US Justice Department sues UCLA alleging antisemitic educational environment

WASHINGTON, May 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against the University of California Los Angeles on Tuesday, alleging it tolerated a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.

In its complaint, the Justice Department accused UCLA of violating Title VI - a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance - "through its deliberate indifference to this pervasive on-campus antisemitism."

The lawsuit pointed to an encampment that was built on the university's campus in April 2024. The Justice Department described the move as illegal and alleged that Jewish students were attacked.

"Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students," said Bill Essayli, the 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."

UCLA REJECTS ALLEGATIONS

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk rejected the allegations, saying the university had taken concrete steps to combat antisemitism on campus.

"Let me be direct: the suggestion that UCLA has been passive in the face of antisemitism is simply wrong," Frenk said in a statement. "Combating antisemitism is a moral imperative — one rooted, for me, in personal history that makes indifference unthinkable."

Frenk said the university had recruited an associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, reorganized its civil rights office, appointed a Title VI officer and strengthened policies to protect free expression and campus safety.

Frenk had introduced a campus-wide initiative to combat antisemitism, which issued a report in May outlining a roadmap to address campus antisemitism and bigotry.

The university in February 2025 suspended two student groups, Students for Justice in Palestine and Graduate Students for Justice in Palestine, over their involvement in a protest at the home of University of California regent Jay Sures. The following month, the university recommended revoking SJP's status and suspending GSJP for four years.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CRACKDOWN ON ANTISEMITISM

The Justice Department announced the lawsuit shortly after a federal appeals court earlier on Tuesday partially upheld an injunction that required it to restore grants awarded to the University of California that the Trump administration had terminated last year because it perceived they supported diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.

The lawsuit is the latest legal action taken by the Trump administration to crack down on what it has described as antisemitism at U.S. universities in the wake of Hamas' October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.

The 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,200 people, launched the Israel-Gaza war. Over 75,000 people have died in the war.

Hundreds of students across the U.S. and Europe held demonstrations in the wake of the war, calling for a ceasefire to end the war. In some cases, students occupied campus buildings.