Published by JNS on 12/10/2025 The Regents of the University of California, a 26-person body that governs the public school system, agreed on Wednesday to pay $116,000 to Yael Nativ, an Israeli dance instructor, and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to settle a lawsuit alleging anti-Israel bias. The center and the professor alleged in the suit that the University of California, Berkeley rejected Nativ’s application to be a visiting professor in the 2024-25 academic year due to her Israeli nationality. She taught at the school in 2022. Nativ sued in Alameda County Superior Court in August, after Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination found in September 2024 that the school had discriminated against her. Paul Eckles, senior litigation counsel at the Brandeis Center, told JNS that the suit was “a fairly simple case” with “really a straightforward application of employment law.” “Our client had been a visiting professor. She had a successful first experience there and had been invited to return, but then, following Oct. 7, when things heated up on the campus, her application to return was denied,” he said. “The university’s discrimination office investigated and determined that she, in fact, was a victim of national origin discrimination.” Eckles told JNS that it is “troubling” that the university didn’t take any further action and that Nativ’s pleas for it to do so “fell on deaf ears.” “It’s sad that it took a lawsuit to get this addressed, but Berkeley ultimately did the right thing,” he said. “We’re gratified that we were able to bring her some justice.” The agreement states that the university’s governing body “denies liability.” “In order to avoid the substantial expense and inconvenience of further litigation, the parties now desire to fully and finally settle all claims on the terms set forth in this agreement,” the agreement states. Per the agreement, the regents will pay Nativ $60,000, as well as $56,000 in fees to the Brandeis Center and the firm Olivier and Schreiber. “UC Berkeley affirms that an employee violated UC Berkeley’s policy against discrimination with respect to employee,” the agreement states. “UC Berkeley further affirms that UC Berkeley’s policies do not permit discrimination based upon Israeli national origin or Israeli citizenship and that it will enforce its policies based on that understanding.” The university also commits to invite Nativ to teach the course that “she would have taught in fall 2024” in “the next semester of her choosing, either spring semester 2026 or fall semester 2026, spring semester 2027 or fall semester 2027 and “will compensate her at the standard rate for the course that she teaches.” It also commits to having Rich Lyons, the Berkeley chancellor, “personally apologize” to Nativ for “the discrimination against her, either in person or on a Zoom or phone call.” “The excellence of Dr. Nativ’s teaching was never in question, and UC Berkeley appreciates Dr. Nativ’s willingness to teach the course despite the discrimination that OPHD found to have occurred,” the university stated. “I respect and appreciate Dr. Nativ’s decision to settle this case,” Lyons stated. “She is owed the apology I will provide on behalf of our campus. We look forward to welcoming Dr. Nativ back to Berkeley to teach again.” ‘Everything we were demanding’ The Brandeis Center opted to settle, because Berkeley “ultimately agreed to all of the relief we were seeking,” Eckles told JNS. “We had tried to get them to do the right thing before filing suit and couldn’t get them to respond, but once we filed suit, they quickly acknowledged the violation and essentially agreed to everything we were demanding,” he said. JNS asked why the Brandeis Center agreed to the $116,000 figure. “It was a product of the amount that she would have made if she had taught the course that she got disinvited to teach,” as well as damages of emotional distress and the legal fees that Nativ incurred from taking legal action, Eckles said. The settlement sets a precedent that, even though “there’s a lot of rancor” out there that is “anti-Zionist” and “anti-Israel,” universities “can’t discriminate against people based on their national origin,” Eckles said. “National origin is a protected category, and you cannot discriminate against people based on where they’re from, regardless of what you think about any other issue, and on that point the law is crystal clear,” he added. “That’s what our lawsuit was based on, and that’s what Berkeley acknowledged as well.” Nativ stated that “institutions of higher education bear a fundamental responsibility to uphold the values of equity, inquiry and open dialogue.” “Incidents of discrimination of any kind must have no place within environments dedicated to learning and the free exchange of ideas,” she added. “It is my hope that this outcome contributes to strengthening these commitments for all scholars and students.” Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman of the Brandeis Center and former U.S. assistant secretary of education for civil rights, stated that “every individual has the right to learn, to teach and to thrive in an educational environment without fear of discrimination, harassment or persecution.” “UC Berkeley is now taking targeted and appropriate action regarding the discrimination that our client experienced,” he stated. “While there is still much more work to be done on this campus to confront growing antisemitic discrimination and harassment, including in connection with our pending lawsuit on behalf of Berkeley Jewish students, these steps mark an important development.” A separate lawsuit the Brandeis Center filed against the university in November 2023 remains ongoing.