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Tuesday, May 26, 2026
US Justice Department sues UCLA, alleging antisemitic educational environment
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The US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division has filed a lawsuit against the University of California Los Angeles, alleging it has tolerated a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.
In its complaint, the Justice Department accuses UCLA of violating Title VI — a federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance — “through its deliberate indifference to this pervasive on-campus antisemitism.”
The lawsuit points to an encampment that was built on the university’s campus in April 2024. The Justice Department describes the move as illegal and alleges that Jewish students were attacked.
“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” said Bill Essayli, the first assistant US attorney for the Central District of California. “Universities that violate our nation’s civil rights laws by repeatedly failing to shield Jewish students from antisemitism will be held accountable.”
UCLA does not immediately respond when reached for comment.
The Justice Department announces the lawsuit shortly after a federal appeals court earlier today partially upheld an injunction that required it to restore grants awarded to the University of California that the Trump administration had terminated last year because it perceived they supported diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
The lawsuit is the latest legal action taken by the Trump administration to crack down on what it has described as antisemitism at US universities in the wake of Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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