Trump Demands $1 Billion Settlement from UCLA, California Governor: This Is Political Extortion, We Won't Back Down
California Governor Newsom, who has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration on multiple issues such as tariffs, immigration, university policies, and federal funding, has recently added another conflict with Trump over his demand for a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The California governor's office issued a post on social media on August 9 local time, condemning Trump's move as "disgusting political extortion," stating that California will not give in.
"Donald Trump is using the Department of Justice as a weapon to weaken the number one public university system in the United States — freezing medical and scientific funds until UCLA pays him a $1 billion ransom," the post emphasized. "California will not bow to Trump's disgusting political extortion."
Reuters reported on August 9 that the Trump administration had frozen $584 million in federal research funds for UCLA earlier this week, citing reasons such as supporting "anti-Semitism." The Trump administration then proposed a settlement, requiring UCLA to pay $1 billion to have the funds unfrozen.
According to Politico, Newsom criticized Trump on August 8 at a press conference, saying "he threatens us through blackmail, unless we obey his orders." As a member of the California University Board, Newsom stated, "We will not become accomplices in the attack on academic freedom of this extraordinary public institution. We are different from institutions that choose another path," and he vowed to "resolutely fight back" by filing a lawsuit.
At the same time, Newsom was also standing behind several Democratic legislators from Texas, who had "fled" to seek support to prevent their state's Republicans from redrawing district boundaries. U.S. media analysts 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 may be taken in California.
According to the proposed settlement agreement, the Trump administration requires UCLA to pay $1 billion and set up a $172 million compensation fund to compensate affected Jewish students and others. The New York Times pointed out that if UCLA agrees, this would be the most expensive settlement ever reached between an American university and the White House, far exceeding Columbia University's $221 million and Brown University's $50 million settlements.
James Milliken, the chancellor of the University of California, confirmed on August 8 that the school "had just received a document from the Department of Justice and was carefully reviewing it." He added, "As a public university, we are managers of taxpayer resources. Fines of this scale would completely destroy our country's premier public university system and cause great harm to our students and all Californians."
Julio Frenk, the chancellor of UCLA, also stated on August 8 that the university 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 had approximately $584 million in federal grants frozen.
The New York Times noted that like many other top schools, UCLA heavily relies on federal research funds, with about 11% of its revenue coming from federal grants and contracts.
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has begun to "clean up" American universities over the pro-Palestine anti-war protests that erupted last spring, threatening them with measures such as freezing funds and banning international students, demanding Harvard University, Columbia University, and many other American universities to eradicate "anti-Semitism" and abolish admissions policies that favor minorities.
However, the New York Times pointed out that the Trump administration's crackdown on UCLA was sudden and severe. Previously, the university was embroiled in a lawsuit involving 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, infringing on their civil rights. On July 29, the day the two sides reached a settlement agreement, the U.S. Department of Justice determined that UCLA had a worrying systemic anti-Semitism, after which the federal government began freezing the university's research funds.
Newsom had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's freezing of UCLA's funds. On July 7, he also vowed to "do everything possible to ensure" that UCLA does not yield to the federal government, and will not become "another law firm that kneels, another company that sells its soul, or another institution that chooses the easy wrong path instead of the difficult right one."
On August 8, Trump proposed a $1 billion settlement demand. In addition to paying money, the settlement terms proposed by the Trump administration also require UCLA to appoint a monitor to enforce the settlement terms, cancel scholarships related to race or ethnicity, and stop 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 equates criticism of Israel's military actions in Gaza with anti-Semitism, and misinterprets efforts to claim Palestinian rights as support for extremism.
Human rights organizations have also warned that the Middle East conflict has led to rising anti-Semitism, anti-Arabism, and Islamophobia, but the Trump administration has not conducted similar investigations into Islamophobia.
According to the梳理 by 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 the settlement agreements, while Penn 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, seeking a resolution to the conflict. It remains unclear what steps UCLA will take.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840080224485388/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.