Overview

• Federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, NIH and NSF halted roughly $200–300 million in grants after finding UCLA showed “deliberate indifference” to antisemitic harassment and discriminatory admissions practices.
• DOJ investigators said UCLA violated Title VI and Title VII by failing to protect Jewish students during spring 2024 pro-Palestinian protests and by considering race-based factors in admissions.
• In July, UCLA settled a $6 million lawsuit from Jewish students over discrimination at pro-Palestinian encampments, but federal officials say broader reforms are still needed.
• Governor Gavin Newsom denounced the suspension as a “cruel manipulation” that threatens critical medical and defense research, and Chancellor Julio Frenk warned the pause will harm ongoing life-saving projects.
• The pause follows similar funding freezes at Columbia, Harvard and Brown, underscoring the administration’s strategy of leveraging grants to enforce campus civil-rights standards.