The United States Department of Justice filed a statement of interest Monday in support of three Jewish students and a faculty member in their lawsuit against UCLA.

The lawsuit – filed in June 2024 against the UC Board of Regents, UC President Michael Drake, former Chancellor Gene Block and other members of the UCLA administration – claims UCLA allowed pro-Palestine protesters to create a “Jew Exclusion Zone” in areas in and around the first Palestine solidarity encampment, which lasted from April 25 until police swept it May 2. Lawyers from the Department of Justice alleged in the brief that UCLA attempted to “evade liability” for enabling an antisemitic campus environment.

[Related: Court rules pro-Palestine protests cannot obstruct Jewish students’ accessibility]

“Even though UCLA may not dispute that the antisemitic campus environment at UCLA last year was ‘unimaginable’ and ‘abhorrent,’ the Individual Defendants moved to dismiss this action to evade liability for what happened on the campus that they are supposed to lead and protect,” the brief said.

Vice Chancellor for Strategic Communications Mary Osako said in an emailed statement that Chancellor Julio Frenk – who is not a defendant in the lawsuit and was not a UCLA administrator during the encampment –  is committed to combating antisemitism on campus.

“Chancellor Julio Frenk, who joined UCLA in January, has a strong track record of combatting Antisemitism and is actively at work to help UCLA achieve our goal of fostering an environment where all members of our community are able to live, work, and learn, freely and peacefully,” she said in the statement.

In the brief, the Department of Justice cited findings from a report published by the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias at UCLA, including that pro-Palestine protesters blocked students from the encampment who wore Jewish symbols or refused to denounce Zionism.

Lawyers added in the brief that, by allowing for this alleged exclusion to occur until police swept the encampment May 2, UCLA administrators violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – which prevents any institution receiving federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color or national origin – the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and California state law.

The university has previously said it is committed to fighting antisemitism. Chancellor Julio Frenk announced March 10 that he will create a new Initiative to Combat Antisemitism to implement some of the UCLA task force’s recommendations.

“We recently launched the Initiative to Combat Antisemitism that brings together members of the Bruin community and civic leaders to work toward our shared, unwavering goal of extinguishing Antisemitism,” Osako said in an emailed statement.

[Related: Chancellor Julio Frenk announces plan for new Initiative to Combat Antisemitism]

A federal judge sided with the students in August, issuing a preliminary injunction – a temporary court order enforced before the final judgement in a case – that said UCLA cannot let protesters obstruct Jewish students’ access to campus. The decision was the first time a federal court ruled against a university’s response to pro-Palestine protests last spring.

In a press release, the Department of Justice said the statement of interest is part of President Donald Trump’s new task force to “combat antisemitism.” The task force previously announced it would visit UCLA – along with nine other universities that experienced pro-Palestine protests last spring – to evaluate discrimination claims.

The task force also said March 6 that it opened an investigation into UCLA over alleged antisemitic treatment of its employees.

“The statement of interest is part of the Task Force’s nationwide effort to combat antisemitism in all of its forms,” the Department of Justice said in the press release.

[Related: Department of Justice opens investigation into antisemitism allegations at UC]

The U.S. Department of Education, General Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Justice announced March 7 that they cancelled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, alleging that administrators failed to protect Jewish students from harassment.  

Columbia has experienced pro-Palestine demonstrations calling on the university to divest from companies associated with the Israeli military since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which killed around 1,200 people, according to the Associated Press. Columbia, like UCLA, was the site of a pro-Palestine encampment in the spring.

The court is expected to rule on the lawsuit in the coming months, according to Becket – the law firm representing the plaintiffs.