The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have announced the settlement of an ACLU lawsuit challenging a State grant of $5 million for the Center’s construction of a Museum of Tolerance on its Yeshiva University campus.
The ACLU filed the lawsuit last October in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of David and Rosetta Cohen contending that the grant violated the State’s mandated separation of church and state. The grant was approved by the State Legislature and signed into law by Governor George Deukmejian last July.
The settlement was announed last week at a news conference at the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. In a 12-page document outlining the terms of the settlement, the agreement asserted that the new building must be operated “in a non-sectarian manner” and its seminar rooms cannot be used for Yeshiva classes.
TERMS OF THE SETTLEMENT
Other terms of the settlement include a limitation on cross-participation by board members of the Center and the University, and that the Wiesenthal Center “shall make no loans, grants or other uncompensated transfers of its funds to (Yeshiva) or for scholarships to students attending” the Yeshiva.
The new building “will not be decorated with religious symbols,” the agreement stated. It also said that the title to the land on which the museum will be built is to be transferred from the Yeshiva to the Wiesenthal Center.
Wiesenthal Center officials said a major stumbling block in the protracted negotiations leading to the settlement was whether the Center would remain open on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. Agreement was finally reached which asserted that the museum will remain closed on these days, Center officials said.
In a statement, the Center said it “has always been committed to the constitutional doctrines which separate church and state. This agreement recognizes this while at the same time does not compromise in any ways the goals and independent nature of the Center’s agenda.”
Construction costs for the Museum of Tolerance are expected to reach $20 million. The Center has already raised about $17 million including the State grant. The museum will be an 80,000-square-foot, four-story complex with a 30,000-square-foot exhibit area, which will include space for permanent exhibits and for visiting exhibits. Construction is expected to begin soon, with an expected completion date set for the summer of 1987.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
