A court officer heard both sides of the story Tuesday from Rabbi
Chaim Seidler-Feller and journalist Rachel Neuwirth regarding an
incident when the UCLA Hillel director allegedly kicked Neuwirth
after an on-campus presentation in October.
City attorney spokesman Eric Moses said no final decision or
recommendation was made, and there is no timetable on the
officer’s decision. Moses also said the hearings were delayed
from Monday due to a scheduling conflict.
Each party was given a separate hearing with the court officer;
they were asked factual questions about what occurred during the
incident, and testimony from witnesses were offered to the
court.
Donald Etra, Seidler-Feller’s attorney, said the rabbi
presented a variety of witnesses during his party’s 90-minute
hearing, all of whom were “explicit that it was Ms. Neuwirth
who accosted the rabbi.”
One witness was UCLA history Professor David Myers, long-time
friend of Seidler-Feller and former director of the Center for
Jewish Studies at UCLA.
Etra said Myers testified about other incidents of Neuwirth
“aggressively provoking” and baiting the rabbi.
“He’s been, as far as I’m concerned, an
enormously positive presence for Jewish students and faculty here
on campus,” Myers said in an October interview following the
incident.
Etra said Seidler-Feller also brought an eyewitness to the
incident and three “character witnesses,” including a
professor of neurology at UCLA who spoke of Seidler-Feller’s
“impeccable reputation” as a “respected
teacher.”
Neuwirth did not present any live witnesses at her hearing but
did submit recorded witness statements, according to Robert
Esensten, Neuwirth’s attorney.
When asked what the best result of the hearing would be,
Esensten said simply, “There isn’t one.”
“Unfortunately, what occurred to her has had a lasting
affect, and the city attorney’s office cannot change
that,” Esensten said.
Police reports of the incident state the two were outside Royce
Hall on Oct. 21 after a lecture by Harvard law Professor Alan
Dershowitz when a confrontation ensued and Seidler-Feller kicked
Neuwirth.
Eyewitnesses said Neuwirth called the rabbi a term that refers
to to Jews who collaborated with Nazis during World War II, but
they were unclear whether the remark came before or after the
alleged kicking.
Etra said he expected a result from the city with the next
couple weeks.
The hearings were unrelated to a civil suit filed last week by
Neuwirth against Seidler-Feller for unspecified damages for civil
battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.