The Trump administration has suspended approximately $200 million in research grants to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), citing allegations of “antisemitism and bias” on campus. The move was announced in a statement from UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk on Thursday, who said the suspension affects roughly 300 grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies.
Chancellor Frenk described the decision as a “far-reaching penalty” that will defund “life-saving research”, noting that it does nothing to address any alleged discrimination. The suspension follows a Justice Department investigation which found that UCLA’s response to a pro-Palestinian protest encampment in spring 2024 was “deliberately indifferent to a hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students”.
The federal government has been targeting several prominent US universities, accusing them of failing to respond adequately to antisemitism during campus protests. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has reached agreements with Brown University and Columbia University to restore funding, while Harvard remains in a legal dispute over frozen funds. UCLA itself recently settled a lawsuit by Jewish students and a professor for nearly $6.5 million over similar allegations.
In response, Frenk emphasised that UCLA has taken steps to combat antisemitism, including creating a new Office of Campus and Community Safety and an Initiative to Combat Antisemitism. He also highlighted the university’s research contributions, such as asteroid detection, the Valley Fever Center, and its role in developing the internet.
