DoJ Sues UCLA for Allegedly Tolerating Discrimination and Harassment Against Jews and Israelis, Seeks Return of Federal Grants

Read the Complaint for more on the factual allegations and on the remedy the DoJ seeks. The Introduction:

On April 25, 2024, following months of antisemitic and anti-Israeli demonstrations, masked and armed agitators, many of whom were openly hostile to Jews and Israelis, occupied the heart of the University of California, Los Angeles (“UCLA”) campus. They built an illegal encampment, surrounded it with barriers, and formed “human phalanxes” to block Jews and Israelis from entering academic buildings. They kicked and slapped Jews, beat Jews with sticks, and assaulted Jews with pepper spray. One Jewish student was knocked unconscious and was taken to the hospital with an open head wound.

Although UCLA knew that its Jewish and Israeli students risked physical assault when attempting to go to class or the library, UCLA inexplicably took no serious action whatsoever until May 2, 2024, when it finally allowed police to clear the encampment. Chaos ensued. Law-enforcement officers “were met with bursts of pepper spray, protesters wielding fire extinguishers against them, bright strobe lights, and protesters wearing helmets and goggles.”

UCLA’s own Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias (“Task Force”), published a damning report (Ex. A) concluding that UCLA’s “leadership allowed the encampment and related denial of campus access to continue” and “officials continued to refuse to break up the encampment even after the protesters denied Jews and others free passage and access to campus classrooms and facilities.” UCLA’s leadership apparently preferred a do-nothing “de-escalation strategy” to protecting their Jewish and Israeli students from an angry mob organized by peers armed with tasers, lumber, and a sword.

This Court already has found that UCLA’s non-response to the horror inflicted on Jewish and Israeli students was “unimaginable” and “abhorrent.” {Frankel v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., 744 F. Supp. 3d 1015, 1020 (C.D. Cal. 2024).} It correctly held that UCLA likely violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause by excluding Jews from campus buildings, thoroughfares, and resources. UCLA’s decision to ignore the harassment of, and discrimination against, Jewish and Israeli students also violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits race and national-origin discrimination in higher education.

UCLA’s top administrators knew that armed demonstrators beat up Jews and physically prevented Jewish and Israeli students from attending class. The Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (“EDI office”) received over one hundred complaints about antisemitism and anti-Israeli hostility but routinely ignored these complaints. In short, UCLA was deliberately indifferent to the suffering of its Jewish and Israeli students and declined to take meaningful action to protect them. Its behavior exemplifies the deliberate indifference towards discrimination that Title VI prohibits.

UCLA failed to protect its Jewish and Israeli students. The United States brings this action to compel UCLA to comply with Title VI, to recover the taxpayer subsidies the United States awarded to this discriminatory institution, and to require UCLA to reform its antidiscrimination procedures to ensure that all complaints of discrimination against and harassment of Jewish and Israeli students are properly investigated and addressed.