【By Observer Net, Wang Yi】 California Governor Newsom, who has repeatedly "clashed" with the Trump administration on multiple issues such as tariffs, immigration, university policies, and federal funding, has once again become an "enemy" of Trump over his recent demand for a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). On August 9 local time, the office of the California governor posted on social media condemning Trump's move as "disgusting political extortion," stating that California would not bow down to him.
"Donald Trump uses the Department of Justice as a weapon to weaken America's top public university system — freezing medical and scientific funds until UCLA pays him $1 billion in ransom," the post emphasized. "California will not bow to Trump's disgusting political extortion."

Social Media
Reuters reported on September 9 that the Trump administration had frozen $584 million in federal research funding for UCLA earlier in the week, citing reasons such as supporting "anti-Semitism." The Trump administration then proposed a settlement, requiring UCLA to pay $1 billion in exchange for unfreezing the funds.
According to Politico, Newsom criticized Trump on August 8 at a press conference, saying, "He is threatening us through extortion, unless we obey his orders." As a member of the Board of Directors of the University of California, Newsom stated, "We will not become accomplices in the attack on academic freedom of this extraordinary public institution. We are different from institutions that have chosen another path," and vowed to "resolutely fight back" by filing a lawsuit.
At the same time, Newsom was also accompanied by several Democratic legislators from Texas who had "fled" to seek support to prevent the state's Republicans from redrawing districts. U.S. media analysis pointed out that redistricting could cause Democrats to lose several seats in the House of Representatives. Newsom also expressed support for these Democratic legislators at the press conference, saying, "California will not sit idly by as democracy fades away," and "we will fight fire with fire," hinting that similar measures might be taken in California.
According to the proposed settlement agreement, the Trump administration required UCLA to pay $1 billion and establish a $172 million compensation fund to compensate affected Jewish students and others. The New York Times pointed out that if UCLA agrees, it would become the most expensive settlement between an American university and the White House, far exceeding Columbia University's $221 million and Brown University's $50 million settlement.
James Milliken, the president of the University of California, confirmed on August 8 that the university "had just received a document from the Department of Justice and was reviewing it carefully." He added, "As a public university, we are managers of taxpayer resources. Fines of this scale would completely destroy our nation's most outstanding public university system and cause great harm to our students and all Californians."
Julio Frenk, the president of UCLA, also said on August 8 that he would do everything possible to protect the interests of faculty and students and firmly defend the university's values and principles. He confirmed in a statement on June 6 that the university's total of $584 million in federal funding had been frozen.
The New York Times noted that like many other top schools, UCLA heavily relies on federal research funding, with about 11% of its income coming from federal grants and contracts.
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has started to "clean up" American universities over the pro-Palestine anti-war protests that erupted last spring, using threats such as freezing funds and banning international students to demand that Harvard University, Columbia University, and many other American universities eliminate "anti-Semitism," abolish affirmative action in admissions, etc.
However, the New York Times pointed out that the Trump administration's crackdown on UCLA was sudden and severe. Previously, the university was involved in a lawsuit with three Jewish students and a Jewish professor, who accused UCLA of allowing pro-Palestinian protesters to block them from entering classrooms and other parts of the campus, violating their civil rights. On July 29, just on the day the two sides reached a settlement, the U.S. Department of Justice found that UCLA had a concerning systemic anti-Semitism, after which the federal government began freezing the university's research funds.

On August 8 local time, California Governor Newsom held a press conference. Reuters
Newsom had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's freezing of UCLA funds. On July 7, he also vowed to "do everything possible to ensure" that UCLA would not bow down to the federal government, not becoming "another law firm that kneels, another company that sells its soul, or another institution that takes the easy wrong path instead of the difficult right one."
On August 8, Trump proposed a $1 billion settlement. In addition to paying money, the terms of the settlement proposed by the Trump administration also required UCLA to appoint monitors to enforce the settlement terms, cancel scholarships related to race or ethnicity, and stop using diversity statements in hiring.
This incident has raised widespread concerns about free speech and academic freedom in American universities. Reuters reported that supporters of Palestine and some Jewish groups point out that the Trump administration wrongly labels criticism of Israel's military actions in Gaza as anti-Semitism, misunderstanding efforts to support Palestinian rights as support for extremism.
Human rights organizations have also warned that the Middle East conflict has led to increased anti-Semitism, anti-Arabism, and Islamophobia, but the Trump administration has not conducted similar investigations into Islamophobia.
According to the New York Times, the Trump administration is currently negotiating with multiple universities, including Cornell University and Harvard University. Brown University and Columbia University have already accepted settlement agreements, while Pennsylvania University's settlement did not involve fines. Among all the universities targeted by the Trump administration, Harvard is the only one that has filed a lawsuit, accusing the government of illegal actions. Despite this, Harvard continues to negotiate with the Trump administration to resolve the conflict. It remains unclear what steps UCLA will take.
This article is an exclusive contribution from Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7536834195394642441/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author. Please express your opinion by clicking the [Up/Down] buttons below.