UCLA to pay more than $6 million to settle lawsuit on antisemitism

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By Maxwell Adler

 

The University of California at Los Angeles agreed to pay more than $6 million to settle discrimination complaints brought by Jewish students and faculty members who assailed the school for allowing a “Jew Exclusion Zone” on campus during pro-Palestinian protests last year.  

 

The university’s payment will include $2.33 million for organisations that combat antisemitism such as Hillel at UCLA, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Jewish Federation Los Angeles’s Campus Impact Network, according to the settlement terms. 

 

“Campus administrators across the country willingly bent the knee to antisemites during the encampments. They are now on notice: treating Jews like second-class citizens is wrong, illegal, and very costly,” said Mark Rienzi, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who represented the UCLA student plaintiffs. 

 

UCLA became a flashpoint in spring 2024 as campus protests escalated nationwide over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. In addition to widespread allegations of anti-Jewish bigotry at the California school, at least 15 people were injured on campus in April when pro-Israel counter demonstrators attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment, by launching fireworks and swinging metal rods. 

 

Becket, alongside co-counsel Clement & Murphy PLLC and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, sued UCLA in June 2024, accusing it of enabling antisemitic barriers that excluded Jewish students and faculty during the protests. In August, a federal judge barred the school from supporting such actions. An amended complaint filed by Becket in October alleged continued discrimination by campus leadership. 

 

The Justice Department announced a civil-rights probe of UCLA earlier this year, saying it would scrutinize the school for “antisemitic hostile work environments” on campus. 

 

UCLA has underscored new efforts to fight anti-Jewish prejudice on campus. 

 

“Antisemitism, harassment, and other forms of intimidation are antithetical to our values and have no place at the University of California,” Janet Reilly, chair of the University of California’s Board of Regents, said in a statement. “We have been clear about where we have fallen short, and we are committed to doing better moving forward.”

 

UCLA is the latest US university to settle allegations of antisemitism on campus in the wake of the October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist group by the US and the European Union. Earlier this month, Barnard College settled a lawsuit brought by Israeli students who said they had grappled with pervasive anti-Jewish prejudice on campus. 

 

Columbia University agreed last week to pay a $200 million penalty over three years to settle civil rights probes related to antisemitism on its campus, clearing a path to restore over $400 million in federal grants and regain access to billions in future US funding. 

 

In addition to freezing Columbia funding, the Trump administration took similar actions against a range of universities including Harvard, Cornell and Northwestern.    

 

The UCLA case is Frankel v. Regents of the University of California.