The US Justice Department on Tuesday accused the University of California (UCLA) of not doing enough to protect Jewish and Israeli students from ongoing harassment since the start of the Israel-Gaza war. Officials said the university allowed a hostile environment to grow without taking proper action.
Federal officials say UCLA violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by standing by as students faced “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment” since protests erupted in October 2023.
“UCLA failed to take timely and appropriate action in response to credible claims of harm and hostility,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. “That’s a clear violation of federal civil rights law.”
In a scathing Notice of Violation, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division said UCLA acted with “deliberate indifference” and failed to respond meaningfully to repeated complaints from Jewish and Israeli students, who said they were targeted for their identity.
“This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk.”
While UCLA hasn’t publicly responded yet, the finding puts the university at risk of losing federal funding if it doesn’t take corrective steps.
The report paints a picture of growing anti-Semitic hostility on campus — from verbal abuse and intimidation to exclusion from student spaces. It also suggests UCLA officials were slow to act, even as tensions escalated after the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s military response in Gaza.
The US government has been probing multiple universities for their handling of last year’s pro-Palestinian protests against Israel’s military assault in Gaza, which followed an October 2023 Hamas attack.
Earlier on Tuesday, UCLA agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle a lawsuit brought by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitic discrimination, according to Reuters. Concerns about anti-Palestinian incidents surfaced in spring 2024, when a pro-Israel group attacked a pro-Palestinian protest camp with clubs and poles — one of the most violent episodes of the campus unrest.
Last week, Columbia University in New York City said it will pay over $200 million to the US government in a settlement with the Trump administration to resolve federal probes and have most of its suspended federal funding restored.
– Ends
