The university failed to tackle anti-Semitism on campus, according to the federal government.
The federal government suspended $584 million worth of grants to the University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA), the university’s Chancellor, Julio Frenk, said in an Aug. 6 statement to community members.
“If these funds remain suspended, it will be devastating for UCLA,” he said.
The funding cancellation affects UCLA departments that rely on grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy.
“The suspension of these funds is not only a loss to the researchers who rely on critical grants,“ he said. ”It is a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on our groundbreaking research and scholarship.”
The university announced the funding cancellation on July 31 without identifying the exact amount to be cut.
The announcement was made after the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a July 29 statement that UCLA violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by “acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students.”
The DOJ said that UCLA failed to appropriately respond to complaints about Jewish and Israeli students facing “severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment and abuse” on its campus since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack against Israel by the Hamas terrorist group.
“This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand: DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in the statement.
Under Title VI, the federal government has the authority to withhold funding from educational institutions found to be discriminating on the basis of race, national origin, or religion.
In a July 29 notice of violation issued to UCLA, the DOJ said that Jewish students reported being assaulted or denied access to campus facilities due to their faith. In one instance, a student was knocked down by protestors, suffered a head injury, and had to be hospitalized, the DOJ stated.
The DOJ gave UCLA until Aug. 5 to reach a voluntary agreement resolving the issue, failing which, the agency planned to file a federal lawsuit against the university by Sept. 2, the notice said.
