EXCLUSIVE: DOJ Opens Antisemitism Investigation Into the University of California System

The Department of Justice has opened a civil rights investigation into 
the sprawling University of California system over concerns about 
antisemitism, The Free Press has learned.

In a letter sent Monday evening to the UC system and seen by The Free 
Press, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division informed UC president Michael 
Drake of its investigation.

“Our investigation is based on information suggesting that since at 
least October 7, 2023, the University of California may be engaged in 
certain employment practices that discriminate against employees who are 
or are perceived to be Jewish or Israeli,” wrote DOJ officials Mac 
Warner and Michael E. Gates in the letter. “Accordingly, the Assistant 
Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division has authorized a full 
investigation to determine whether the University of California is 
engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination as set forth above.”

“We were recently notified of the Department of Justice’s decision to 
initiate a civil rights investigation in the University of California 
system,” a spokesperson for the UC system told The Free Press. “We want 
to be clear: the University of California is unwavering in its 
commitment to combating antisemitism and protecting everyone’s civil 
rights. We continue to take specific steps to foster an environment free 
of harassment and discrimination for everyone in the university community.”

The investigation comes on the heels of the DOJ forming a task force in 
February made up of representatives from the Departments of Education 
and Health and Human Services to combat antisemitism. That follows the 
executive order President Donald Trump signed in his first days in 
office allocating federal resources to address “the explosion of 
antisemitism” on college campuses. The order, moreover, directed the DOJ 
to take immediate action to “quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, 
and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American 
colleges and universities.”

The antisemitism task force is being led by Leo Terrell, a civil rights 
attorney and recent Fox News contributor. It is under the auspices of 
the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, an office that Trump tapped attorney 
Harmeet Dhillon, who has not yet been confirmed by the Senate, to lead.

This UC investigation comes less than 48 hours after the Trump 
administration announced a review of federal funding to Columbia 
University, which had been a hotbed for anti-Israel activism since 
October 7, 2023, and where dozens of students were arrested last spring 
for participating in encampments and taking over a campus building. As 
The Free Press reported yesterday, Trump’s antisemitism task force is 
looking into more than $5 billion in federal grant commitments to 
Columbia as part of the review—led by the Department of Health and Human 
Services, the Department of Education, and the General Services 
Administration.

The investigation follows a “Dear Colleague” letter sent by the 
Department of Education’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 
two weeks ago which warned universities that the department “will no 
longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has 
become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions.” The letter 
states the department will “vigorously enforce the law on equal terms” 
to any K-12 or higher education institution which receives federal funding.

https://www.thefp.com/p/exclusive-doj-opens-antisemitism