The Justice Department sued the University of California, Los Angeles on Tuesday, accusing UCLA of fostering a “hostile educational environment” for Jewish and Israeli students during and after the wave of pro-Palestinian campus protests that erupted following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel.
The 53-page lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Central District of California, alleges UCLA violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by acting with “deliberate indifference” toward antisemitic harassment, assaults, and exclusionary conduct directed at Jewish and Israeli students.
According to the complaint, masked protesters and demonstrators at UCLA physically blocked Jewish students from entering parts of campus, assaulted students carrying Israeli flags, and established what the lawsuit described as “human phalanxes” around an anti-Israel encampment erected outside Royce Hall in April 2024.
“Earlier this year, we sued UCLA for subjecting its Jewish and Israeli employees to an antisemitic hostile work environment,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “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.”
The lawsuit alleges demonstrators “kicked and slapped Jews, beat Jews with sticks, and assaulted Jews with pepper spray,” while one Jewish student was allegedly “knocked unconscious” and hospitalized with a head wound. 
Federal officials also pointed to allegations that protesters created checkpoints around the encampment and denied passage to students unless they agreed with anti-Israel political demands. The complaint cited instances in which students wearing Star of David necklaces or kippahs were allegedly denied access to campus walkways and buildings.
The suit further alleged that UCLA administrators failed to meaningfully intervene despite repeated warnings and over 100 complaints involving antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias. The complaint accused UCLA leadership of choosing a “do-nothing de-escalation strategy” even after campus officials allegedly knew Jewish students risked assault while attempting to attend class.
“Universities have an obligation to maintain safe and inclusive campuses for all students,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said in a statement.
The complaint also detailed a broader pattern of alleged antisemitic incidents on campus following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack, including chants of “kill the Jews,” vandalism featuring swastikas and anti-Jewish graffiti, and demonstrations where masked protesters allegedly tore down posters of Israeli hostages, all while university leadership “allowed the encampment and related denial of campus access to continue.”
The Washington Examiner contacted UCLA but did not immediately receive a response.
The DOJ is seeking court intervention compelling UCLA to reform its anti-discrimination procedures and comply with federal civil rights law, in addition to the recovery of federal taxpayer funds awarded to the university.
The lawsuit builds on findings the DOJ announced on July 30 last year, when it concluded UCLA violated Title VI and the equal protection clause by failing to adequately respond to “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment” against Jewish and Israeli students.
The lawsuit marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on antisemitism allegations at elite universities following the Israel-Hamas war and campus protest movement. It also marks a new wrinkle in the wave of litigation UCLA has faced in the last two years, after the university also faced dueling complaints by the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly failing to address a rise in both antisemitic bias and failure to address alleged bias against pro-Palestinian activists among its faculty and student body.
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Last week, the DOJ announced the formation of a new advisory committee that will work closely with the attorney general on strategies to combat rising antisemitism nationwide. DOJ officials also said the federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism would participate in a 15-city “National Awareness and Action Tour” aimed at strengthening interfaith opposition to anti-Jewish hatred and violence.
UCLA has also faced separate DOJ scrutiny over its medical school admissions policies. In May, federal investigators concluded that UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine improperly considered race in admissions decisions, findings the university has disputed.