LOS ANGELES (BN24)— The Trump administration has suspended $584 million in federal research grants for UCLA, nearly double the figure previously reported, marking the first time a public university has faced such a freeze over allegations of civil rights violations tied to antisemitism and affirmative action.
Chancellor Julio Frenk confirmed the suspension Wednesday, warning the loss of funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Energy would have far-reaching consequences beyond California.
“If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation,” Frenk said in a statement, citing the groundbreaking scientific, medical, and technological advances the university has produced.
The Education Department did not respond to requests for comment.
The freeze follows a Justice Department Civil Rights Division finding that UCLA violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by showing “deliberate indifference” in fostering a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.
That determination came alongside a $6 million settlement UCLA reached with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who alleged the university allowed pro-Palestinian protesters to block access to classes and campus facilities last year.
UCLA has pledged to improve campus safety and inclusivity. The settlement requires the school to contribute $2.3 million to eight organizations combating antisemitism and to create an Office of Campus and Community Safety with new protest management policies. Frenk, whose father and grandparents fled Nazi Germany and whose wife is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, also launched an initiative to fight antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on campus.
James B. Milliken, president of the University of California system, said the UC is in talks with the administration over the allegations but criticized the funding cuts.
“These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism,” Milliken said. “Moreover, the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored.” He called the suspended funding “a death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security.”
The administration’s move follows a similar high-profile case at Columbia University, which agreed last month to pay $200 million to settle federal antidiscrimination allegations and saw $400 million in research funding restored. Officials have said the Columbia deal is serving as a model for other universities, pairing large financial penalties with compliance mandates.
The UCLA freeze is the latest escalation in the administration’s use of funding as leverage in disputes with higher education institutions over civil rights enforcement. Administration officials have said they intend to expand such measures to other schools facing similar allegations.
