Trump Administration Sues UCLA Over Failure To Protect Jewish Students

The Trump administration filed a second lawsuit against UCLA on Tuesday, accusing the university of failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitic harassment and violence during anti-Israel campus protests.

The lawsuit, filed by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in federal court in California, alleges that UCLA violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by showing “deliberate indifference” to discrimination based on race and national origin.

The case marks another escalation in the administration’s crackdown on antisemitism at American universities following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the wave of anti-Israel campus protests that followed. The Justice Department previously sued UCLA over allegations that Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff faced a hostile work environment.

The new complaint centers heavily on the anti-Israel encampment erected outside Royce Hall in April 2024. According to the Justice Department, Jewish and Israeli students were blocked from parts of campus, including academic buildings, classrooms and libraries.

The DOJ said masked demonstrators formed “human phalanxes” to prevent Jewish and Israeli students from entering campus spaces. It also alleged that students were “slapped, kicked, beat with sticks, doused with pepper spray, and knocked unconscious.”

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

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said universities that fail to protect Jewish students from antisemitism will face consequences.

“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” Essayli said. “Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.”

The lawsuit also accuses UCLA of accepting federal funds while falsely certifying that it was complying with civil-rights requirements. The Justice Department is reportedly seeking federal oversight, civil-rights reforms and limits on new federal contracts until UCLA is found to be in compliance.

UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk rejected the claim that the university failed to act against antisemitism, saying the suggestion that UCLA was passive “is simply wrong.” He pointed to new campus safety measures, a reorganized civil-rights office, a Title VI officer and strengthened enforcement policies.

University of California President James B. Milliken also criticized the lawsuit, saying it failed to recognize UCLA’s recent efforts to address antisemitism and campus safety.

UCLA has already faced legal fallout from the 2024 protests. In 2025, the university reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who accused the school of failing to protect them from harassment and exclusion during the encampment.