UCLA Launches Anti-Semitism Initiative After Trump Admin Cuts Federal Funds to Columbia University
The University of California, Los Angeles, has announced a new initiative to combat anti-Semitism, coming shortly after the Trump administration revoked approximately $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University for failing to address anti-Semitism on its campus.
Last Friday, the Department of Education announced that federal grants and contracts allocated to Columbia had been immediately canceled “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The department added that “these cancellations represent the first round of action and additional cancellations are expected to follow.”
Following this announcement, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk unveiled a new university initiative, stating, “UCLA is at an inflection point. Building on past efforts and lessons, we must now push ourselves to extinguish antisemitism, completely and definitively. The principles on which UCLA was founded — and which we continue to advance — point us toward a clear course of action: We must persevere in our fight to end hate, however it manifests itself. This is an opportunity for UCLA to rise to the challenge of being an exemplary university.”
UCLA previously faced legal scrutiny last August when a federal court issued an injunction barring the university from permitting and aiding anti-Semitic protesters who were blocking Jewish students from campus. According to The Daily Wire, this was the first such injunction against a university for anti-Semitic encampments.
President Donald Trump has emphasized his administration’s commitment to cracking down on pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic activities on college campuses. On Monday, the administration sent letters to 60 colleges, warning them of “potential enforcement” regarding anti-Semitic activism.
“We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, antisemitic, anti-American activity,” the president said in a post on social media. “We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again.”
