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The University of California, Los Angeles has been accused of blocking a conservative author from speaking at a Young America’s Foundation (YAF) event on campus last month.

On May 15, the UCLA YAF chapter was scheduled to welcome Robert Spencer, the founder of Jihad Watch, at the UCLA Bruin Viewpoint Room, seen on YAF’s Instagram. The event was titled: “Why Everything You Know About Palestine is Wrong.”

(RELATED: Threatening Lawsuit, YAF Forces UW-La Crosse to Remove Mandatory DEI Reporting)

A project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Jihad Watch is a website “dedicated to drawing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology play in the modern world and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern conflicts “.

In his Instagram post about the event, YAF wrote: “Unfortunately, @ucla stifled our First Amendment rights and canceled our talk earlier today with Robert Spencer. »

YAF further claimed in a press release that the school canceled the event after coming “under increasing pressure from pro-Hamas radicals on campus who have been staging violent protests and camping for weeks.”

“Robert Spencer, Young America’s Foundation speaker and counter-Jihad expert, was scheduled to take the stage at 6 p.m. However, the YAF advance team discovered that the doors to the room from Bruin’s viewpoint were locked. After contacting university officials, YAF was informed that the event would need to be moved to a remote, low-traffic location – an unacceptable last-minute change that would have had a significant impact on attendance and impact. the event,” noted the conservative organization.

This incident occurred after “UCLA administrators blocked the approval process in a clear attempt to ensure that the event would not take place,” YAF claimed.

Matthew Weinberg, president of UCLA’s YAF chapter, said, “I am deeply disappointed by UCLA’s failure to protect our First Amendment rights. All we wanted was a successful pro-Israel event where people from all backgrounds and viewpoints could engage in a free exchange of ideas and here with a different perspective that is not heard on college campuses, and the school made that impossible.

“This is just an act of pure cowardice,” he concluded.

Commenting on the cancellation, Spencer said, “UCLA and other universities today are not institutions of higher learning; they are radioactive wastelands of hard left indoctrination,” according to the press release.

(RELATED: YAF defeats UW Madison’s attempt to cancel Michael Knowles event by charging exorbitant security fees)

Following the event, YAF President, former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, wrote on yaf in a room that has been reserved in advance. This is a violation of their constitutional rights. We have beaten the UC system before and we will do it again. See you soon in court!

Campus reform has contacted UCLA for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.