UCLA Rebukes Law School Over Invitation for 9/11 Panel

UCLA's chancellor has called out its law school for hosting a lawyer for the man accused of plotting 9/11 at an anniversary discussion. In a sharp statement, Chancellor Julio Frenk said the university "rejects antisemitism and terrorism in all their forms," the Los Angeles Times reports. Frenk stressed that the "25 Years After 9/11" symposium at the law school was not endorsed by the university, though it was organized by five of its official centers.

The two-day symposium examined US policies after the attacks, including torture, rendition, detention, immigration enforcement, and surveillance, and criticized what it called expanded state power. The disputes centered on panelist Melanie T. Partow, who has represented Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at Guantanamo Bay, and on event language describing Israel's war in Gaza as "genocide," a term disputed by Israel and many Jewish leaders. Judea Pearl, a UCLA professor and father of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl—whose killing Mohammed has said he orchestrated—said he was ashamed of UCLA.