The justice department sued the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday, alleging the university created a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff after protests against the war on Gaza broke out across campus.
The lawsuit claims UCLA violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by “failing to prevent and correct discriminatory and harassing conduct” after the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and ensuing war on Gaza. The lawsuit is the latest action against a US university by the Trump administration since the president took office last year, and an escalation of Donald Trump’s feud with the state of California.
“Based on our investigation, UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike,” Pam Bondi, the attorney general, said in a press release.
UCLA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, nine justice department attorneys told the Los Angeles Times they felt pressured by the Trump administration to accuse the University of California of discriminating against Jewish students and faculty.
“The political appointees essentially determined the outcome almost before the investigation had even started,” Jen Swedish, a former DoJ lawyer who worked on a case against UCLA, told the LA Times.
Since Trump took office, the president’s administration has launched investigations, filed lawsuits and frozen grant funding to universities across the country, citing issues ranging from diversity, equity and inclusion to transgender policies.
Last summer, the Trump administration ordered UCLA to pay a $1bn fine over a pro-Palestine encampment in order to have more than $500m in grant funding restored – only for a judge to block the administration, saying it had a “playbook of initiating civil rights investigations” to force universities “to change their ideological tune”.
In July, UCLA agreed to pay $6.5m to settle a lawsuit by Jewish students and a professor who said the university allowed antisemitic discrimination to take place on campus. In the agreement, the university admitted it had “fallen short”.
UCLA is also facing a lawsuit from pro-Palestinian protesters who said the university failed to protect students from wrongful arrests and excessive force from police and counter-protesters during demonstrations that occurred in April 2024.
The justice department lawsuit also represents an escalation in the Trump administration’s dispute with Democratic-led states, particularly California.
“The litany of vile acts of antisemitism that allegedly took place, and continue to take place, at UCLA are, if found to be true, a mark of shame against the University of California,” Harmeet K Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the civil rights division, said in a statement.
Dhillon was formerly the vice-chair of the California Republican party and founded the Dhillon Law Group, which in November sued the state of California over its newly redrawn congressional map.
