The Trump administration has frozen hundreds of science, health and other federal grants to UCLA, nearly $200 million, with the alleged “discrimination” at universities and “didn’t promote an anti-Semitism-free research environment.”
The decision to withdraw funds comes after Atty. Gen.Pam Bondi and the Justice Department said this week that UCLA will pay a “heavy price” with “deliberate indifference” to the civil rights of Jews and Israelis who have called for Hamas on Israel to attack Israel, a campus protest of annual protests on Gaza and campus.
The cancellation of the grant is the first large-scale targeted funding clawback against UCLA under the Trump administration. Up until now, the White House has focused primarily on attempts to revamp higher education in elite East Coast schools such as Columbia, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania. Each has reached deals with the government over issues such as enrollment, Jewish student life, student discipline, anti-Semitism training, and gender identity in sports.
In a letter to UCLA Prime Minister Julio Frenk, dated Wednesday, the National Science Foundation wrote that the grant is ending because “University of California – Los Angeles continues to engage in racism, including the admissions process, and other areas of student life.”
An estimated 300 NSF grant totaling $180 million has been cancelled. Approximately half of the funds have already been distributed. Before the letter was released on Thursday, researchers expected the other half to follow.
In a letter to the University Community Thursday, Frenk wrote that the cancelled grants came from NSF, NIH and other federal agencies, but he did not give any amounts or list them in other agencies. The partial list of termination grants reviewed by the Times has now reached around $200 million. This list was provided by sources that were not authorized to share information.
Frenk called the government’s decision “deeply sad” and “the loss of Americans across the country where jobs, health and the future depend on the work we do.”
“In a notice to us, the federal government has argued anti-Semitism and prejudice as reasons,” Frenck wrote. “This widespread penalty in life-saving research rebates does nothing to address suspicious discrimination.”
A spokesman for the NSF and NIH did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
The federal government’s decision to separate UCLA from critical federal funds follows a playbook similar to its deal with Ivy League agencies.
This spring, the Trump administration cancelled billions of dollars with federal grants to Harvard. This sued in federal court to reverse termination and stop Trump from moving to rescind his ability to host international students. Harvard is separate in negotiations with the White House to end the legal battle.
Columbia University this month agreed to pay more than $200 million to the federal government in response to the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests to resolve investigations into alleged anti-Semitism. On Wednesday, Brown University signed a $50 million contract with the White House. Brown’s payments go to the Rhode Island Workforce Development Program.
The Justice Department said this week that UCLA was found guilty of violating the civil rights of Jews and Israeli students. The department also indicated it would like to negotiate with the university to avoid federal lawsuits.
The department gave UCLA a deadline for Tuesday and expressed its desire to negotiate. If not, DOJ said he was ready to sue by September 2nd.
In a statement, the University of California was unclear whether it would calm down or go to court.
“UCLA is working on it and will continue to address the issues raised in [the] Stet Holbrook, associate director of strategic and critical communications, wrote a statement Wednesday. He cited the $6.45 million settlement the university reached with Jewish students who accused the 2024 camp of camps discriminated against them.
“We are fully working with the Department of Justice investigation and are reviewing the findings in detail,” Holbrook wrote.
In his Thursday letter, Frenk shot back against Cut.
“Let’s be clear: federal research grants are not handouts. Our researchers are fiercely competing for these grants, suggesting jobs that the government itself considers to be essential for the future of the country’s health, safety and economics,” he writes.
“Grants will lead to medical breakthroughs, economic progress, improved national security, and increased global competitiveness. These are national priorities,” wrote Frenck, adding, “We are proactively evaluating the best course of action. As decisions progress, it will be constant communication.”
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