UCLA to Give Chabad Funds of Antisemitism Settlement

UCLA announced Tuesday that it has reached a settlement in a discrimination lawsuit brought by Jewish students and a faculty member, agreeing to pay more than $6 million, NBC News reported.

The plaintiffs, who brought the lawsuit in June 2024, accused the university of failing to take action when pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments last spring. They claimed that the protest areas were inaccessible to Jewish students and amounted to what plaintiffs referred to as “Jew exclusion zones.” While UCLA has denied any wrongdoing, it agreed to settle fully, with $50,000 payments to each of the plaintiffs in addition to $2.33 million in donations to organizations that combat antisemitism.

UCLA announced payments of $320,000 to UCLA’s Initiative to Combat Antisemitism, an effort announced in March by UCLA.

Additionally, the University will contribute $2.33 million to eight organizations that combat antisemitism and support the UCLA Jewish community. These include Hillel at UCLA, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles – Campus Impact Network, and Chabad of UCLA, among others.

“We are pleased with the terms of today’s settlement. The injunction and other terms UCLA has agreed to demonstrate real progress in the fight against antisemitism,” the parties said in a joint statement.

The day the settlement was announced, the Justice Department shared that in its investigation into the University of California system, it found that UCLA violated federal civil rights law by acting with “deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.”

The agency’s Civil Rights Division said the university had failed to “adequately” respond to complaints of harassment and abuse toward its Jewish and Israeli students on campus since Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel.

“This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand: DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a news release about the announcement, NBC reported.

In the settlement, UCLA agreed to ensure that Jewish students and faculty would not be excluded from any programs, activities or campus areas. The eight organizations to which the school agreed to donate include Hillel at UCLA, the Academic Engagement Network and the Anti-Defamation League, the settlement said. Additionally, the school said it will allocate $320,000 for its Initiative to Combat Antisemitism, according to a press release about the settlement.

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

Yitzchok Frankel, a UCLA student and plaintiff in the case, said in a statement that though he was disappointed in the school’s initial actions, the settlement was a positive development.