- Emily Wong | Staff
- Aug 11, 2025 (DailyCal.org)
President Donald Trump’s administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the university to restore frozen research grant funding — the most the administration has publicly sought from a university in a recent series of settlements.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and others labeled the proposed settlement an “unprecedented assault on academic freedom” in a joint statement released Aug. 8.
This move follows the suspension of $584 million in federal funding to UCLA after the U.S. Department of Justice, or DOJ, announced it found that UCLA was “deliberately indifferent to a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI” in a July 29 press release.
The UC system may face a lawsuit by Sept. 2 if an agreement is not reached, according to a July 29 DOJ letter to then-UC President Michael Drake. The proposed settlement follows other settlements reached between the Trump administration and Ivy League institutions, including a $50 million settlement with Brown University and a $221 million settlement with Columbia University.
The UC Board of Regents convened an emergency meeting Aug. 11 to discuss “External Funding Litigation and Legal Issues,” according to the meeting agenda. A statement released by UC Senior Vice President of External Relations & Communications Meredith Vivian Turner described the proposed settlement payment as “devastating.”
“UC’s leadership spent recent days evaluating the demand, updating the UC community, and engaging with stakeholders,” Turner said in the statement. “Our focus remains on protecting students’ access to a UC education and promoting the academic freedom, excellence, and innovation that have always been at the heart of UC’s work.”
The joint statement released by Newsom and others claimed the DOJ’s actions “punish” California students and threaten to “cripple life-saving research,” warning that the payment would “devastate” the UC system and “sabotage” innovations that serve the nation.
The UC system contributes $82 billion to the U.S. economy each year, supporting more than 500,000 jobs nationwide, according to the statement.
“Trump has weaponized the Department of Justice to punish California, crush free thinking, and kneecap the greatest public university system in the world,” Newsom and others said in the statement.
Investigations have also been launched into UC Berkeley, whose Chancellor Rich Lyons testified before the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce on July 15 regarding campus’s response to alleged antisemitism. Presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University were previously called to testify before this committee, and their institutions have also faced billions of dollars of federal funding cuts.
Lyons acknowledged during the hearing that the country, as well as UC Berkeley, has seen a “disturbing rise in antisemitism,” stating that it is imperative that his campus works to protect its community from discrimination and harassment.
The university maintains it has taken action to end antisemitism on its campuses through reforms and programs promoting safety and combating “all forms of harassment and discrimination,” according to a UC web page titled “Combating antisemitism”. UC Berkeley has increased funding to the Antisemitism Education Initiative and developed mandatory antisemitism training for first-year students, leaders and residential assistants, according to the webpage.
“Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that save lives, grow the U.S. economy, and protect our national security,” UC President James Milliken said in an Aug. 8 statement responding to the DOJ’s proposed $1 billion settlement.
