UCLA has agreed to pay over $6 million to settle discrimination complaints stemming from last year’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations, in which Jewish students and faculty were allegedly prevented from accessing classrooms, the library and other campus locations.

The agreement stems from a federal lawsuit filed in June 2024 in which two law students and an undergraduate alleged the university allowed a group of students and outsiders to set up a pro-Palestinian encampment that forcibly kept Jewish students and faculty from accessing critical parts of campus.

UCLA allegedly reinforced the pro-Palestinian zones — both by providing metal barriers and by sending away Jewish students and faculty —while taking no effective action to ensure safe passage for the students, the suit says.

The settlement requires UCLA to pay $6.13 million, including damages to each of the plaintiffs, $2.33 million in charitable contributions to eight organizations that support the Jewish community, and attorneys’ fees and costs.

UCLA also agreed to a permanent court order preventing it from facilitating efforts to exclude Jewish students and faculty from campus.

The agreement is believed to be the largest private settlement in a campus antisemitism case, plaintiffs’ attorneys said.

UC Board of Regents Chair Janet Reilly said in a statement the university recognized where it went wrong.

“Antisemitism, harassment, and other forms of intimidation are antithetical to our values and have no place at the University of California,” Reilly said. “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,” she said.

In the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing warfare, pro-Palestinian demonstrations emerged on college campuses nationwide. Attorneys for the plaintiffs alleged in court papers that by allowing the encampment on the Westwood campus, UCLA caused Jewish students and faculty to be barred from accessing parts of the campus “unless they agreed to disavow Israel’s right to exist.”

According to the plaintiffs, the activists — many of them masked —used checkpoints, issued wrist bands, built barriers, and often locked arms to prevent Jewish students from passing through.

For a week, the lawsuit said, UCLA’s administration was aware of these practices and chose to let them persist. The suit contends that rather than clearing the encampment, UCLA instructed security staff to discourage unapproved students from attempting to cross through the areas blocked by the activists.

“When antisemites were terrorizing Jews and excluding them from campus, UCLA chose to protect the thugs and help keep Jews out,” said plaintiff Yitzchok Frankel, a recent UCLA Law graduate. “That was shameful, and it is sad that my own school defended those actions for more than a year. But today’s court judgment brings justice back to our campus and ensures Jews will be safe and be treated equally once again.”

The settlement comes nearly a year after U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi ordered UCLA to stop assisting antisemitic agitators who set up a “Jew Exclusion Zone” on campus, blocking Jews from accessing classes, the library, and other critical areas of campus.

Police ultimately dismantled the UCLA encampment in an overnight operation that saw more than 200 people arrested.

Supporters of the demonstrators have accused officials of ignoring a violent attack on the encampment by counterprotesters on April 30, 2024, while being quick to arrest those sympathetic to the Palestinians.

The agreement, which would be in effect for 15 years, is awaiting approval by Scarsi, who is overseeing the case.