UCLA Hillel Director Rabbi Chaim Seidler-Feller will head to court today to meet with a court officer who will attempt to resolve an ongoing conflict between the rabbi and freelance journalist Rachel Neuwirth.
The hearing was scheduled by the district attorney following investigation of an incident that occurred between the two parties on Oct. 21.
According to police reports, Seidler-Feller allegedly kicked the journalist while both were outside Royce Hall following a presentation by Harvard Law professor and author Alan Dershowitz.
Witnesses said Neuwirth called Seidler-Feller a “capo” at some point during the altercation. “Capo” is a derogatory term for Jews who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
During the meeting, Seidler-Feller and Neuwirth will meet separately with a hearing officer. The officer will listen to each person’s account of what occurred and will subsequently recommend some sort of action to the court.
The officer could recommend to either party a resolution such as counseling or anger management therapy, said district attorney spokesman Eric Moses.
The district attorney decided not to press criminal charges against Seidler-Feller about a week after the incident, but the hearing officer could also ask the case to be sent back to the D.A. for further review.
Moses said there is no timetable on the officer’s recommendation.
Donald Etra, Seidler-Feller’s lawyer, said that in the “most intelligent scenario” for this case, “both parties will shake hands, make up and cease their current disputes.”
Etra added that he believes the D.A.’s decision to decline prosecution was “absolutely correct” because “this is an incident Ms. Neuwirth is trying to blow way out of proportion.”
Douglas Graham, senior law clerk at the office of Robert Esensten, Neuwirth’s lawyer, said the proper outcome for the hearing would be for the renewal of criminal charges against Seidler-Feller.
“The most favorable outcome for her with this hearing is if they charge the guy with the crime, which is what he committed,” Graham said.
“An anger management course isn’t going to mitigate what’s already happened,” he added.
In a development unrelated to the D.A. hearing today, Neuwirth filed civil charges last week against Seidler-Feller for civil battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Neuwirth also filed suit against Hillel for “negligent retention” of the rabbi, arguing that the Jewish campus organization knew of Seidler-Feller’s “well-documented history of bizarre, volatile confrontation and violent behavior,” according to the official complaint.
The preliminary conference for the civil suit is scheduled to take place March 1.