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The United States Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), alleging that its \u201cadministration turned a blind eye to \u2013 and at times facilitated \u2013 grossly antisemitic acts\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s lawsuit marks the latest example of a campaign under President Donald Trump to crack down on campuses that hosted large pro-Palestinian protests.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Critics, however, have accused the Trump administration of seeking to dampen the free speech of activists it disagrees with.<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a>, the Department of Justice said that the university had created a \u201chostile work environment\u201d for Jewish and Israeli workers amid protests against Israel\u2019s genocidal war on Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to today\u2019s complaint, after the Hamas-led massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, antisemitic acts pervaded UCLA,\u201d the department wrote.<\/p>\n The lawsuit<\/a> accuses UCLA of violating Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on a number of factors, including religion.<\/p>\n The \u201cgeneral atmosphere of antisemitism\u201d was \u201cso severe and so pervasive\u201d at UCLA that it constituted a \u201chostile work environment\u201d under the law, according to the Justice Department\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n The lawsuit cites the Palestinian solidarity protests that unfolded on UCLA\u2019s campus after the start of Israel\u2019s war on Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on our investigation, UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike,\u201d said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.<\/p>\n But critics consider the lawsuit the latest chapter in an ongoing pressure campaign to force top universities to align with the Trump administration\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s war on Gaza has killed more than 75,000 people, according to Gaza\u2019s Ministry of Health and other sources. Israel launched its genocidal military campaign against Gaza in 2023, after a Hamas-led attack left nearly 1,200 people dead in southern Israel.<\/p>\n Amid reports of widespread human rights abuses, including torture and starvation, student protesters held demonstrations on college campuses across the US in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n Trump campaigned for re-election in 2024, during the height of the movement to erect solidarity encampments on school grounds. His campaign platform called for dismantling the protests as one of 20 national goals.<\/p>\n \u201cDeport pro-Hamas radicals and make our college campuses safe and patriotic again,\u201d one of the platform\u2019s bullet points reads.<\/p>\n Trump has long accused the pro-Palestinian movement of creating an unsafe learning environment.<\/p>\n But many protest organisers, some of whom were Jewish, have refuted allegations of anti-Semitism. Instead, they said their mission was to highlight the grave human rights abuses perpetuated by the Israeli government in Gaza.<\/p>\n Still, the student encampments faced crackdowns from university authorities and law enforcement. Thousands of students were taken into custody in 2024, though many were ultimately released without charge.<\/p>\n One encampment at UCLA that year was attacked by a group of right-wing supporters of Israel, wielding pipes and spraying mace at pro-Palestine protesters. Activists argued that the police allowed the violence to happen,\u00a0before forcibly clearing the encampment the next day.<\/p>\n UCLA agreed to pay a $6m settlement to three Jewish students and a professor last year, after they alleged harms during the protest movement.<\/p>\n The school has maintained it has taken multiple measures to address anti-Semitism on campus.<\/p>\n Since taking office for a second term in January 2025, Trump has sought to punish certain schools where protests were prominent, including Columbia University in New York City.<\/p>\n In March, the Trump administration froze federal funding to Columbia, starting a wave of uncertainty in the education sector, as other schools also saw their contracts and grants suspended.<\/p>\n Trump also deployed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest Columbia student leader Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent US resident, on the basis that his protests threatened US foreign policy.<\/p>\n Khalil and other foreign-born student protesters continue to fight deportation in the US court system.<\/p>\n In July, the Trump administration arrived at a $220m settlement with Columbia, which saw the prestigious university accede to a list of demands in exchange for its federal funding being restored. Other schools, including Brown University and Cornell University, have likewise struck deals.<\/p>\n But schools, including Harvard, have so far refused to accept demands and costly settlements. They face ongoing investigations and penalties.<\/p>\n Last year, for instance, the Trump administration pressured UCLA, a public university, to pay more than $1bn in settlement fees in a letter<\/a> that also demanded changes to its hiring and admissions processes.<\/p>\n At stake are more than $500m in frozen federal research grants to the school. The school has so far not agreed to pay the sum.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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