The Justice Department on Wednesday announced it is investigating the University of California system over allegations of antisemitism in the wake of protests that broke out on several campuses over the war between Israel and Hamas.
“This Department of Justice will always defend Jewish Americans, protect civil rights, and leverage our resources to eradicate institutional Antisemitism in our nation’s universities,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
The probe, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, will look into whether UC “engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, religion and national origin against its professors, staff and other employees by allowing an Antisemitic hostile work environment to exist on its campuses,” the DOJ statement said.
Following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel and Israel’s retaliatory military operation in Gaza, student encampments popped up on a number of college campuses across the country — including at UCLA and other UC system campuses. Many of the protesters were calling for an end to the war, a U.S. arms embargo on Israel and for their universities to divest from Israel. But in some instances, acts of antisemitism were alleged, and some Jewish students said the encampments and encounters with protesters made them feel unsafe.
Some critics have called the encampments themselves antisemitic, with some, including President Trump, likening the protesters to terrorists.
The protests on UCLA’s campus last year made national headlines when a group of counter-protesters “came to Royce Quad and violently attacked students, faculty, and staff members who were engaged in an encampment at that location,” UCLA said at the time. The clash lasted several hours into the night, with video posted to social media showing fireworks and tear gas being launched into the encampment.
In a statement announcing the probe, Leo Terrell, a member of the Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism and senior counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, said: “The impact upon UC’s students has been the subject of considerable media attention and multiple federal investigations. But these campuses are also workplaces, and the Jewish faculty and staff employed there deserve a working environment free of antisemitic hostility and hate. The President, the Attorney General and this Task Force are committed to combatting antisemitism for all Jewish Americans.”
The University of California Office of the President told CBS News in a statement: “We were recently notified of the Department of Justice’s decision to initiate a civil rights investigation in the University of California system. We want to be clear: the University of California is unwavering in its commitment to combating antisemitism and protecting everyone’s civil rights. We continue to take specific steps to foster an environment free of harassment and discrimination for everyone in the university community.”
Mr. Trump on Tuesday threatened to pull federal funding from any school that continued to allow what he called “illegal protests.”
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests,” the president wrote on social media. “Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!”
The campus protests last year led to hearings on Capitol Hill, with the presidents of several universities — including Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania — being called to testify about their handling of the encampments and reports of antisemitism on their campuses.
Harvard’s then-president Claudine Gay and UPenn’s Liz Magill ended up resigning amid the criticism of their response to the protests.
