Photo: Alamy
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the University of California, Los Angeles, accusing the university of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitic harassment following the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
The complaint alleges UCLA violated federal civil rights laws by allowing what the administration described as a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students on campus.
The lawsuit marks the third legal action involving UCLA related to allegations concerning the treatment of Jewish students, faculty and staff.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the Justice Department is asking the court to require UCLA to repay federal grant funding dating back more than two years, prohibit the university from receiving new federal contracts until it complies with civil rights laws, and appoint an independent monitor to oversee the school’s civil rights practices.
The legal action follows a previous effort by the Trump administration to negotiate a reported $1 billion settlement with UCLA over its handling of antisemitic protests and incidents on campus.
Harmeet Dhillon said the administration believes UCLA failed to adequately respond to discrimination against Jewish students and employees.
“Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment,” Dhillon said in a statement.
“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,” she added.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, antisemitic hostility toward Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA allegedly escalated to the point that some students were assaulted, injured, shut out of parts of campus, and denied educational access because they were perceived as Jewish or Israeli. According to the federal complaint, UCLA violated Title VI by failing to adequately respond to widespread antisemitism on campus.
The complaint also alleges the university breached federal funding agreements by affirming compliance with anti-discrimination laws while permitting discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students to persist.
Tensions peaked in April 2024, according to the Justice Department, when masked protesters established an encampment outside Royce Hall. According to the complaint, Jewish and Israeli students were slapped, kicked, beaten with sticks, sprayed with pepper spray, and in some cases knocked unconscious.
The filing further alleges demonstrators created “human phalanxes” that physically blocked Jewish and Israeli students from accessing academic buildings.
