University of California rushes to gain back USD300M in research suspended funds
(MENAFN) The University of California (UCLA) is urgently working to recover more than $300 million in federal research funding that was suspended by the Trump administration amid accusations that the university failed to address antisemitism on campus during the 2024 Israel-Hamas protests.
UC President James Milliken stated on Wednesday that the university will actively engage with federal officials to safeguard a total of $584 million at risk, warning that losing this funding would severely impact critical research that benefits public health, the economy, and national security. He emphasized that the cuts do not tackle the issue of antisemitism.
In a July 29 letter from the US Justice Department, UCLA was accused of "deliberate indifference" toward a hostile environment targeting Jewish and Israeli students, citing harassment reports and limited campus access. The department set a deadline for the university to seek a voluntary resolution by Tuesday or face a federal lawsuit in September.
However, some faculty members expressed reservations about negotiating with the Trump administration. Political science professor Michael Chwe criticized the administration as acting in bad faith, warning that negotiating would only validate their demands.
Notably, the Justice Department’s letter did not mention an incident involving masked pro-Israel attackers assaulting counter-demonstrators while police reportedly did not intervene.
UCLA recently settled a separate antisemitism lawsuit by agreeing to donate over $2 million to Jewish organizations and committing to reform disciplinary policies. The university is now the first major public institution targeted by this funding freeze, which had so far mostly affected Ivy League schools.
The Trump administration has halted over $5 billion in federal funding to at least eight leading US universities, including Columbia, Brown, and Harvard—Harvard is currently challenging the freeze in court.
Some Palestine supporters argue that the US government wrongly equates their protests for Palestinian rights with antisemitism, noting that many Jewish individuals also criticize Israel’s human rights record.
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