The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the University of California (UC) system, alleging that UCLA allowed a hostile and discriminatory environment for Jewish and Israeli employees and students — a pattern the federal government says has persisted since the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
According to the Desert Sun, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division filed the 81-page complaint Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleging the UC system violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating against staff based on race, religion, sex, color, or national origin.
The lawsuit focuses heavily on UCLA’s Westwood campus, where the DOJ says administrators failed to properly investigate dozens of civil rights complaints filed by Jewish and Israeli employees. The federal agency also alleges that some employees left their jobs, took leave, or chose to work from home to escape the hostile environment.
As reported by the Daily Bruin, the complaint cites UCLA’s 2024 Palestine solidarity encampment as a key example of the university’s failure to act. Pro-Palestinian protesters set up the encampment in Dickson Plaza to call for UC to divest from companies linked to the Israeli military. The DOJ alleges the encampment excluded Jewish people and featured antisemitic chants and posters, yet university leaders allowed it to continue for nearly a week before police moved in on May 2, 2024, arresting more than 200 people.
The complaint includes aerial photographs of the encampment, as well as images of graffiti spray-painted on Royce Hall’s walls. It also references Alicia Verdugo, who served as the UCLA Student Association’s Cultural Affairs commissioner from 2022 to 2025 and resigned amid allegations of deliberately rejecting Jewish applicants to the office.
The DOJ further alleges that UCLA’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion failed to investigate any complaints filed by Jewish and Israeli employees until the DOJ announced its own investigation in March 2025.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi did not mince words in a statement Tuesday. “Based on our investigation, UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent antisemitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike,” she said.
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, added: “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. The Justice Department will ensure that UCLA maintains an environment for its employees free from antisemitic harassment.”
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said: “UCLA failed to live up to its systemwide commitment to diversity and equal opportunity when it stood by as Jewish employees were subjected to harassment. The federal government has an obligation to step in and ensure a discrimination-free environment at our universities.”
UCLA pushed back firmly. Mary Osako, the university’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, said in a written statement that Chancellor Julio Frenk — who took over at the start of 2025 — has taken “concrete and significant steps to strengthen campus safety, enforce policies, and combat antisemitism in a systemic and sustained manner.”
Those steps include launching an Initiative to Combat Antisemitism, hiring a new campus safety leader, reorganizing the university’s civil rights office, overhauling public speech policies, and appointing an associate vice chancellor for Campus and Community Safety.
“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,” Osako said.
According to Higher Ed Dive, Tuesday’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of actions President Trump’s administration has taken against UCLA and the UC system. The federal government previously froze $584 million in UCLA research funding over civil rights allegations. A federal judge ruled that freeze unconstitutional in November, and the administration dropped its appeal of that ruling earlier this month.
The DOJ has also opened a separate investigation into the UC system over a faculty diversity hiring plan, alleging it may have violated federal antidiscrimination law.
The complaint asks the court to require the UC system to enter into an agreement preventing future discrimination against Jewish and Israeli employees, revise its antidiscrimination and antiretaliation policies, and award damages to affected employees. Some Democratic lawmakers and Jewish advocacy groups have argued that the Trump administration is using antisemitism allegations as a tool to assert control over higher education institutions.
No trial date has been set.
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