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The University of California, Berkeley, will pay $1 million and make changes to its policies on antisemitism after settling a lawsuit with the Brandeis Center. The $1 million penalty will act as a reimbursement to the Brandeis Center for outside attorneys’ fees.
Under the settlement, UC Berkeley is to prohibit discrimination and harassment based on an individual’s actual or perceived religion, shared ancestry, shared ethnicity and/or national or ethnic origin, specifically Jewish or Israeli. The university has also agreed to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. However, in a statement released by UC Berkeley after the settlement, the university said it had an “existing practice” of considering the IHRA definition of antisemitism in its reviews of allegations of antisemitism.
The university will also clarify on its Office for Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD) website that “bans on Zionists have historically been used by some individuals and institutions as a pretext for excluding Jews,” according to the settlement. This includes reviewing whether Zionism or the term “Zionists” is used as a “proxy” for Jews or Israelis.
“This settlement reflects UC Berkeley’s long-standing values and objectives when it comes to combating abhorrent antisemitic expression, harassment, and discrimination when it occurs on the Berkeley campus,” UC Berkeley said in a statement.
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Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment during a demonstration in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024 in Berkeley, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The university also noted that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recently described Jewish life at UC Berkeley as “excellent” in its Campus Antisemitism Report Card. The ADL gave UC Berkeley a “B” grade on its 2026 report card, showing improvement from the “C” it received in 2025 and the “D” grade it got in 2024.
“What happened at Berkeley is a cautionary tale. Universities, unions, corporations, and political parties cannot create an anti-Zionist exception to their conduct codes. They cannot silence Jewish Americans on the pretext of advancing their own political agendas. As we have now seen time and again, if left unaddressed antisemitic bigotry, whether or not masked as anti-Zionism, only continues to expand,” Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education who ran the Office for Civil Rights said in a statement.
Paul Eckles, senior litigation counsel at the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, told Digital that the settlement marked a “major milestone” in combating antisemitism, but that it “is not the finish line.”
The lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2023, alleged widespread antisemitic harassment of Jewish students at UC Berkeley in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel. The suit described several stories of students’ experiences with antisemitic harassment at UC Berkeley.
A UC Berkeley student, who was draped in an Israeli flag, was attacked by two protesters who hit him in the head with a metal water bottle, according to the lawsuit. In another instance, a Jewish graduate student was the victim of a break-in and was left a note that said “F–k the Jews, Free Palestine from the River to the Sea.” The lawsuit also noted that “many Jewish students are afraid to go to class.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters carry signs as they march in front of Sather Gate on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024 in Berkeley, Calif. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
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There were also instances in which protesters blocked Jewish students, spat at them and used ethnic slurs, including “dirty Zionist,” the lawsuit states. It noted that students were often targeted if rioters knew they were Jewish or if they were wearing Stars of David or yarmulkes.
Eckles praised the Jewish students who came forward to tell their stories of experiencing antisemitic harassment only for their complaints to be ignored.
“I think it was the power of their stories and just the clear impact that real tangible antisemitism had on them and their experience at the school that ultimately paved the way for the settlement and convinced UC Berkeley to adopt the reforms in the agreement,” Eckles said.
Two Jewish professors’ experiences were also included in the suit. In one case, a Jewish professor received an email “calling for his gassing and murder,” according to the lawsuit. The other Jewish professor was a vandalism victim with graffiti messages calling him a terrorist.
The lawsuit also mentioned an instance on Feb. 26, 2024, in which a student group known as Bears for Palestine succeeded in a plan to shut down a speaking engagement organized by Jewish students. The speaker was Ran Bar Yoshafat, an Israel Defense Forces reservist and lawyer. As the “violent mob” shut down the event, a rioter spat on a Jewish student and called him a “dirty Jew,” according to the lawsuit.
With a background of tents, boards covered with painting and fliers of support for Palestinians surround Sproul Hall on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, where pro-Palestinian supporters have set up tents and a perimeter of barriers, photographed May 4, 2024 in Berkeley, Calif. (Jay L. Clendenin/Getty Images)
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Shortly after entering office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at combating antisemitism. Additionally, in February 2025, the Justice Department formed a task force specifically focused on fighting antisemitism. Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Leo Terrell was tapped to head the task force.
