DOJ Sues UCLA: ‘Deliberate Indifference’ to Antisemitic Hostile Environment at University of California  

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a federal lawsuit (see below) against the University of California Los Angeles, targeting UCLA for fostering and tolerating a pervasive antisemitic hostile educational environment in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  

In a complaint filed Tuesday in the Central District of California, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division accuses UCLA administrators of “deliberate indifference” to rampant antisemitism that exploded on campus following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. 

The DOJ alleges that Jewish and Israeli students were physically assaulted, blocked from classes, and denied educational opportunities solely because of their heritage.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon stated: “Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment. 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.”  

Today, the @CivilRights Division @TheJusticeDept filed a lawsuit against UCLA for its failure to take action against discrimination of Jewish and Israeli students—a blatant violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The Division is committed to ensuring that students of all…

— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) May 26, 2026

The suit highlights the April 2024 pro-Hamas encampment outside Royce Hall, where masked demonstrators assaulted Jewish students– slapping, kicking, beating them with sticks, dousing them with pepper spray, and knocking some unconscious. Occupiers formed “human phalanxes” to block Jewish and Israeli students from entering academic buildings, creating what amounted to Jew-exclusion zones.

The complaint details how faculty contributed to the hostile environment. Many students and faculty at UCLA celebrated the October 7 attacks. The University of California Ethnic Studies Faculty Council demanded that university leadership “uplift the Palestinian freedom struggle.” Antisemitic students, and often faculty, participated in unpermitted marches and rallies featuring chants such as “kill the Jews” and “Intifada.” One Jewish professor reported hearing hundreds chant “Itbah El Yahud” (Arabic for “slaughter the Jews”) at a campus protest. During the Royce Hall encampment, some UCLA faculty members entered the encampment in support of its activities, thereby participating in and abetting the denial of campus access to Jewish and Israeli students.

This lawsuit follows the DOJ’s July 2025 finding that UCLA violated Title VI. In response, federal agencies suspended more than $200 million in research grants to UCLA from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and other sources. The funding freeze, which represented a significant portion of UCLA’s annual federal support, was imposed due to the university’s failure to address the hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students. The DOJ has also alleged that UCLA breached its funding contracts by falsely certifying compliance with Title VI obligations. 

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk pushed back sharply against the latest lawsuit, calling the allegations “simply wrong.” In a statement, Frenk emphasized that “combating antisemitism is a moral imperative — one rooted, for me, in personal history that makes indifference unthinkable.” He pointed to steps the university has taken, including recruiting an associate vice chancellor for campus and community safety, reorganizing its civil rights office, and appointing a Title VI officer. 

The DOJ lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, repayment of federal grants and funding issued during the period of alleged noncompliance, and systemic reforms to protect Jewish and Israeli students.  

The California Globe will continue to follow this case closely as it moves through federal court.