The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, a White House official said Friday, after the Department of Justice accused the school of antisemitism and other civil rights violations. <\/p>\n
UCLA is the first public university to be targeted by a widespread funding freeze over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has frozen or paused federal funding<\/a> over similar allegations against elite private colleges. In recent weeks, the administration has struck deals with Brown University for $50 million and Columbia University for $221 million but has explored larger settlements<\/a>, such as in its ongoing battle with Harvard University.<\/p>\n The White House official did not detail any additional demands the administration has made to UCLA or elaborate on the settlement amount. The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the request and spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n The Trump administration had suspended $584 million in federal grants<\/a> for UCLA, the university said this week. On July 29, the Department of Justice\u2019s Civil Rights Division issued a finding that UCLA violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 \u201cby acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.\u201d<\/p>\n The university had drawn widespread criticism for how it handled dispersing an encampment<\/a> of Israel-Hamas war protesters in 2024. One night, counterprotesters attacked the encampment, throwing traffic cones and firing pepper spray, with fighting that continued for hours, injuring more than a dozen people, before police stepped in. The next day, after hundreds defied orders to leave<\/a>, more than 200 people were arrested<\/a>. Later, Jewish students said demonstrators in encampments blocked them from getting to class.<\/p>\n An attack on California?<\/p>\n The University of California\u2019s president, James B. Milliken, said Friday the university had \u201cjust received\u201d a document from the Department of Justice and would review it. He said the size of the proposed settlement would \u201cdevastate\u201d the University of California, whose campuses are viewed as some of the top public colleges in the nation.<\/p>\n \u201cEarlier this week, we offered to engage in good faith dialogue with the Department to protect the University and its critical research mission,\u201d said Milliken, who started as president last week. \u201cAs a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country\u2019s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians.\u201d<\/p>\n California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday accused Trump of trying to silence academic freedom in his attack on such a prestigious public university system. <\/p>\n \u201cHe has threatened us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine unless we do his bidding,\u201d Newsom told reporters. Apparently referencing the settlements with Columbia and Brown, he added: \u201cWe will not be like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path.\u201d<\/p>\n The $1 billion demand in the UCLA settlement is linked to Newsom\u2019s status as one of Trump\u2019s most outspoken foes, said Peter McDonough, vice president and general counsel at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents.<\/p>\n \u201cAnyone who thinks this appalling demand is not blatantly political and ideological has their head in the sand,\u201c McDonough said. \u201cOf course it\u2019s influenced by the fact that UCLA sits within the California system and the California system sits within the state of California.\u201d<\/p>\n Settlements with Trump, and in court<\/p>\n The Trump administration has used its control of federal funding to push for reforms at elite colleges that the president decries as overrun by liberalism and antisemitism. The administration also has launched investigations into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, saying they discriminate against white and Asian American students.<\/p>\n Last month, Columbia University agreed to pay $200 million as part of a settlement to resolve investigations into the government\u2019s allegations that the school violated federal antidiscrimination laws. The agreement also restored more than $400 million in research grants. <\/p>\n The Trump administration is using its deal with Columbia as a template<\/a> for other universities, with financial penalties that are now seen as an expectation. For instance, the administration is pressing for a deal that would require Harvard to pay far more than Columbia\u2019s $200 million. Harvard leaders have been negotiating with the White House even as they battle in court<\/a> to regain access to billions in federal research funding terminated by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n UCLA has already reached one settlement about the 2024 protests. The university agreed last week to pay $6 million<\/a> to settle a lawsuit from three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who argued the university violated their civil rights by allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to block their access to classes and other areas on campus in 2024.<\/p>\n UCLA initially had argued that it had no legal responsibility over the issue because protesters, not the university, blocked Jewish students\u2019 access to areas. The university also worked with law enforcement to thwart attempts to set up new protest camps<\/a>.<\/p>\n