HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — The Trump administration sued the University of California on Tuesday over its treatment of Jewish and Israeli faculty.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) accused school officials of allowing a hostile work environment to develop at the Los Angeles campus by ignoring and sometimes facilitating antisemitic behavior. The National News Desk requested comment from the university but hasn’t received a response.
“UCLA failed to live up to its systemwide commitment to diversity and equal opportunity when it stood by as Jewish employees were subjected to harassment,” Bill Essayli, head of the DOJ’s central California office, said in a statement.
“The federal government has an obligation to step in and ensure a discrimination-free environment at our universities.”
A UCLA spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times that it has taken “decisive” actions to combat antisemitism and will “vigorously” defend its efforts to provide a safe and inclusive environment for everyone associated with the college.
“As Chancellor [Julio] Frenk has made clear: Antisemitism is abhorrent and has no place at UCLA or anywhere,” Mary Osako, vice chancellor for strategic communications, said. “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 DOJ claimed that the school has maintained a severe and “pervasive” atmosphere of antisemitism in which Jewish and Israeli faculty face harassment. Activists allegedly excluded staff from parts of the campus during protests and have not been formally disciplined for doing so. UCLA’s process for reporting hostile work environment claims is also so poorly designed that the most sophisticated faculty have felt “puzzled” and that they have nowhere to turn, the DOJ noted.
“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,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement. “The Justice Department will ensure that UCLA maintains an environment for its employees free from antisemitic harassment.”
The school announced last year that it was strengthening efforts to combat antisemitism on campus. Its initiative, pursued through an “action group” that consisted of UCLA members of various backgrounds, would improve relevant education and training, reform the complaint system and ensure enforcement of laws and policies, Frenk said.
“Antisemitism has no place in our society — and no place at UCLA. It threatens the mission of academia and is antithetical to the values that define the very essence of a university,” the chancellor said. “Everyone deserves the right to learn, teach, work and live in a community that is free from discrimination and bigotry.”
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