Justice Department sues UCLA again, alleging antisemitism against students
The Justice Department on Tuesday announced a second lawsuit against UCLA, accusing the university of deliberate indifference to a "hostile educational environment" against Jewish and Israeli students.
Citing 2024 campus demonstrations over the Israel-Palestine conflict, including an encampment in April 2024, the Justice Department lawsuit alleges that UCLA violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by "failing to protect its Jewish and Israeli students" from harassment from demonstrators.
"Let me be direct: the suggestion that UCLA has been passive in the face of antisemitism is simply wrong. Combating antisemitism is a moral imperative - one rooted, for me, in personal history that makes indifference unthinkable," UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a Tuesday statement provided to ABC News. "In the past year alone, we've taken numerous concrete actions to combat antisemitism. We recruited an associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety. We reorganized our Civil Rights Office. We appointed a Title VI officer. And we strengthened our policies to protect both free expression and the safety of every member of our community."
A university spokesperson also noted that on May 14, UCLA's Initiative to Combat Antisemitism released a report with the support of Frenk outlining a roadmap to address antisemitism and bigotry on campus.
In addition to seeking enjoinment of the university from "unlawful discrimination against and harassment of Jewish and Israeli students," the lawsuit is also seeking repayment of all federal grant payments made to UCLA during the time of its alleged noncompliance with Title VI.
"Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. 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."
Much of the federal complaint filed in February focused on the 2024 protest encampment that federal officials say blocked Jewish employees and students from parts of campus and included antisemitic signs and chants. One night, counterprotesters attacked the encampment, throwing traffic cones and firing pepper spray, with fighting that continued for hours, injuring more than a dozen people, before police stepped in. The next day, after hundreds defied orders to leave, more than 200 people were arrested.
