The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, together with Olivier & Schreiber PC, has filed a lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley in California Superior Court. The case alleges that the university discriminated against Israeli academic Dr. Yael Nativ when it rejected her teaching application due to her national origin.
Dr. Nativ, a dance researcher and sociologist, previously served as a visiting professor at UC Berkeley in 2022. Following her successful semester, faculty at the Helen Diller Institute for Jewish Law and Israel Studies invited her to apply to return for the 2024-2025 school year, this time in the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies. According to the complaint, Dr. Nativ’s application was rejected specifically because she is Israeli. The department chair allegedly told her, “Things are very hot here \[on campus] right now and many of our grad students are angry. I would be putting the department and you in a terrible position if you taught here.”
An investigation by Berkeley’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment & Discrimination later confirmed that Dr. Nativ was subjected to national origin discrimination, in violation of the school’s own policies. Despite this finding, the university has not taken corrective action in the 21 months since her application was denied.
“Institutions like Berkeley pride themselves on welcoming diverse academics,” said Hon. Kenneth L. Marcus, chairman and CEO of the Brandeis Center. “Yet since the Hamas attacks on October 7th, Jewish and Israeli professors have been unfairly targeted. For a university to deny the invitation of a respected professor simply because of her national origin is not only distasteful, it’s illegal.”
This lawsuit follows a separate case filed in 2023, in which the Brandeis Center accused UC Berkeley of enabling widespread antisemitism on campus. In April 2025, a district court allowed that lawsuit to proceed, finding sufficient claims of civil rights and equal protection violations.
Dr. Nativ’s case, according to the Brandeis Center, is part of a broader trend of discriminatory actions against Israeli academics at leading universities across the United States. The Center has filed multiple lawsuits addressing similar allegations at institutions including MIT, Stanford, UCLA, Columbia, and Harvard.