University of California Settles With Jewish Students Over U.C.L.A. Protests

U.S.|University of California Settles With Jewish Students Over U.C.L.A. Protests

The University of California has agreed to settle a lawsuit contending that the university allowed pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from a section of the University of California, Los Angeles, campus during demonstrations last year.

In the lawsuit, four Jewish students and a Jewish professor said that the university had countenanced antisemitic behavior at a tent encampment set up in 2024 by protesters demonstrating against the war in Gaza.

The plaintiffs said the university had not intervened when protesters prevented students who were wearing Jewish symbols like a star of David or the Israeli flag or a skullcap from crossing campus. The university even provided the barricades used to keep people out and stationed security guards on campus who sent Jewish students away instead of helping them get through, the court papers said.

Passers-by were given wristbands that allowed them to pass through if they renounced support for the existence of the state of Israel, the lawsuit said. The U.C.L.A. administration allowed the exclusion zone to continue operating for a week, the lawsuit said.

The settlement, announced Tuesday, will require the university to give $6.45 million, including legal fees, to the plaintiffs and to charitable entities. The money will also support the university’s own efforts to combat antisemitism and support the Jewish community on campus.

Mark Rienzi, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the settlement appeared to be the largest among a set of private lawsuits accusing universities of tolerating antisemitism since the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.