The Mercury News
In early August, the Trump administration froze $584 million in federal research funding for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with links to their lack of action during the 2024 Pro-Palestine protests on campus. From these protests came much backlash not only from students, but also professors and other adults on campus. Protesters vandalized the campus and blockaded students from entering buildings and attending class. With this, three students along with a professor sued the university, which ultimately resulted in a six million dollar settlement. These protests and encampments occurred not only on UCLA’s campus, but also appeared at Ivy League campuses like Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University and more. As of August, the Trump administration is seeking a one billion dollar settlement from UCLA. The administration started freezing millions of dollars in funding and ultimately $584 million, a devastating number for their research mission. Officials from UCLA are searching for negotiations; however, the administration is instead laying their marker for a high-dollar settlement. A proposed agreement from the administration included requirements from UCLA to discontinue race and ethnicity-based scholarships, and provide the results with admissions data. The Trump administration not only targeted UCLA but other schools as well for antisemitism on campus. UCLA, in specific, is currently under an antisemitism investigation by the Department of Justice due to the acts that occurred in 2024. In March of 2025 however, they launched their own initiative to combat antisemitism and recently settled a lawsuit that accused the university of allowing Jewish students to be targeted during the 2024 Pro-Palestine protests and encampments. Nonetheless, the Trump administration has not shown signs of backing down from this settlement and time will only tell how these research funds will be returned to the school.