The Goldwater Institute filed the lawsuit that claims the university is "hiding records of radical activists." The lawsuit was filed in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County.
For months now, the institute has specifically requested records relating to the teaching materials and compensation of Lisa "Tiny" Gray-Garcia, one of its activists-in-residence and a self-described "poverty scholar" and "revolutionary journalist."
“Activist-in-Residence” is a taxpayer-funded program that brings radicals or self-described “revolutionaries” onto campus for the purpose of teaching students and developing social programs.
Goldwater originally asked for the records to understand exactly what these residents are teaching students and how much they are being paid, which UCLA failed to do.
Attorney Bradley Benbrook, a member of Goldwater's pro bono American Freedom Network, said government records should be made available under the California Public Records Act and the California Constitution.
"UCLA has just kicked the can down the road repeatedly, saying it expects to produce in 30 days. And 30 days comes up, and it will send a new notice saying look for documents in 30 days. But after a certain period of time, it has become apparent that we need to file the lawsuit," Benbrook tells AFN.
A press release from Goldwater includes comments from Gray-Garcia over the years. For example, Goldwater said Gray-Garcia has claimed that Pacific Palisades in Southern California is "Stolen Land" that's "Occupied" by "hoarders." Gray-Garcia also derided Israel and Zionism, claiming that Palestinians have been incarcerated in their homeland since the "Occupation of Israel." Gray-Garcia also called the University of California, San Francisco, a "Zionist funded akkkademik institution."
UCLA has not commented on the lawsuit.
"We're not saying that Gray-Garcia doesn't have a First Amendment right to say pretty much whatever she wants along the lines that she has. To the contrary, the First Amendment protects her speech," Benbrook states.
What they are saying, he says, is that the California Public Records Act provides the public with the right to know and receive public records that UCLA possess.
"That show, for example, how much money UCLA is paying her to engage in, to teach kids about her poverty scholarship and other theories,” Benbrook says. “And we're also entitled under the Public Records Act to get records showing the material she gives her students."
