Trump sues UC over alleged ‘hostile’ environment for Jewish UCLA employees

The Trump administration on Tuesday sued the University of California, alleging that UCLA directors have “routinely ignored” and “failed to report” worker complaints of antisemitism because the 2023 Hamas assault on Israel and Israel’s warfare in Gaza spurred a surge in pro-Palestinian campus activism.

The Department of Justice alleged in court docket paperwork that UCLA has an ongoing, “severe and pervasive” antisemitism downside, citing pro-Palestinian protests — together with one in January — that it contends are anti-Jewish or anti-Israeli.

“Based on our investigation, UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike,” US Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi mentioned in an announcement Tuesday. “Today’s lawsuit underscores that this Department of Justice stands strong against hate and antisemitism in all its vile forms.”

A UCLA official mentioned the college stands “firmly by the decisive actions we have taken to combat antisemitism in all its forms, and we will vigorously defend our efforts and our unwavering commitment to providing a safe, inclusive environment for all members of our community.”

“Ace Chancellor [Julio] Frenk has made clear: Antisemitism is abhorrent and has no place at UCLA or anywhere,” Mary Osako, UCLA vice chancellor for strategic communications, mentioned in an announcement. “Under his leadership, UCLA has taken concrete and significant steps to strengthen campus safety, enforce policies, and combat antisemitism in a systemic and sustained manner.”

The 81-page federal swimsuit, filed in California’s Central District, represents a major escalation of the Trump administration’s actions towards UC, which have included a number of civil rights investigations launched since 2025 into the system or particular person campuses.

In August, the Trump administration demanded that UC pay nearly $1.2 billion to settle civil rights investigations into UCLA associated to complaints of antisemitism towards college students and employees, allegations of race-based affirmative motion and the popularity of transgender individuals’s gender identities on campus.

UC President James B. Milliken said at the time that the fee would “completely devastate” the system. The authorities proposed the superb after suspending $584 million in federal science, well being and power analysis grants to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations.

Federal lawsuits by UC staff have since resulted in a San Francisco-based federal choose issuing short-term orders to revive UCLA grants and block wide swaths of the settlement. The court docket order additionally broadly criticized Trump administration proposals for the Westwood campus to ideologically display screen overseas scholar candidates, restrict protest rights, disavow the popularity of transgender individuals, finish race-related scholarships, halt gender-affirming care for minors and share personnel information with the federal government.

The two fits — UC isn’t a celebration to them — proceed to be litigated in court docket.

UC leaders have mentioned they’re open to talks with the federal government over civil rights issues. Milliken has mentioned he’ll defend the “freedom to teach, learn, and research without outside interference.”

Tuesday’s swimsuit stems from an investigation the division launched last March into allegations of office antisemitism on the University of California. At the time, authorities attorneys mentioned they believed there was a “potential pattern” of discrimination towards Jewish employees.

While the investigation targeted on the UC system, the lawsuit is about findings at UCLA. The swimsuit doesn’t cowl different Trump administration allegations from final summer season towards UCLA, together with these of discrimination towards Jewish college students, cisgender ladies in sports activities, and white and Asian American college students in admissions. The college has mentioned it follows the regulation in every space.

In an announcement, US Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet Ok. Dhillon mentioned that the “litany of vile acts of antisemitism that allegedly took place, and continue to take place, at UCLA are, if found to be true, a mark of shame against the University of California.” Dhillon heads the Civil Rights Division, which is overseeing the UCLA investigation.

Much of Tuesday’s swimsuit focuses on the spring of 2024, when more and more tumultuous protests over Israel’s warfare in Gaza racked UCLA. Jewish college students and school reported “broad-based perceptions of antisemitic and anti-Israeli bias on campus,” a UCLA antisemitism task force found.

A group later sued, charging that UCLA violated their civil rights, and received tens of millions of {dollars} and concessions in a settlement. UCLA prevented trial, however the swimsuit shaped a foundation for the UC investigations and was cited within the new lawsuit.

There have been a number of campus adjustments since then, together with a ban on utilizing masks to protect identification whereas breaking campus insurance policies — together with in a single day encampments with out permits. Last yr UCLA suspended Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus group after it discovered the group to be related to vandalizing a UC regent’s property. Complaints have endured from pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel teams that insurance policies are erratically enforced.

“Although UCLA has made limited changes to address the general hostilities affecting Jewish and Israeli employees that existed on campus during the 2023 to 2024 academic year, UCLA has not sufficiently addressed the systemic ongoing issues related to preventing and correcting individual employee complaints of antisemitism,” Tuesday’s swimsuit mentioned.