DOJ Sues UC Regents over ‘Deliberate Indifference’ Toward Antisemitism at UCLA
The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against the regents of the University of California system, alleging that UCLA specifically showed “deliberate indifference” towards Jewish and Israeli students who faced antisemitism on campus in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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“UCLA’s top administrators knew that armed demonstrators beat up Jews and physically prevented Jewish and Israeli students from attending class,” reads the lawsuit, which was filed on Tuesday. “The [DEI office] received over one hundred complaints about antisemitism and anti-Israeli hostility but routinely ignored these complaints. In short, UCLA was deliberately indifferent to the suffering of its Jewish and Israeli students and declined to take meaningful action to protect them. Its behavior exemplifies the deliberate indifference towards discrimination that Title VI prohibits.”
In May 2025, the Department of Justice notified the University of California system that it had opened an investigation into incidents of antisemitism across its ten campuses. In July 2025, the DOJ provided written notice to the UC system that its investigation found that the University of California, Los Angeles school had violated its legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The DOJ states in the lawsuit that it has not been able to secure UCLA’s voluntary compliance with the law.
As evidence of antisemitism at UCLA, the lawsuit mentions that the Undergraduate Student Association Council Cultural Affairs Commissioner issued a statement on October 9, 2023, that celebrated Hamas’s attacks two days earlier; student demonstrators violated school policies by concealing their identities with masks; protesters wielded large knives and shouted chants or shared written communications like “die you fucking Jew” and “F*** ALL Jews”; and Swastika symbols were found on university property.
Additionally, the lawsuit cites physical assaults against Jewish and Israeli individuals on campus, some of them students.
The lawsuit further argues that the protesters impeded free movement — particularly that of individuals perceived as Jewish or Israeli — on school grounds by erecting physical barriers, forming human chains by linking up physically, equipping themselves with weapons like pepper spray, establishing “militia-style checkpoints,” and issuing wristbands to people who supported their cause that would allowing a passerby to cross the encampment.
On April 30, 2023, one week after the pro-Palestinian encampment launched, UCLA’s administrators declared that the encampment was illegal and its participants would face disciplinary action. The university’s then-chancellor also issued a statement, writing that “Jewish students [were] in a state of anxiety and fear” and that “students on their way to class have been physically blocked from accessing parts of the campus.”
That evening, agitators (reportedly outsiders unaffiliated with the university) launched violent attacks on the encampment. The lawsuit alleges that the university’s police officers did not intervene as the encampment members and counter-protesters attacked one another with pepper spray, blunt objects, and explosives like fireworks. External police arrived after midnight and ended the violence. The university cancelled all classes as police attempted to clear the encampment. Meanwhile, the self-styled “UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment” solicited donations of riot gear (goggles, helmets, flashlights, etc) and food (but “NO bagels.”) Protesters resisted arrest and law enforcement officers resorted to using rubber bullets; the protest site was cleared by the morning of May 2.
On other occasions, students established or attempted to launch another encampment, occupied buildings, vandalized property, impeded free movement, forced a building evacuation, and violently attacked individuals.
“Despite the existence of longstanding viewpoint neutral time, place manner restrictions, UCLA’s administrators allowed antisemitic and anti-Israel protests made up of students, employees, and non-affiliates to increasingly violate UCLA’s rules with impunity, emboldening them to deface the campus and commit acts of violence,” states the lawsuit. “This culminated in a nearly week-long encampment and the de facto exclusion of Jews and Israelis from the heart of UCLA’s campus.”
Viewpoint-neutral rules that were unenforced include policies against impeding movement, restricting building access, producing amplified noise, concealing one’s identity, refusing to identify oneself or present university ID, and possessing weapons, among other others. Additionally, student groups associated with the anti-Israel activity were eventually “suspended” by the university but continued to operate.
The university created a task force that published a report titled “Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at UCLA” in October 2024. In a survey of more than 400 Jewish and Israeli university members, about two-thirds of respondents reported that antisemitism is a problem or a serious problem at the university, while roughly three-quarters reported that anti-Israeli bias is a problem or serious problem. A majority of respondents said they spent less time on campus grounds due to antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias, while about 40 percent said they had considered leaving the university. According to the report, upwards of 100 respondents had made a formal or informal complaint to the university.
“We. . . demonstrate that University and campus officials decided, in many instances, not to
enforce those laws and rules (resulting in failure to protect the Constitutional rights of
Jews on campus),” the task force acknowledges in its report.
The lawsuit also alleges that UCLA’s faculty and staff are “systematically biased against Israel and Israelis,” noting departments issued statements in support of Palestine and its people, while professors excused attendance or assignments to allow for participation in the encampment.
The Los Angeles City Attorney received over 300 referrals from arrests made during protests at UCLA and the University of Southern California, resulting in criminal filings against two individuals for conduct at UCLA. Additionally, three individuals were referred to a city attorney hearing, including one individual who was tied to UCLA.
“Most of these cases were declined for evidentiary reasons or due to a university’s failure or inability to assist in identification or other information needed for prosecution,” the city attorney said in a press release.
Three Jewish UCLA students and a Jewish UCLA professor previously sued the regents of the University of California in federal court, arguing that the school violated the First Amendment, 14th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Ku Klux Klan Act, as well as various California state laws. In July 2025, UCLA agreed to pay $6.13 million in damages and fees.
The Department of Justice also concluded its yearlong compliance review of the admissions practices at the UCLA medical school this month, concluding that the medical school is violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by granting and denying acceptance on the basis of race, particularly to the benefit of black and Hispanic applicants who had “significantly lower median” MCAT scores and GPAs.
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