The University of California, Los Angeles, announced Wednesday the Trump administration has frozen $584 million in research funds after the federal government launched an investigation into antisemitism at the institution earlier this year.
“Currently, a total of approximately $584 million in extramural award funding is suspended and at risk,” said Julio Frenk, chancellor of the university, in a letter that went out to the community. “If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation.”
James Milliken, president of the University of California system, said the cuts “would be a death knell” to the work of the institution, with the funding pause mostly targeting research areas that receive funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Department of Energy.
“These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism,” Milliken said. “Moreover, the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored.”
The institution’s goal is to get the funding restored, working with the Trump administration toward a deal.
“We are doing everything we can to protect the interests of faculty, students and staff — and to defend our values and principles,” Frenk said. “The UC Board of Regents and the UC Office of the President are providing counsel as we actively evaluate our best course of action.”
The investigation from the Trump administration came after UCLA entered a $6 million settlement over antisemitism on campus and the university’s handling of pro-Palestinian protests.
Another deal on the horizon is likely to make higher education nervous as Columbia University and Brown University made numerous concessions in their agreement with the Trump administration, such as big payouts and commitments to how their admissions and hiring will operate.
The Trump administration is still in talks with Harvard University to strike a deal with more than $3 billion pulled from its institution.
