There are 2,500 Jewish Students at UCLA, representing 8% of the student body, and 500 Jewish graduate students, comprising 3% of the graduate student population. There is a Hillel, Chabad, Jewish Greek life organizations, the Nazarian Center for Israel Studies and the Leve Center for Jewish Studies.

What’s Happening on Campus?

In December 2023, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced it was opening a Title VI investigation into antisemitic and Islamophobic activities on campus. Jewish and pro-Israel professors, especially in the medical school, have reported experiencing harassment, both by students and faculty members, on and off campus.

In February 2024, the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council and the UCLA Graduate Student Association passed resolutions endorsing BDS.

Following the October 7 terrorist attack, the Undergraduate Students Assocation Council’s Cultural Affairs Commission posted a statement on Instagram that stated: "We also stand on the grounds that decolonization is not a metaphor. Thus, we honor the Palestinians on the frontlines taking their land and sovereignty back! From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free."

In November 2023, the UCLA chapter of the UC Divest Coalition and SJP UCLA reportedly organized a “UC Divest” rally on Bruin Plaza which included marching through Bunche Hall, disrupting classes, striking a piñata with a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and students chanting “Israel, Israel you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” That same month, a swastika was found carved into a tree and a sign was displayed on campus that read: "Israel has managed to turn Jews into Nazis!"

Prior to October 7, SJP at UCLA signed a “Letter of Solidarity with SJP at UIC [the University of Illinois at Chicago]” alongside other anti-Zionist groups to demand their universities suspend Israel study abroad programs. Incidents targeting the Jewish campus community, reflecting both antisemitism and extreme anti-Israel bias, have also impacted the campus for years prior to October 7.

In April 2024, pro-Palestinian protestors set up an encampment at the University. During the course of the encampment, several troubling incidents occurred, including UCLA Divest using paraglider imagery on social media and a Jewish student reporting being physically assaulted. In May 2024, UCLA academic workers joined other UC campuses in striking following the dismantling of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on campus.

University Policies and Responsive Action

UCLA is in the process of launching a Task Force on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Hostility, which will bring together campus experts and leaders to address campus antisemitism. Additionally, UCLA’s Initiative to Study Hate and the UCLA Research Hub on Antisemitism will address antisemitism.

Following the Student Government BDS resolutions, UCLA issued a statement affirming that the “resolutions run counter to the position of the University of California and UCLA.”

In 2018, UCLA sent a cease-and-desist letter to National Students for Justice in Palestine for using a logo that featured the UCLA Bruin Bear in promotional materials for their national conference hosted on campus.

After October 7, the University also implemented additional security resources to support the Jewish campus community and helped establish reflection spaces for Jewish groups and students.

Initially, the UCLA administration adopted a passive approach to the situation on campus in April 2024, even with high tensions between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel protestors. The encampment was only disbanded after a series of violent clashes took place.

*On April 11, 2024, UCLA was graded a "D"; in light of new information or events, the grade was changed to an "F" on June 18, 2024.