Trump administration UCLA settlement demand reaches $1 billion over antisemitism claims tied to 2024 Gaza protest response.
The Trump administration has turned its focus sharply toward the University of California, Los Angeles, demanding more than $1 billion to restore its research funding. The government has tied this unprecedented demand to claims of antisemitism at UCLA, linked to the university’s handling of the 2024 student protests over the Gaza crisis. If accepted, this settlement would be the largest payout by any university under the administration’s campaign against alleged antisemitism on campus.
The proposed figure is five times the amount Columbia University agreed to pay in a similar case. A draft settlement obtained by The New York Times outlines that UCLA would pay $1 billion to the federal government and contribute $172 million to a claims fund for “victims of civil rights violations.”
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If approved, the settlement would dwarf previous university payouts. Columbia University previously agreed to pay $221 million, while Brown University committed $50 million to state workforce programs.
University of California President James B. Milliken confirmed on Friday that the institution had received the Department of Justice document and was reviewing it. He warned that such a payment would devastate California’s public university system and harm students statewide.
Milliken stressed the university’s role as a steward of taxpayer resources and criticised the administration’s approach. “These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism,” he said, pointing to extensive anti-discrimination measures already in place across the UC system.
The Trump administration’s actions mark a shift from earlier focus on elite private universities to a direct attack on UCLA, one of the nation’s leading public institutions. The change came after UCLA settled a lawsuit accusing it of allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students.
The Justice Department alleged that UCLA committed civil rights violations, and within days, the federal government began freezing its research funds. This move fits a broader pattern of the administration’s tensions with California, whose governor, Gavin Newsom, remains one of President Trump’s fiercest political rivals.
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Governor Newsom vowed to oppose the federal demand, calling it “wrong” and promising to fight it “like hell.” He urged the university not to take the “easy wrong” of settling without challenge.
UCLA, however, signalled a willingness to engage in dialogue with federal officials, while maintaining strong criticism of funding cuts. Milliken, who assumed his role on August 1, reiterated that the university’s anti-antisemitism efforts have been ignored in the administration’s aggressive push.
