Westwood : Judge Bans Harassment

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Abby Soven has issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting harassment of UCLA faculty members at their homes and other disruptive activities by Last Chance for Animals, an anti-vivisection group opposed to the use of animals in scientific research.

The injunction, issued May 26, specifies that Last Chance for Animals and six of its leaders may not threaten, intimidate, harass or annoy UCLA faculty at their homes; break into or block UCLA facilities; interfere with or obstruct the teaching, research or other functions of the campus, or destroy any property belonging to the regents of the University of California.

UCLA spokesman Richard Elbaum said the group has broken into campus laboratories where research involving animal subjects has been under way and has harassed faculty members who are conducting research using animal subjects.

Christopher Rose, president of Last Chance for Animals, who was named in the injunction, said the ruling was “a direct infringement of our Constitutional rights” that “just goes to show the power of these institutions.”

“They can dictate their own law,” he said. “But in no way will this deter us. We will prevail.”

Rose acknowledged that his group had demonstrated at the homes of two UCLA health-sciences faculty members but denied the protesters acted inappropriately.

Campus officials said the research in question, which involves cats, could lead to greater understanding of how the brain functions and, in time, to more effective treatment of such neurological disorders as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and sudden infant death syndrome. The research is monitored by campus veterinarians and the university’s Animal Care and Use Committee, Elbaum said.