The Trump administration announced it is suing the University of California, Los Angeles, for allegedly showing “deliberate indifference” to discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students on campus, particularly during anti-Israel protests at the school in 2024.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by the U.S. Department of Justice, alleges violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination based on race and national origin at federally funded institutions.
“Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment,” Harmeet Dhillon, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, stated. “Now, the Department of Justice calls UCLA to account for its toleration of the equally appalling hostile educational environment against its Jewish and Israeli students.”
The complaint centers on the anti-Israel encampment erected outside the public university’s Royce Hall in April 2024 amid nationwide campus protests following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza. According to the suit, Jewish and Israeli students were blocked from accessing parts of campus, including classrooms and libraries, and some were assaulted with sticks and pepper spray.
“Although UCLA knew that its Jewish and Israeli students risked physical assault when attempting to go to class or the library, UCLA inexplicably took no serious action whatsoever” until police cleared the encampment, with a violent response from demonstrators, nearly two weeks after its formation, the lawsuit states.
The suit also cites findings from UCLA’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias, which concluded that university leadership allowed the encampment and restrictions on campus access to continue.
“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” stated Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. “Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.”
The lawsuit further accuses UCLA of falsely certifying compliance with federal civil-rights law while accepting federal funding, while Jewish and Israeli students were continuing to be subject to discrimination.
The suit follows a separate Justice Department lawsuit filed in February, accusing UCLA of permitting an antisemitic, hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
In 2025, UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who accused the university of failing to protect them from harassment during the protests.
Following the February lawsuit, UCLA stated that it has taken “concrete and significant steps” to strengthen campus security and combat antisemitism by enforcing its policies and creating an office of campus and community safety.
UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk, the son and grandson of Holocaust survivors, announced a campus initiative to combat antisemitism and anti-Israel bias shortly after taking office in March 2025.
