Several Jewish students and faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles reached a settlement on Tuesday, July 29, in a discrimination lawsuit alleging the school allowed protesters to bar Jewish people from the campus. Lawyers for the faculty and students said the University of California agreed to pay more than $6 million to resolve the case.
The two sides issued a joint statement announcing terms of the settlement. The university will pay $50,000 in damages to the four plaintiffs, $3.6 million for their attorney fees and $2.33 million to charities focused on combating antisemitism.
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The university had previously agreed to prohibit encampments, which popped up across college campuses nationwide last year to protest Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Critics called the protests anti-Israel and said many of them were fueled by antisemitism. Others considered the protests legal and accused colleges and governments of unconstitutional crackdowns.
The Jewish students and faculty who sued UCLA were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Neither UCLA nor the Becket Fund immediately responded to Straight Arrow News’ requests for comment.
“As part of the settlement, UCLA will continue to implement policies that make its campus safer for Jewish students, faculty and staff,” according to the joint statement.
UCLA agrees to new measures
Protests on the UCLA campus turned violent in April 2024 when pro-Israel protesters allegedly attempted to take apart barricades around a pro-Palestinian encampment. The night of violence prompted university officials to cancel classes the following day.
Shortly thereafter, UCLA agreed to prohibit encampments and masks, and to oppose calls to boycott and divest from Israel. Outgoing university president Michael Drake also barred all UC entities from boycotting any country, including Israel.
In addition to the suit filed by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the American Civil Liberties Union also sued UCLA in October, alleging the university violated students’ and faculty’s First Amendment rights when it dismantled the encampment and allowed the Los Angeles Police Department to arrest anyone remaining. The case is still pending in the California Superior Court for Los Angeles County.
Under the settlement announced Tuesday, $2.23 million will be split among Hillel at UCLA, the Academic Engagement Network, the Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federation Los Angeles – Campus Impact Network, Chabad of UCLA, the Film Collaborative, Jewish Graduate Organization and Orthodox Union – Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus.
“We are pleased with the terms of today’s settlement,” the joint statement said. “The injunction and other terms UCLA has agreed to demonstrate real progress in the fight against antisemitism.”
Civil rights group displeased with settlement
The Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles chapter issued a statement on Wednesday, July 30, expressing concern that the settlement labeled the pro-Palestinian encampments as antisemitic. The organization added that Jewish students and other individuals participated in the protests, as evidenced by Jewish Voice for Peace Los Angeles and UCLA chapters’ May 1, 2024, Instagram posts.
“This settlement actively erases the voices of the many anti-genocide and anti-Zionist Jewish students, faculty and community members who led and participated in the protest — even holding and observing a Passover Seder in the middle of the encampment,” CAIR Los Angeles Legal Director Amr Shabaik.
Jewish Voice for Peace UCLA chapter released a statement Tuesday from attorney Thomas B. Harvey that called the settlement agreement an “attack on the First Amendment and on Jewish identity itself.”
“It seeks to codify a lie — that opposing genocide makes you antisemitic, and that being Jewish means being Zionist,” Harvey said. “That is not the law, and it is not the truth.”
He filed an emergency motion on Monday, June 2, in the Becket Fund’s lawsuit, seeking to intervene to defend against the claims. He renewed that motion on Tuesday following news about the settlement. A judge set a hearing for Monday, Aug. 11.
