The Trump administration called on UCLA Friday to pay more than $1 billion to settle allegations that it violated the rights of Jewish and Israeli students, according to a report out today.
According to a draft of a proposed settlement sent to the university Friday and obtained by CNN, the university would be required to pay the federal government $1 billion in various installments, as well as establish a $172 million claims fund for people impacted by the university’s alleged civil rights violations.
The proposal would also require the appointment of a monitor to oversee the university’s operations and the establishment of a senior administrator focused on compliance with anti-discrimination laws, CNN reported.
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University of California system President James B. Milliken issued a statement acknowledging that the university had received the $1 billion proposal from the Department of Justice and it is under review, but said such an amount would “devastate” the system.
“Earlier this week, we offered to engage in good faith dialogue with the Department to protect the university and its critical research mission,” Milliken said. “As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians. Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that saves lives, grows the U.S. economy, and protects our national security.”
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On July 29, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had determined that UCLA violated the rights of Jewish and Israeli students by failing to “adequately respond to complaints of severe, pervasive and objectively offensive harassment and abuse” between Oct. 7, 2023, and the present.
“Our investigation into the University of California system has found concerning evidence of systemic antisemitism at UCLA that demands severe accountability from the institution,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand: DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system.”
Days later, the administration announced it was freezing millions of dollars in UCLA medical and science research grants. According to the Los Angeles Times, the National Science Foundation informed UCLA in a letter that it was terminating the grants because the university “continues to engage in race discrimination including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life.”
Some UCLA students had complained of antisemitic incidents on the campus since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The complaints increased during Israel’s ensuing war in Gaza and campus protests that escalated and included a large pro-Palestinian encampment that was ultimately dismantled in an overnight police raid that ended with hundreds of arrests.
In a statement last week, Milliken said the freezing of research grants affected a total of $584 million in suspended and at-risk funds. He said the UC system had agreed to “engage in dialogue with the federal administration” about the decision to freeze the research funding — a move that Milliken said was a “death knell” for critical research.
“Our immediate goal is to see the $584 million in suspended and at-risk federal funding restored to the university as soon as possible,” Milliken said. “These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism. Moreover, the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored. The announced cuts would be a death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security. It is in our country’s best interest that funding be restored.”
UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said previously the decision to freeze the grants was “a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on the groundbreaking work we do.”
“With this decision, hundreds of grants may be lost, adversely affecting the lives and life-changing work of UCLA researchers, faculty and staff,” Frenk said. “In its notice to us, the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons. This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination.
“We share the goal of eradicating antisemitism across society. Antisemitism has no place on our campus, nor does any form of discrimination. We recognize that we can improve, and I am committed to doing so. Confronting the scourge of antisemitism effectively calls for thoughtfulness, commitment, and sustained effort — and UCLA has taken robust actions to make our campus a safe and welcoming environment for all students.”
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