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U.S. Justice Department Proposes $1 Billion Settlement With UCLA to Restore Research Grants

The proposal has drawn accusations of political extortion from state officials who plan to challenge the settlement in court

People traverse Brown University campus in Providence, Rhode Island, on October 12, 2020.
Harvard President Alan Garber arrives to speak at the university's commencement in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 29.
President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding $1 billion from UCLA to avoid a lawsuit over its handling of antisemitism claims and to restore hundreds of millions in federal grants.
Mount Holyoke College President Danielle Holley speaking at a campus event on April 5.

Overview

  • The DOJ draft settlement proposes a $1 billion payment, a separate contribution to a compensation fund and strict operational conditions to unlock $584 million in suspended federal research grants.
  • UCLA and the University of California system are reviewing the terms as Chancellor Julio Frenk warns that prolonged funding freezes would devastate critical scientific and medical research.
  • Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office denounced the demand as political extortion and vowed to sue rather than acquiesce to what it calls a takeover of the nation’s leading public university system.
  • Private institutions such as Columbia and Brown settled similar probes with payments of roughly $200 million and $50 million and policy concessions, while Harvard and several others continue litigation or negotiations.
  • Legal experts and academic leaders warn that leveraging grant funding to enforce policy changes risks chilling free expression, undermining due process and politicizing higher education oversight.