By The Education Magazine | February 25, 2026
The Justice Department UCLA lawsuit, filed on February 24, 2026, is an 81-page civil rights complaint against the University of California, Los Angeles, alleging the university allowed a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli employees and failed to investigate dozens of civil rights complaints filed over more than a year.
The case, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, technically names the University of California system but centers its allegations on UCLA. It represents one of the most significant federal workplace civil rights actions against a public university in recent memory.
What the DOJ Alleges
The complaint accuses UCLA of a pattern of discrimination against Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff, particularly during the 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment in front of Royce Hall.
According to the filing:
- Jewish employees and students were physically blocked from portions of campus.
- Jewish professors were assaulted, and swastikas were scrawled on UCLA buildings.
- The university turned a blind eye to, and at times facilitated, the conduct.
- Not a single civil rights complaint filed since October 7, 2023, was properly investigated until the DOJ issued a formal notice in March 2025.
The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling UCLA to enforce its anti-discrimination policies and monetary damages for two named UCLA professors.
Officials Speak Out
Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced the lawsuit, saying federal officials found that UCLA administrators allowed antisemitism to flourish on campus, harming students and staff alike, and that the DOJ stands firmly against hate in all its forms.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the federal government has an obligation to step in when universities fail to ensure discrimination-free environments for their employees.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas added that if a university will not investigate and remedy repeated allegations of antisemitism against its employees, the EEOC will. The lawsuit stems from an EEOC probe launched in June 2024.
UCLA Pushes Back
Vice Chancellor Mary Osako, speaking on behalf of Chancellor Julio Frenk, said UCLA has taken concrete steps to strengthen campus security and combat antisemitism.
Notable actions include:
- Launching a university-wide antisemitism initiative
- Creating a new Office of Campus and Community Safety
- Reorganizing its civil rights office
Chancellor Frenk, whose Jewish father and grandparents fled Nazi Germany and whose wife is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, has made antisemitism response a personal institutional priority. UCLA said it would vigorously defend its record in court.
Legal and Financial Context
The Justice Department UCLA lawsuit is not the university’s first federal civil rights confrontation. Key prior actions include:
- A $6 million settlement in 2025 with three Jewish students and a professor
- The Trump administration is seeking $1 billion from UCLA and cutting hundreds of millions in federal funding
- A federal judge ordered that funding be restored in September 2025
The new lawsuit argues that the harm to Jewish and Israeli employees goes much deeper than what the earlier settlement addressed.
The administration has also reached agreements with Columbia University, which paid over $200 million, and Brown University, but UCLA is among the few public universities targeted at this scale.
What It Means for Higher Education
Legal analysts say the case could establish new federal compliance expectations for how universities manage employee civil rights complaints during campus protest activity, shifting regulatory scrutiny from student conduct to faculty and staff workplace protections.
For universities nationwide, the Justice Department UCLA lawsuit signals that protest management policies and civil rights compliance frameworks will face increasingly aggressive federal oversight.
FAQs
- What federal law is at the center of the Justice Department’s UCLA lawsuit?
The lawsuit invokes Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on religion and national origin. The DOJ argues that Jewish and Israeli identity qualify for protection under both categories.
- What happens to UCLA if it loses the lawsuit?
UCLA could face mandatory federal oversight, court-enforced policy changes, damages awarded to affected employees, and renewed threats to its federal funding, which runs into the billions annually.
