DOJ Files Lawsuit Against UCLA for Antisemitic Workplace Conditions

By Pamela Geller | 

One cannot ignore the disturbing echoes between universities in pre-war Germany and what has unfolded on American campuses today. Then, Jewish faculty, scholars and students were marginalized, harassed, and ultimately pushed out as institutions surrendered to ideological fanaticism. Now, Jewish students and faculty report intimidation, violence, exclusion, and open hostility —  tolerated or downplayed by the very administrations charged with protecting them. The comparison is not made lightly, but when Jewish voices are shouted down, when antisemitic symbols appear without decisive institutional response, and when fear alters where Jews can walk, teach, or gather, history’s warnings become impossible to dismiss.

The Trump Justice Department filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against UCLA, alleging the university created an “antisemitic hostile work environment” by allowing anti-Israel activists to block Jewish students from campus facilities during protests.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said UCLA administrators “allegedly allowed virulent antisemitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike.

“Today’s lawsuit underscores that this Department of Justice stands strong against hate and antisemitism in all its vile forms,” Bondi said in a statement.

The lawsuit claims UCLA violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing serious antisemitic harassment against Jewish and Israeli professors, lecturers, and staff for over a year. The employees reported that pro-Hamas protesters shouted them down in classrooms. Some reported seeing swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti near their offices and being targeted online after speaking out against anti-Jewish bigotry. Some faculty members said they felt compelled to change their teaching material, avoid parts of campus, or request remote work arrangements because they feared for their safety (Townhall).

Judge found Jewish students excluded because they refused to denounce their faith: On Aug. 13, 2024, Judge Mark C. Scarsi issued a rare preliminary injunction against UCLA indicating that the evidence before him suggested that “Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” a statement that he repeated and highlighted by putting it in italics.

Free Beacon give color on the intimidating environment: “Swastikas, calls for the extermination of Jews and the Jewish state of Israel, antisemitic violence, and open harassment of Jewish students, faculty, and staff: this was the grim scene at the University of California Los Angeles,” the Department of Justice’s complaint read. Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack, UCLA “systematically ignored cries for help from its own terrified Jewish and Israeli employees” (Free Beacon).

Trump officials previously determined that UCLA failed to protect Jewish students, and last year UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who sued the university. The new lawsuit alleges the harm to Jewish and Israeli employees “goes much deeper” than the situations that settlement addressed.

“Following the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel, UCLA’s administration turned a blind eye to — and at times facilitated — grossly antisemitic acts and systematically ignored cries for help from its own terrified Jewish and Israeli employees,” the complaint said.

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The Trump Justice Department has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against UCLA, accusing the university of creating an “antisemitic hostile work environment” by permitting anti-Israel activists to obstruct Jewish students’ access to campus facilities during protests. According to reporting by Townhall, the complaint alleges UCLA violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by allowing what it describes as sustained antisemitic harassment of Jewish and Israeli professors, lecturers, and staff for more than a year. Employees reported being shouted down in classrooms by pro-Hamas demonstrators, discovering swastikas and other antisemitic graffiti near their offices, and facing online targeting after speaking out against anti-Jewish bigotry. Some faculty members said they altered course material, avoided parts of campus, or sought remote work arrangements out of concern for their safety.

Additional details highlighted by Washington Free Beacon describe what the Department of Justice characterized in its complaint as a climate marked by swastikas, calls for the extermination of Jews and Israel, antisemitic violence, and open harassment of Jewish students and staff. The filing further alleges that in the aftermath of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, UCLA “systematically ignored cries for help” from Jewish and Israeli employees who said they felt intimidated and unsafe.

February 26, 2026 | Comments »

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