The Trump administration has escalated its campaign against prominent U.S. universities, demanding more than $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to restore research funding. Officials accuse the university of antisemitism over its handling of 2024 student protests related to the Gaza crisis.
According to a draft settlement obtained by The New York Times, the deal would require UCLA to pay the U.S. government $1 billion and contribute an additional $172 million to a claims fund for “victims of civil rights violations.” This amount is five times larger than what Columbia University agreed to in a similar settlement.
If accepted, the agreement would mark the largest payout by any university under the Trump administration’s crackdown on antisemitism. Columbia previously paid $221 million, while Brown University committed $50 million toward state workforce initiatives.
UCLA Warns of Financial Devastation
University of California President James B. Milliken confirmed on Friday that the institution had “just received a document from the Department of Justice and is reviewing it.”
He warned that such a massive payment would cripple the university system. “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,” Milliken stated.
Shift in Target: From Private Elites to UCLA
Since taking office, President Trump has primarily focused on elite private universities, calling the effort a fight against antisemitism and an attempt to reform institutions he views as “cathedrals of liberalism.”
The attention on UCLA intensified on July 29, just one day after it settled a lawsuit alleging that pro-Palestinian protesters were allowed to block Jewish students on campus. That same week, UCLA Chancellor Dr. Julio Frenk reported that the federal government had started freezing research funding.
The move also fits a broader pattern of the Trump administration’s confrontations with California, home to one of his chief political rivals—Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential presidential contender.
Newsom Vows to Resist Federal Pressure
Governor Newsom, who serves on the University of California’s Board of Regents, rejected the settlement demands. “I will fight like hell to make sure that doesn’t happen,” he declared. “There are principles. There’s right and wrong, and we’ll do the right thing, and what President Trump is doing is wrong, and everybody knows it.”
He urged the university not to compromise under pressure, saying he would “do everything in my power to encourage them to do the right thing and not to become another law firm that bends on their knees, another company that sells their soul, or another institution that takes a shortcut and takes the easy wrong versus the hard right.”
UCLA Open to Dialogue But Firm on Principles
While resisting the financial demands, UCLA has expressed willingness to talk. Milliken stated on Wednesday that the institution agreed “to engage in dialogue with the federal administration.”
However, he criticised the approach, saying, “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 been ignored.”
