UCLA students offered extra credit to attend anti-Israel 'Emergency Teach-In' hosted by gender studies professor

On Wednesday, some UCLA students were offered the opportunity to get extra credit for attending a pro-Palestinian “anti-Israel, antisemitic lecture.”

A screenshot of an email from a graduate student to her class went viral on X that showed that a professor had canceled her class and had her students attend the teach-in instead.



Arielle Yael, the associate director of global programming for the Milken Institute, and a UCLA alumnus, posted on the platform, “UCLA students are being offered extra credit to attend an anti-Israel, antisemitic lecture today. This is a violation of these students rights and the very principle of academic integrity. Join me in calling upon @UCLASenate to investigate.” 

One of the screenshots showed an email stating “Dear all, I’d like to share another extra credit opportunity happening tomorrow, Wednesday, October 11th at 5 p.m. at Kaplan 193. It is an Emergency Teach-In on the Crisis in Palestine convened by Professor Saree Makdisi from English and Comparative Literature and Professor Sherene Razack from Gender Studies, both at UCLA. There is also an option to join by Zoom. I’ve attached the poster below.”

The teach-in was scheduled only days after Israel was invaded by Hamas terrorists who killed over a thousand people and injured thousands more.

The is signed by “Formosa.” According to The College Fix, there is a grad student by that name in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA.

A screenshot of another email addressed to students in an International Development Studies class was written by Professor Jennifer Chun, in which she stated that the teach-in was scheduled at the same time as her class and as such, “As a class, we will attend the teach-in instead.”

The teach-in was co-led by Professor Sharee Makdisi. According to his UCLA bio he “devotes substantial time and energy to defending the Palestinian people’s rights, and to exploring alternatives to what he calls ‘the now moribund two-state solution’ that will enable peace with justice for both Israelis and Palestinians.”

According to Canary Mission, Makdisi “is a leader within the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and advocates for a one-state solution, which has been exposed as a strategy to eliminate Israel as a Jewish state.”

The other professor, Sherene Razack, works for the school’s Department of Gender Studies and according to her faculty bio, she is focused on “racial violence” as a field of study. The College Fix noted that her book, “Nothing Has to Make Sense: Upholding White Supremacy through Anti-Muslim Racism,” takes a “critical race theory” approach, and “...demonstrates that anti-Muslim racism reveals white supremacy as a global force."

In a statement "correcting misinformation" obtained by The Post Millennial, UCLA did not deny the class occurred but still called it a "rumor"  because "...this extra credit was being offered if students attended any one of several campus events about the topic of political violence. Aligned with the Academic Senate’s academic policies, faculty can offer extra credit to attend campus events that are relevant to their course content. It is also important to note that in addition to informing students about this event, the TA also sent students information about an event hosted yesterday (Oct. 10) by The Promise Armenian Institute and The Promise Institute for Human Rights, as well as an upcoming event hosted by the Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies."