Overview
- U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction that bars the federal government from suspending University of California funding, demanding payments, or conditioning grants in ways that burden protected speech.
- The court described a recurring “playbook” of civil-rights probes, mass grant cancellations without required procedures, and settlement demands, including a reported $1.2 billion sought from UCLA after a $584 million freeze.
- Lin found agencies failed to follow Title VI and IX safeguards, noting government concessions that no involved agency had complied with those procedures when pulling university funds.
- Evidence of a chilling effect on campus speech persuaded the court, with faculty reporting self-censorship, altered teaching and research, and reduced public engagement out of fear of retaliation.
- The order requires restoration of suspended UC grants and arrives as some schools have settled with the administration (including Columbia, Brown, Cornell and the University of Virginia), Harvard won a reversal in court, and UC leaders continue settlement talks.