Proposed Deal Ends Race and Ethnicity-Based Scholarships, Halt to Gender-Affirming Care
Federal officials are seeking $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles, to settle a civil rights investigation, a figure that would represent the largest payout ever required from a higher education institution.
More than $584 million in UCLA’s federal funding has been frozen, with the Department of Justice alleging the school violated anti-discrimination laws in its handling of campus protests. In a letter to the campus community this week, Chancellor Julio Frenk warned that the suspended funds could have “devastating” consequences for the university’s research mission.
Negotiations have resumed, according to a source familiar with the talks, as UCLA works to restore access to the funds. A draft settlement obtained by CNN outlines a payment plan totaling $1 billion, along with the creation of a $172 million claims fund for individuals affected by violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
The proposal also includes strict operational requirements, such as appointing a resolution monitor and a senior administrator for anti-discrimination compliance, prohibiting overnight demonstrations, revising protest policies, ending race- and ethnicity-based scholarships, ensuring single-sex housing for women, guaranteeing recognition for female athletes, and discontinuing gender-affirming care at UCLA’s hospital and medical school. The resolution monitor would have access to admissions data.
Democratic State Senator Scott Weiner stated, “In California, we support trans people, we welcome immigrants, we celebrate our beautiful diversity, and we uphold academic freedom. We do not bow to fascist tactics,” and called Donald Trump’s actions “mob boss behavior.” adding, via an Instagram story post, “Trump is now trying to extort UCLA for $1B, force it to adopt his racist, transphobic, xenophobic policies & accept a monitor to control the university. Hard no. UCLA is a California public university subject to California law & built on California values. The answer is no.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom sharply criticized the federal proposal seeking $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles. Speaking at a news conference Friday alongside Texas lawmakers, Newsom said of President Trump, “He has threatened us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine unless we do his bidding.”
“We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution,” Newsom said.
University of California President James B. Milliken said Friday the settlement figure is a “nonstarter.” At the same time, California Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the proposal, saying, “He has threatened us through extortion with a billion-dollar fine unless we do his bidding.”
The Justice Department’s civil rights division concluded last week that UCLA was “deliberately indifferent to a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students” during a pro-Palestinian protest encampment in spring 2024, violating federal law. UCLA recently reached a separate $6 million settlement with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor who said protesters blocked them from classes and campus areas.
