The US Justice Department filed a civil rights complaint alleging the University of California at Los Angeles created a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli employees.
UCLA is accused in the lawsuit filed Tuesday of failing to prevent and correct discriminatory and harassing conduct following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
“Based on our investigation, UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
The lawsuit demands that the university enforce anti-discrimination policies and asks a judge to award unspecified damages to “aggrieved Jewish and Israeli UCLA employees” who have been subjected to a hostile work environment.
UCLA has taken steps to strengthen campus safety, enforce polices and combat antisemitism in a systemic and sustained manner, Vice Chancellor Mary Osako said in a statement.
“We stand firmly by the decisive actions we have taken to combat antisemitism in all its forms, and we will vigorously defend our efforts and our unwavering commitment to providing a safe, inclusive environment for all members of our community,” Osako said.
The new case follows the administration’s decision to drop an earlier fight with UCLA over similar issues.
Last year, the administration cut about $584 million in funding and grants to the UC system, based in part on claims that UCLA had failed to prevent attacks against Jewish and Israeli students, and later proposed that the school pay $1.2 billion to settle the matter.
A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the defunding in November, siding with a group of faculty and employee unions who alleged the administration was using the funding cuts to target free speech and research. The administration appealed in January and then dropped its appeal this month.
This month the Trump administration sued Harvard University, saying it failed to cooperate with an investigation into alleged racial discrimination in admissions.
UCLA and Harvard stand out among schools targeted by the Trump administration for alleged antisemitism because they won back large portions of frozen federal research funding in court.
Photo: People walk on the plaza outside Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images
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