UCLA Reaches Multi-Million-Dollar Settlement With Students Over Jew Exclusion Zone

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) reached a nearly $6.5 million settlement on Tuesday with students and a professor who accused the school of discrimination over the rampant antisemitic protests that occurred on campus.

The lawsuit was brought in 2024 after the university allegedly failed to shut down a multi-day pro-Palestine encampment that included a ‘Jew Exclusion Zone‘ which prohibited Jewish students from accessing parts of campus. As part of the settlement, UCLA agreed to donate a total of $2.33 million to be split between the university’s fund for combating antisemitism as well as several Jewish organizations, consider implementing new policies to protect Jewish students, pay the plaintiffs $50,000 each and pay $3.6 million for the plaintiffs’ legal fees.

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

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 01: California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers keep watch at a pro-Palestinian encampment, the morning after it was attacked by counter-protestors at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, on May 1, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. A group of counter-protestors attacked the camp overnight leaving some demonstrators wounded. The camp was declared ‘unlawful’ by the university yesterday and classes have been cancelled today due to the violence. Pro-Palestinian encampments have sprung up at college campuses around the country with some protestors calling for schools to divest from Israeli interests amid the ongoing war in Gaza. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Yitzchok Frankel, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the court ruling “brings justice back to [the UCLA] campus.”

UCLA did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

A pro-Palestinian demonstrator interacts with a Pro-Israel demonstrator in an encampment on the campus of UCLA on April 25, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

The students claimed in the lawsuit that university administrators allowed the demonstrators to keep Jewish students from accessing classrooms, the library and some outdoor areas unless they publicly condemned Israel. Several students were arrested and dozens were reportedly injured after protesters violently clashed with police, and the university subsequently canceled classes. (RELATED: University Illegally Blocked Conservative Event While Pro-Palestinian Encampments Took Hold On Campus, Lawsuit Alleges)

In March, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee opened an investigation into the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), an anti-Israel group behind campus protests at several universities, including UCLA. The committee alleged the group has “extensive” ties to terrorist organizations.

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