UCLA medical school's 'structural racism' class featured 'quite disturbing' prayer to pagan god: Witness

A mandatory "structural racism" class at The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA led a prayer to Mother Earth, which disturbed some who attended the lecture. 

The UCLA Jewish Faculty Resilience Group spoke to numerous witnesses from the lecture and penned a letter to the administration Friday, calling for an "urgent and thorough external review" of its curriculum to put an end to "political indoctrination." 

"We write to bring to your attention disturbing events that unfolded two days ago on the UCLA campus… based on the first-hand eyewitness reports presented to us by multiple first-year students," the letter, signed by Professors Kira Stein and Elina Veytsman from the medical center as well as David Mimmer from the law school, said. 

The letter went on to describe that an invited speaker "instructed students to touch the floor, 'mama earth with a fist' while she made a 'non-secular' prayer to ‘mama earth’ and our ‘ancestors,'" the letter said. 

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The end of the class featured an additional prayer to the pagan deity, this time asking them to stand up. According to the faculty's letter, the speaker "instructed students to get out of their seats and stand upright with her for a closing prayer, once again to ‘mama earth’ and the ‘ancestors.’ Of those gathered, a handful of students who were visibly uncomfortable declined to participate, remaining seated throughout."

A witness of the event who spoke to Fox News Digital on the condition of anonymity described experiencing intense feelings about the "idolatry."

"I was very deeply offended and disgusted," the witness said. 

"She starts with like ‘Thank you, Creator. Thank you for this day of life.’ And then she starts praying to like the spirits mom and stuff," the witness said. "It was crazy."

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The witness went on to say the speaker asked the class to get on to the floor to participate in the prayer. 

"It's quite disturbing but also hilarious, actually," the witness said. 

The witness – who has monotheistic religious beliefs – said the presentation to "pagan gods" made for an uncomfortable situation. 

"I think even probably all students who stood up there [during the prayer], a good number felt unsettled regardless of your religious persuasion," the witness said. "I think a lot of students have the sense that this is weird or out of place." 

UCLA began implementing a new curriculum called HEALS in 2020. The entire first year of medical school has a particular focus on "Structural Racism and Health Equity." The curriculum was "redesigned" "to empower students to become physicians committed to… advocac[y] and humanistic care."

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"Diversity isn't a buzzword. It’s a requirement to treat our communities with clinical excellence. Our community is made up of talented leaders who care deeply and work to impact the world for good. We have a collective commitment to combat structural racism. That commitment spans healthcare, education, and our society at large," UCLA says about the equity classes. 

The invited speaker also chanted for Palestinians, the UCLA letter alleged, sparking accusations of antisemitism from the professors. 

Elan Carr, the former Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism under the Trump administration, responded to the incident. He called the class "indoctrination." 

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"Many universities have become intolerable places for Jews," he said on X, referring to the pro-Palestinian element of the presentation. "Here is yet one more example of the vile, poisonous indoctrination to which students are forced to submit, this time ⁦at UCLA⁩ Medical School." 

Fox News Digital contacted UCLA for comment and did not immediately receive a response.