Trump Administration Sues University of California Over Antisemitism

Los Angeles (ANTARA) - The Donald Trump administration on Tuesday (February 24) filed a lawsuit against the University of California (UC) over what it says is “creating a hostile work environment for Jewish and Israeli faculty and staff on the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) campus.”

The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Los Angeles, alleges that the university “turned a blind eye to, and sometimes facilitated, inappropriate antisemitism and systematically ignored requests for help from Jewish and Israeli employees who felt threatened.”

“Based on our investigation, UCLA administrators allegedly allowed virulent antisemitism to flourish on campus, endangering both students and staff,” said US Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement.

In July 2025, the Trump administration suspended approximately $584 million in federal research grants to UCLA, citing the university’s alleged failure to address antisemitism. In August, the Trump administration demanded that UCLA pay $1 billion in damages to settle the antisemitism allegations.

A federal judge in the Northern District of California ordered the Trump administration to restore $500 million in UCLA’s medical research grants in September.

In the spring of 2024, a wave of pro-Palestinian protests spread across college campuses in the US, including several of the 10 UC campuses. More than 200 pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested on May 2, 2024, when police moved to break up an encampment at UCLA.