UC Berkeley to pay $1M, overhaul insurance policies after antisemitism lawsuit settlement

The College of California, Berkeley, can pay $1 million and make adjustments to its insurance policies on antisemitism after settling a lawsuit with the Brandeis Heart. The $1 million penalty will act as a reimbursement to the Brandeis Heart for out of doors attorneys’ charges.

Underneath the settlement, UC Berkeley is to prohibit discrimination and harassment based mostly on a person’s precise or perceived faith, shared ancestry, shared ethnicity and/or nationwide or ethnic origin, particularly Jewish or Israeli. The college has additionally agreed to undertake the Worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

Nonetheless, in an announcement launched by UC Berkeley after the settlement, the college mentioned it had an “present observe” of contemplating the IHRA definition of antisemitism in its critiques of allegations of antisemitism.

The college may also make clear on its Workplace for Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) web site that “bans on Zionists have traditionally been utilized by some people and establishments as a pretext for excluding Jews,” in accordance with the settlement. This consists of reviewing whether or not Zionism or the time period “Zionists” is used as a “proxy” for Jews or Israelis.

“This settlement displays UC Berkeley’s long-standing values and targets on the subject of combating abhorrent antisemitic expression, harassment, and discrimination when it happens on the Berkeley campus,” UC Berkeley mentioned in an announcement.

The college additionally famous that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) lately described Jewish life at UC Berkeley as “wonderful” in its Campus Antisemitism Report Card. The ADL gave UC Berkeley a “B” grade on its 2026 report card, exhibiting enchancment from the “C” it acquired in 2025 and the “D” grade it acquired in 2024.

“What occurred at Berkeley is a cautionary story. Universities, unions, companies, and political events can’t create an anti-Zionist exception to their conduct codes. They can’t silence Jewish Individuals on the pretext of advancing their very own political agendas. As now we have now seen again and again, if left unaddressed antisemitic bigotry, whether or not or not masked as anti-Zionism, solely continues to develop,” Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Heart and the previous U.S. Assistant Secretary of Schooling who ran the Workplace for Civil Rights mentioned in an announcement.

Paul Eckles, senior litigation counsel on the Brandeis Heart for Human Rights Underneath Regulation, instructed Fox Information Digital that the settlement marked a “main milestone” in combating antisemitism, however that it “shouldn’t be the end line.”

The lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2023, alleged widespread antisemitic harassment of Jewish college students at UC Berkeley within the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist assault in Israel. The go well with described a number of tales of scholars’ experiences with antisemitic harassment at UC Berkeley.

A UC Berkeley pupil, who was draped in an Israeli flag, was attacked by two protesters who hit him within the head with a steel water bottle, in accordance with the lawsuit. In one other occasion, a Jewish graduate pupil was the sufferer of a break-in and was left a word that mentioned “F–okay the Jews, Free Palestine from the River to the Sea.” The lawsuit additionally famous that “many Jewish college students are afraid to go to class.”

There have been additionally cases during which protesters blocked Jewish college students, spat at them and used ethnic slurs, together with “soiled Zionist,” the lawsuit states. It famous that college students had been usually focused if rioters knew they had been Jewish or in the event that they had been sporting Stars of David or yarmulkes.

Eckles praised the Jewish college students who got here ahead to inform their tales of experiencing antisemitic harassment just for their complaints to be ignored.

“I believe it was the facility of their tales and simply the clear affect that actual tangible antisemitism had on them and their expertise on the college that finally paved the best way for the settlement and satisfied UC Berkeley to undertake the reforms within the settlement,” Eckles mentioned.

Two Jewish professors’ experiences had been additionally included within the go well with. In a single case, a Jewish professor acquired an e-mail “calling for his gassing and homicide,” in accordance with the lawsuit. The opposite Jewish professor was a vandalism sufferer with graffiti messages calling him a terrorist.

The lawsuit additionally talked about an occasion on Feb. 26, 2024, during which a pupil group generally known as Bears for Palestine succeeded in a plan to close down a talking engagement organized by Jewish college students. The speaker was Ran Bar Yoshafat, an Israel Protection Forces reservist and lawyer. Because the “violent mob” shut down the occasion, a rioter spat on a Jewish pupil and known as him a “soiled Jew,” in accordance with the lawsuit.

Shortly after getting into workplace, President Donald Trump signed an government order aimed toward combating antisemitism. Moreover, in February 2025, the Justice Division shaped a job power particularly targeted on combating antisemitism. Senior Counsel to the Assistant Legal professional Basic for Civil Rights Leo Terrell was tapped to move the duty power.

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