UCLA Leader Chided for Discriminatory Action Receives Jewish Award

Milan Chatterjee from Littleton, Colorado LMAO! Earned a doctorate in law from NYU?
The moron received an award for unusual courage and “moral clarity” from AJC and an article
in The Forward titled: Meet the Pro-Israel Student Leader Who Fled UCLA After Feud With BDS ‘Bullies’.

DPO investigation finds that Milan Chatterjee violated UCLA policy

The Diversity Caucus, which connects student groups to promote diversity, and Students for Justice in Palestine filed a complaint to the DPO against Chatterjee on Feb. 29 for placing a stipulation on a Diversity Caucus event’s funding.

UCLA spokesperson Ricardo Vazquez said in an email statement that Chatterjee violated policy by making funding dependent on whether groups supporting divestment from Israel were involved in the event. The investigation included interviews and reviews of meeting minutes, email correspondence and other documents.

University policy requires financial allocations to be made without regard to the viewpoint of any registered campus organizations. It also requires student governments to follow viewpoint-neutral criteria when reallocating mandatory campus-based student fees.

Chatterjee granted the Diversity Caucus $2,000 for their November town hall meeting on Oct. 16, but threatened to rescind the funding if organizations related to Divest from Israel were involved in the hosting of the event.

SJP contacted three legal groups that issued a letter in November stating Chatterjee violated students’ first amendment rights with the stipulation.

The three groups that sent the letter – Palestine Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights – said they believe that restricting funding based on student groups’ political stances violates the groups’ First Amendment rights.

Chatterjee said if SJP is a registered Graduate Student Organizations, Leadership and Engagement organization, the group would have equal and fair access to GSA funding through the Discretionary Fund. He declined to address the concerns raised by the three legal groups.

Chatterjee said he knew SJP would have a table at the event, and expressed to the Diversity Caucus that the tabling would not be a problem. He said he emphasized to the Diversity Caucus that GSA would not support groups leaning toward one side.

“SJP never informed GSA about their concerns regarding our funding to the town hall,” Chatterjee said in an email statement. “I’m very disappointed that instead of resolving any concerns in a productive and straightforward manner, SJP chose to back channel and take it to the extreme.”

He added GSA has been supportive to SJP in the past and held meetings with GSA and SJP leaders. He said GSA also connected the group to UC Student Regent Avi Oved.

The GSA passed a resolution in February that mandates all future funding decisions will not take viewpoints into account.

Members of the GSA forum also created a subcommittee to investigate Chatterjee’s actions, but it dissolved when they were unable reach a consensus about how to evaluate the president’s actions. The subcommittee accused Chatterjee of violating professional conduct by sending retaliatory emails, misusing GSA resources and acting outside the authority of the presidency and cabinet to create policy and make funding decisions.

In a special forum in April, GSA found Chatterjee guilty of violating the GSA code and constitution with a 12-3-5 vote and decided to draft a letter of censure. The letter stated the forum disapproved of Chatterjee’s actions, but did not find cause to remove him from office.