The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the University of California on Tuesday accusing UCLA of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli employees from a “hostile work environment.”
Pam Bondi, the U.S. attorney general, stated that administrators at the public school “allegedly allowed virulent antisemitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike.”
“Today’s lawsuit underscores that this Department of Justice stands strong against hate and antisemitism in all its vile forms,” she said of the suit, which the department filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The suit states that UCLA “turned a blind eye to, and at times facilitated, grossly antisemitic acts and systematically ignored cries for help from its own terrified Jewish and Israeli employees” after Oct. 7.
It accuses the school of not enforcing time, place and manner restrictions against anti-Israel protesters, including in the case of an encampment that was allowed to remain on campus for a week during spring 2024.
Members of the encampment barred access to anyone “wearing yarmulkes or Jewish stars and anyone refusing to denounce Zionism,” and at least two Jewish employees at the university were assaulted, per the suit.
When the encampment was cleared, 96 students were arrested for refusing to leave, 92 of whom were not disciplined provided that they agreed to follow the university’s student code of conduct moving forward, the suit states. It’s unknown what happened to the remaining four students, according to the federal lawsuit.
Last year, the university removed the Students for Justice in Palestine chapter’s status as a registered student organization and suspended the Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine chapter for four years after students affiliated with both chapters vandalized the home of Jonathan “Jay” Sures, a Jewish University of California regent, and harassed him and his family outside of his house, according to the suit.
Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine chapters continue to hold events on campus, and the public school hasn’t disciplined anyone over those events, the suit states.
Since the Justice Department informed the school of its investigation, “not a single one of the dozens of civil-rights complaints filed by Jewish and Israeli employees since Oct. 7 was properly investigated,” said the department.
‘A mark of shame’
Professor Ian Holloway experienced antisemitic harassment on campus after signing a letter in November 2023 urging UCLA to condemn Oct. 7 and to hold anyone accountable for inciting violence. As a result of the harassment, Holloway transferred from the university’s public affairs school, where he served in administrative roles for around 10 years, to its nursing school, which “negatively impacted his career advancement,” according to the lawsuit.
Holloway filed multiple complaints to the university about the alleged harassment, but none were addressed properly, the suit states.
Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, stated that under Julio Frenk, UCLA chancellor, the school “has taken concrete and significant steps to strengthen campus safety, enforce policies and combat antisemitism in a systemic and sustained manner.”
That includes enhancing time, place and manner restrictions, reorganizing the university’s office of civil rights and hiring an associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, she said.
“These ongoing and long-standing institutional efforts, including clear expectations and a commitment to enforcement, are working,” Osako stated. “We stand firmly by the decisive actions we have taken to combat antisemitism in all its forms, and we will vigorously defend our efforts and our unwavering commitment to providing a safe, inclusive environment for all members of our community.”
UCLA reached a $6.45 million settlement with Jewish students in July 2025. The following month, the University of California system said that the Trump administration offered to settle a probe of alleged Jew-hatred for $1 billion, which it said would “completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system, as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians.”
“The litany of vile acts of antisemitism that allegedly took place and continue to take place at UCLA are, if found to be true, a mark of shame against the University of California,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, on Tuesday. “The Justice Department will ensure that UCLA maintains an environment for its employees free from antisemitic harassment.”
