The Trump administration has pulled $200 million in federal research funding from UCLA after the Justice Department (DOJ) determined that the university violated civil rights for Jewish students.
Earlier this week, it was reported that UCLA had settled a lawsuit initiated by Jewish students, quickly revealing that the DOJ had found violations related to Article 14 and the Civil Rights Act.
According to reports, in April 2024, UCLA allowed anti-Israel activists to set up “camps” on the campus, surrounding them with metal barricades and permitting patrols by the activists.
These activists allegedly prevented Jewish students from crossing areas unless they renounced their support for Israel. There were even reports of assaults on people, including a journalist exercising his first amendment rights.
Halham Dillon, leading the Civil Rights Division at the DOJ, has been reviewing findings from a federal investigation into anti-Semitism at UCLA.
“The department found that UCLA’s handling of the protest camps was willfully indifferent to the threatening environment faced by Jewish and Israeli students, violating both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” she indicated. The university was encouraged to seek a voluntary resolution before any further legal steps.
The Trump administration acted without waiting for those legal proceedings to unfold.
A report stated that UCLA received communication from Prime Minister Julio Frenk about the federal government suspending its research funding.
UCLA has been informed that funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, among other agencies, has been halted. This follows a letter from the DOJ to UC President Michael Drake, outlining UCLA’s alleged violations of federal civil rights laws regarding the treatment of Jewish and Israeli students during the Palestinian solidarity camps.
Frenk mentioned in an email that the government cited “anti-Semitism and prejudice” as reasons for the funding suspension, while expressing UCLA’s commitment to “eliminating anti-Semitism throughout society.”
The situation escalated to the point where UCLA struggled to safeguard Jewish students, reportedly prioritizing the protection of anti-Israel extremists until local Jewish neighbors intervened.
