Antisemitic outbursts disrupt meeting of Jewish law students at Loyola

A meeting of the Jewish Law Students Association at Loyola Law School disintegrated into chaos and had to be ended early after a third-year student yelled antisemitic slurs, including calling a prominent professor a "Nazi," according to people in attendance.

Professor Laurie L. Levenson was one of four faculty members who attended the April 16 event that was disrupted repeatedly by protestors, some of whom had painted their hands red.

The Jewish Law Students Association had invited two American citizens who recently served in the Israeli military in Gaza to provide a counterpoint to statements about the war made at earlier protests on campus that they said were distorted or incorrect.

Several people who were there said the protesters staggered their outbursts to last throughout the event. They held up signs that equated the Israeli Defense Forces with the Ku Klux Klan. There was about 15 minutes of total chaos before the meeting was finally called to an end during which some students said they heard the slurs "kike" and "Nazi", and the term "white Jew" used as a slur. One protester demanded a student remove his kippa.

Grace Obi-Azuike, the third-year student who was heard by other students calling Levenson a Nazi, is seen in a clip circulating on social media appearing to yell: "Get the fuck out of here all you little ugly Jewish people." Students said the entire event was taped but that the school has not released the video.

"I grew up with antisemitism. The worst of it. But it was still such a shock to see it in our faces," said Abigail Nosrati, a first-year student.

Nosrati, whose family fled Iran, said protesters became particularly agitated when another student asked the speakers why so many liberal people in the West supported Iran following Iran's bombing of Israel two days earlier, even though Iran is ruled by an oppressive regime that persecutes women and gays and lesbians.

"I became villainized very quickly. People were saying I was spreading Israeli propaganda," Nosrati said.

Obi-Azuike called one of Nosrati's friends "Islamophobic" and continued her verbal attacks outside the event and then online. The school has now provided security personnel to escort Nosrati to class.

Obi-Azuike, who last year was given an anti-racism fellowship by a campus group, could not be reached for comment. She told the Los Angeles Loyolan, the campus newspaper for the university, that it was her who was subject to racist taunts during the event.

"They start calling me a Black bitch. They start calling me the N-word, they start barking at me, they start calling me an animal," she said.

She also told the newspaper that since the video clip of her went viral she has received threatening messages and has had to continue her coursework online for safety.

"People were harassing me, threatening me, leaving comments on my picture calling me the N-word," she said, adding that her family members have also received online abuse.

The school's response to the protest and its aftermath has been muted and disappointing, according to some people at the school and prominent alumni. A statement by the school immediately after the event denounced all forms of hatred. On April 18, following complaints, the school issued a more full-throated denouncement of antisemitism.

"During an April 16 event planned by the Jewish Law Students Association, community members were subjected to antisemitic insults. The law school rejects hateful rhetoric -- in this case, antisemitism leveled against members of the law school community. Antisemitism has no place on our campus or in our society," the Loyola statement read.

Loyola said in its statement that it would investigate the incident.

"While our investigation is underway, we have implemented interim safety measures on campus. We are also implementing procedures to prevent behavior that violates our code of conduct or is inconsistent with our mission and values. University leaders are engaging students, faculty, staff, and other community members to provide support and resources while they work toward a swift resolution," the statement concluded.

Interim Dean Brietta R. Clark did not respond to an email seeking comment. Late Friday, Clark issued another campuswide statement that acknowledged students had continued to be harassed and threatened following the event. She wrote that "Because of federal and state privacy laws pertaining to the confidentiality of student records, we cannot comment on an active investigation, nor should we prejudge its findings."

She urged everyone to "treat each other with a renewed sense of kindness and respect that exemplifies our community and our values. Now, more than ever, we need to be persons for and with others, finding unity in our pursuit of justice."

Associate Dean for Faculty Kevin Lapp, who attended the event to help keep calm, also did not respond to an email for comment.

Reached by phone, Levenson said: "I was present. It was an extremely troubling display of antisemitism, and a verbal attack. I appreciate that the university is conducting an investigation."

Professor Marcy Strauss, who was also yelled at during the event, did not respond to an email seeking comment. Professor David Glazier, who attended the event as an expert on the laws of war, also did not respond to an email.

Professor Stanley A. Goldman, an expert on genocide and whose mother was in a Nazi death camp and whose two older siblings died in the Holocaust, attended. He said the vitriol that took place that day was particularly shocking because the law school has not seen the type of protests that other campuses, including the main campus of Loyola, have experienced.

"I think law students are slightly less likely than undergraduates or even some other graduate schools [to engage in such behavior] because people are worried they might be referred to the bar and it might stop or hold up their careers," Goldman said.

He said he would also like to believe it is because law schools teach students "how to make rational arguments and listen to other sides."

Meanwhile, word of what happened in the event and the school's response to it have started to reach some of the alumni, many of them prominent lawyers in the Los Angeles legal community.

A group of lawyers from Stephen Wise Temple, many of whom are alumni, wrote a letter to Clark on April 24 urging her to do more to make Jewish students on campus feel safe. They said they also wanted to see a more full-throated condemnation of antisemitism from school officials.

"The student event at Loyola on April 16 was not disrupted because of Islamophobia or racism in general. It was disrupted by law students who hate Jews," they wrote. "The problem on April 16 was antisemitism not other forms of generic racism. When other minority groups are victims of racism, University administrators quite correctly call out the specific form of racism directed at those groups. They do not try to hide the problem by discussing unrelated other issues. When the victims of these kinds of slurs are Jewish, we often find this kind of generic, whitewashed response. We expect better from you."