Justice Department Files Suit Against University of California for Antisemitic Hostile Work Environment at UCLA
The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has taken the University of California to federal court, alleging a pattern of discrimination against Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — after years of unchecked antisemitism at its Los Angeles campus.
WASHINGTON, D.C. / LOS ANGELES — The United States Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, against the University of California over a sustained and egregious pattern of antisemitism at its UCLA campus — marking one of the most consequential federal civil rights actions against a major American university in the area of religious discrimination. The suit alleges that the University engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination against Jewish and Israeli employees in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by failing to prevent and correct discriminatory and harassing conduct that the University allowed to continue — and in some cases participated in.
“UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent anti-Semitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike. Today’s lawsuit underscores that this Department of Justice stands strong against hate and anti-Semitism in all its vile forms.”— Attorney General Pamela Bondi, US Department of Justice
Following the Hamas-led massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, the lawsuit alleges that antisemitic acts pervaded the UCLA campus and were allowed to continue unchecked by university administrators. The University is alleged to have negligently permitted a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli employees, ignoring gross and repeated violations of viewpoint-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions.
- Jewish employees were physically barred from portions of the main quad during protests in front of the iconic Royce Hall, with antisemitic harassment continuing for days unabated in 2024.
- Jewish professors were physically assaulted on campus.
- Swastikas were graffitied on University buildings.
- Jewish and Israeli faculty members had their classrooms disrupted by protesters.
- Jewish professors had their workplaces papered with disturbing images.
- Jewish employees were subjected to ostracism and harassment by colleagues and students.
- Colleagues and supervisors not only failed to report those acts as required — but in some cases participated in them.
- Numerous Jewish and Israeli employees were forced to take leave, work from home, or leave their jobs entirely to escape the hostile work environment.
The University has ignored, and according to the DOJ continues to ignore, the repeated violations of its own policies — creating a climate in which Jewish and Israeli employees cannot safely perform their professional duties without fear of harassment, violence, or professional retaliation.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers — including universities receiving federal funding — from discriminating against employees on the basis of religion, race, color, sex, or national origin. It covers harassment that creates a hostile work environment.
The suit alleges the University engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination — a legal standard that requires demonstrating that discrimination was the employer’s standard operating procedure, not an isolated incident.
The lawsuit stems from a Commissioner’s Charge filed by then-EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas in June 2024, following a formal investigation by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission into the University’s complaint handling systems — which the EEOC identified as deeply inadequate.
The case now proceeds through the federal courts. If the allegations are proven, the University of California could be required to implement comprehensive anti-discrimination remedies, overhaul its complaint and reporting systems, and pay damages to aggrieved employees. The outcome is being closely watched by universities across the United States — and by Jewish community organisations, civil rights advocates, and legal scholars who have argued for years that campus antisemitism has been systematically under-enforced as a civil rights violation.
Justice
“Justice Department Files Suit Against University of California for Antisemitic Hostile Work Environment.”
Published February 24, 2026. justice.gov — Office of Public Affairs.
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