Shapiro event by Jennifer Van Laar on Scribd