The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) faces a fine of $1 billion from the White House for civil rights and affirmative action violations stemming chiefly from anti-Israel demonstrations during the past year.
According to The Associated Press, “UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action.”
The university reported that $584 million in federal grants were suspended by the White House earlier in the week. The cause behind this suspension was the university allegedly “acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students,” according to the White House. This is in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
James B. Milliken, the president of the University of California, wrote in a statement Friday about the university’s intention to engage with the Department of Education in negotiations.
“Earlier this week, we offered to engage in good faith dialogue with the Department to protect the University and its critical research mission,” he 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.”
In an earlier statement, Milliken condemned the $584 million withholding. “Our immediate goal is to see the $584 million in suspended and at-risk federal funding restored to the university as soon as possible,” he said.
As with Columbia University, which is in the process of negotiating with the White House to regain federal funding, UCLA had an encampment protest in 2024 over the Israel-Hamas conflict that caused considerable disruption. The university has since donated $2.3 million to eight pro-Jewish organizations to combat antisemitism.
