Explaining the DOJ Lawsuit Against the University of California

Aftermath of UCLA encampment, 2024

I am cross-posting an article appearing in The Hill and written by my friends, Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and Leila Beckwith of the Amcha Initiative. Their article explains the Dept of Justice lawsuit against the University of California, largely based on events at UCLA, in which the university failed to protect the rights and safety of Jewish students, largely during the 2024 encampment controversy over the fighting in Gaza.

The article can be accessed here.

It goes without saying that I am in total agreement with the arguments in the article. Even before the encampment saga at UCLA, for years, that institution has had a documented history of ignoring the safety concerns of Jewish students in the face of insults, intimidation, and threats coming from the pro-Palestinian mobs on campuses, aided and abetted by far too many faculty members in departments like the Center for Near Eastern Studies. The worst excesses, at least in my opinion, occurred under the previous chancellor, Gene Block, who served from August 2007 to July 2024.

I hope this lawsuit is successful.