(KTLA) The Trump administration is targeting UCLA again for the second time in a week, seeking to force the school to pay a $1 billion fine for alleged antisemitism on campus.
The news broke Friday, a week after grant funding to the university was frozen.
The Los Angeles Times reports that the federal government’s proposal would restore that grant funding, worth more than $500 million, in exchange for the $1 billion fine.
University of California System President James Milliken confirmed that they’ve “just received a document from the Department of Justice and [are] reviewing it.”
“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.”
The announcement of the $1 billion figure comes just one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said the University of California system should not be “on their knees” to kowtow to President Donald Trump and his allies.
Schools like Brown and Columbia already reached deals with the Trump administration over alleged antisemitism, but Newsom rejected that idea.
“We’re not Brown, we’re not Columbia, and I’m not going to be governor if we act like that,” Newsom said, as reported by the Times. “Period. Full stop, I will fight like hell to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
