BERKELEY, CA — UC Berkeley has agreed to pay out $1 milion to settle a lawsuit accusing it of allowing students to create what a Zionist group claimed were antisemitic policies within campus organizations.
The university was sued by the Louis D. Brandeis Foundation, a Zionist organization, in 2023.
The foundation claimed the university discriminated against Jewish people by allowing student organizations to enact policies that barred Zionist speakers.
At least 20 organizations on campus had policies banning Zionist speakers, according to the Brandeis Center.
“Since this litigation was filed in 2023, the university has taken significant steps to build upon its existing policies, programs and practices that address discrimination and harassment against Jews and Israelis,” university officials said in a statement Wednesday, adding that the Anti-Defamation League has since described UC Berkeley as “excellent” in its latest Campus Antisemitism Report Card.
“UC Berkeley, under the leadership of Chancellor Rich Lyons, is committed to continuing those efforts that ensure Berkeley continues to be a positive environment for Jewish students,” university officials said.
The terms of the settlement include paying out $1 million to the defendants to reimburse them for legal fees and costs incurred during litigation.
The university will also have to continue combating antisemitism and teach the campus community about its dangers.
“This settlement addresses egregious anti-Semitic conduct on the Berkeley campus by ending the University’s toleration of exclusionary and discriminatory policies targeting ‘Zionists,” attorneys from Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and Torridon Law PLLC, outside counsel to the Brandeis Center, said in a statement. “We are proud to have represented the Brandeis Center and to have secured meaningful protections for Jewish and Israeli students at UC Berkeley.”