LOS ANGELES, Calif. (BP) — The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) agreed July 29 to pay $6.13 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the school of antisemitism in its handling of 2024 campus protests that excluded Jews from sections of the campus.

Hours later, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said UCLA violated the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students during the protests, neglecting “obligations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”

In a 15-year settlement announced July 29 and subject to court approval, the university agreed to pay each plaintiff $50,000 for a combined total of $200,000, give $2.33 million to eight organizations that combat antisemitism and support the UCLA Jewish community, and cover $3.6 million in plaintiffs’ attorney costs and fees, UCLA said in a fact sheet on the settlement in the case of Yitzchok Frankel et al. v. Regents of the University of California. In addition, UCLA committed $320,000 to its own Initiative to Combat Antisemitism announced in March.

UCLA will not knowingly exclude Jewish students, faculty or staff from any campus-sponsored activities, nor knowingly allow or facilitate the exclusion of Jewish students, faculty or staff from UCLA activities and grounds, even as a de-escalation strategy, the settlement states.

“The agreed judgment appropriately recognizes that it is discriminatory — and antisemitic — to prevent Jews from accessing public spaces because of their religious beliefs about Israel,” the plaintiffs’ law firm Becket said in a press release.

Slated for payments from the $2.33 million are Hillel at UCLA, the Academic Engagement Network, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Federation Los Angeles – Campus Impact Network, Chabad of UCLA, The Film Collaborative, Inc., the Jewish Graduate Organization, and the Orthodox Union – Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus.

With the settlement, UCLA affirmed a commitment to fighting antisemitism in a statement.

“Antisemitism, harassment, and other forms of intimidation are antithetical to our values and have no place at the University of California. We have been clear about where we have fallen short, and we are committed to doing better moving forward,” University of California Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly said in a press release. “Today’s settlement reflects a critically important goal that we share with the plaintiffs: to foster a safe, secure and inclusive environment for all members of our community and ensure that there is no room for antisemitism anywhere on campus.”

Frankel v. Regents of the University of California was filed after more than a thousand pro-Palestinian protestors began establishing encampments deemed “Jew exclusion zones” on UCLA’s campus in April 2024.

Protestors established checkpoints and would not allow students to pass through the encampments unless they disavowed Israel’s statehood, alienating Jewish students and blocking their free access and egress of necessary routes. UCLA ordered campus police not to disturb the encampments for a week, the plaintiff’s law firm Becket said in case documents.

The DOJ released its findings based on an investigation it conducted of UCLA activities dating to the start of the Israel-Hamas War.

“Our investigation into the University of California system has found concerning evidence of systemic anti-Semitism at UCLA that demands severe accountability from the institution,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in releasing its findings. “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.”

UCLA “failed to take timely and appropriate action in response to credible claims of harm and hostility on its campus,” the DOJ said, constituting a “clear violation of our federal civil rights laws, and the Justice Department will hold UCLA accountable to their legal obligations so that all students can have equal protection under the law.”

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi found UCLA guilty of antisemitism when he issued a preliminary injunction in the case in August 2024.

“Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,” Scarsi said in 2024. “This fact is so unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom that it bears repeating. Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)