University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

In July 2025, UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who had accused the university of violating their civil rights by permitting pro-Palestinian protestors to block access routes on campus in 2024. ³

Background

The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system and the second oldest behind the University of California, Berkeley. ^{1 2}

UCLA was founded in 1919 as the “Southern Branch of the University of California” as signed into law by then-California Gov. William D. Stephens (R). The school is a land-grant university, meaning its properties use land donated from the building of the Transcontinental Railroad as outlined in the Morrill Act signed into law by President Abaraham Lincoln in 1862. On many of its webpages, UCLA provides a so-called land acknowledgment that “the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples” “were the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar,” or the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California on which some land grant institutions lie. ^{4 5 6 7}

As of 2026, the group had over 33,000 undergraduate students, over 13,600 graduate students, and over 5,400 faculty members. ⁸

Notable Academics

As of 2026, legal theorist Kimberle Crenshaw, who developed the concept of “intersectionality” as part of the body of left-of-center legal philosophy known as Critical Race Theory, was teaching as a distinguished professor of law at UCLA and was serving as the chair in human rights of the school’s Promise Institute. Crenshaw had been a UCLA faculty member since 1986. She was awarded “Professor of the Year” by the 1991 and 1994 graduating classes. ⁹

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programming

UCLA has an Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) which directs the school’s racial equity policies and programming. ¹⁰

As of 2026, UCLA reported that its undergraduate student body was 60.1 percent female, 38.2 percent male, and 1.2 percent “non-binary.” It was 35.1 percent Asian, 25 percent white, 22 percent Hispanic, 6.5 percent African American, three percent “other domestic or unknown,” and less than 0.7 percent American Indian. ⁸

The Office of EDI has resources dedicated to helping international students and immigrant students and employees. As of 2026, these included a “Guidance Card” titled, “Know Your Rights if Approached by Immigration Enforcement Agents,” which teaches students and employees to cite their Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights when talking to immigration officers, to demand a lawyer be present before they speak, and to contact their consulate. It reminds international students and employees that they are required to have identification on them at all times. The brochure has a portion that a detained person can tear out and hand to the officer as to explain that they are choosing to remain silent until they talk to a lawyer. ^{11 12}

At that time, its immigrant resource page also included a link to a University of California webpage containing answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) concerning “Possible Federal Immigration Enforcement Actions on University Property.” The page included questions like, “Will federal immigration enforcement agencies target UC campuses?” and “Can federal immigration enforcement officers enter houses, residence halls and apartments without consent from occupants?” ¹³

To the question if the university will work with federal immigration officers, the school system answered, “No.” It added that campus police departments would not divert any resources to aid federal immigration officers unless legally obligated to intervene to prevent injuries and protect property, but added that UC would under no circumstances direct campus officers to help immigration enforcement personnel detain or question “undocumented” immigrants. ^{13 14}

In 2025, UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk and other senior leaders published a statement that the school would stand by “undocumented” students, telling them that they “belong at UCLA.” The statement and an accompanying press release mentioned that UCLA’s Undocumented Student Program, a campus office that aims to help illegal immigrants avoid legal trials and deportations, was “in close touch” with multiple illegal immigrant students, and that the school’s Dashew Center for International Students was providing resources to international students. ¹⁵

The press release emphasized that University of California police “do not engage in immigration enforcement, nor assist ICE or other federal agencies with immigration enforcement,” and added that its officers “will never ask anyone in the community about their immigration status.” ¹⁵

Controversy

Palestinian Protests and Antisemitism Accusations

In May 2024, violence broke out on UCLA’s campus as between 100 and 200 pro-Israel counter-protestors attempted to tear down pro-Palestinian encampments on the school’s Dickson Plaza, the main lawn of the university. The counter-protestors were met with violence from the pro-Palestinian protestors with eyewitnesses reporting multiple fights. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was dispatched to the campus and the school cancelled classes for the following day. ¹⁶

In March 2025, UCLA chancellor Julio Frenk released a statement on the school’s new initiative to “combat antisemitism,” defending the decision by saying “Antisemitism not only threatens Jewish communities; it also corrodes the bonds of mutual respect that safeguard the dignity—and ensure the safety—of all members of a society.” He said the new initiative would “mobilize our board community” and “propel efforts” to fight antisemitism on campus by creating “an action group “that will bring together members of our Bruin community and civic leaders from diverse backgrounds, faiths and perspectives.” The initiative would also outline ways to implement “recommendations of the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Bias,” such as “improving the complaint system” and “enhancing relevant training and education.” ¹⁷

In July 2025, UCLA reached a $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who had accused the university of violating their civil rights by permitting pro-Palestinian protestors to block access routes on campus in 2024. The settlement was the first time a U.S. judge ruled against a higher education institution on the issue of the Israel-Hamas war. While UCLA had argued it had no responsibility over the protestors, the judge disagreed and ordered the university to create a program to protect Jewish students. ³

In February 2026, the Justice Department of the second Trump administration sued UCLA over allegations that the school failed to ensure the safety of Jewish employees from antisemitic harassment during pro-Palestinian protests held in 2023 and 2024. It claimed UCLA failed to properly discipline protestors, including the large number who were arrested in 2024 after refusing to evacuate the campus encampment they had erected. ¹⁸

In March 2026, the Los Angeles Times reported that while a Jewish civil rights group had recently said the environment at the UC system had improved for Jewish students, the national pro-Israel AMCHA Initiative had organized a letter with 4,000 signatures from UCLA students, faculty, parents, alumni, and Californians complaining of “unprecedented harassment, intimidation, and exclusion” since October 2023. The letter claimed that various forms of anti-Israel activities, including boycotts, departmental events and webpages, campus events, and social media posts had proliferated during that time and that the university environment was far from showing signs of improvement. ¹⁹

Free Speech Accusations

In 2026, the ULCA LAW school received criticism from free speech advocacy group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions (FIRE) after the school had allegedly claimed that members of the right-of-center group Federalist Society could be punished if they identified student hecklers and protesters that disrupted a Federalist Society-organized campus chapter speaking event featuring U.S. Department of Homeland Security General Counsel James Percival. Later, the UCLA law put out a statement alleging “UCLA does not discipline students for speech that is protected under the First Amendment. The initial communication was not intended to suggest otherwise, and we have apologized for any lack of clarity. UCLA School of Law also encourages students to engage one another with respect and care.” ^{20 21}

Financials

The UCLA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization that exists to promote philanthropy for and manage the resources donated to the University of California, Los Angeles. ²²

In 2023, the UCLA Foundation reported revenue of roughly $722 million, total expenses of roughly $505 million, and net assets of roughly $5.5 billion. ²³

In 2021, UCLA received a grant of $9 million from the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to research HIV rates among “young transgender women,” whom were alleged to have the highest HIV prevalence in the U.S., and to develop a mobile app to help young transgender women practice “lifeskills” that would reduce their HIV rates. As of 2026, about $4.6 million had been disbursed to the university for this project, and the project had a listed end date of February 2027. ^{24 25}