UCLA research grants suspended after Trump administration faulted campus for antisemitism

Published On: August 2, 2025

In conclusion

Days after Trump’s Department of Justice decided in an inquiry that Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA experienced serious harassment, hundreds of UCLA grants have been suspended.

Greetings from CalMatters, the only nonprofit news organization dedicated exclusively to reporting on topics that impact all Californians. To get the most recent information and analysis on the most significant topics in the Golden State, sign up for WhatMatters.

The Justice Department this week found that UCLA failed to take adequate action to prevent antisemitism during last year’s pro-Palestine demonstrations, prompting the Trump administration to cancel hundreds of science research funding at the university.In a public letter Thursday evening, university chancellor Julio Frenk informed UCLA that the federal government, through the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other agencies, was suspending some of its research funding.

Frenk criticized the Trump administration for penalizing science in its attempt to fight claimed discrimination. Frenk’s Jewish paternal grandparents and young father fled Nazi Germany.

The lives and transformative work of UCLA researchers, faculty, and staff could be negatively impacted by this decision, which could result in the loss of hundreds of grants. The federal government cites bias and antisemitism as the causes in its warning to us. According to Frenk, this severe punishment of cutting off funding for life-saving research does little to address any claimed discrimination.

Trump s DOJ alleges antisemitism

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the suspensions are the first known repercussion of the department’s notice of violation that was issued to UCLA this week for its inadequate response to complaints of severe, widespread, and objectively offensive harassment and abuse that Jewish and Israeli students experienced on campus from October 7, 2023, to the present.The majority of the findings relate to the pro-Palestinian camps set up by hundreds of students and faculty members last spring in protest of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza as part of the war with Hamas in the predominantly Jewish country. On October 7, 2023, Hamas, the dominant government of the Gaza Strip and a terrorist organization in dozens of nations, including the United States, assaulted Israeli soldiers and civilians, rekindling a decades-old confrontation between the two nations.According to the Justice Department’s investigations, members of the encampment created a hostile environment by subjecting Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA to severe, widespread, and objectively offensive abuse. Additionally, it stated that UCLA officials were aware that protesters were physically barring Jewish and Israeli students from entering certain areas of campus and assaulting them.According to the letter from the Justice Department, UCLA’s leadership last year purposefully chose to ignore the toxic environment the encampment created for Israeli and Jewish students. According to CalMatters, the letter also criticized UCLA officials for not disbanding the campsite despite the fact that its establishment was against university rules.Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gregory W. Brown and U.S. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon signed the letter. In order to guarantee that the hostile climate is eradicated and that appropriate measures are taken to stop its recurrence, they gave UCLA until August 5 to consent to a consensual settlement. If not, Department of Justice officials stated that they are ready to bring a complaint against UCLA in a federal court in September.

UCLA agreed to a settlement with Jewish plaintiffs

A settlement with a number of Jewish students who sued UCLA over the encampments last spring was reached this week by UCLA and the UC system’s attorneys in a related but distinct case.The federal judge in the case last year sided with the Jewish plaintiffs, who claimed that because of their spiritual links to Israel, the anti-Israel sentiment exhibited by protesters in the encampment violated their religious liberty. In his preliminary order, Judge Mark C. Scarsi stated that Jewish students were barred from parts of the UCLA campus due to their refusal to renounce their faith.Several Jewish organizations argue over whether or not anti-Zionism is intrinsically antisemitic. There were Jewish attendees in the UCLA campsite.

UCLA agreed to pay the Jewish plaintiffs $50,000 apiece as part of the settlement, for a total of $200,000. Additionally, UCLA consented to give over $2 million to a number of Jewish groups. According to the settlement, an additional $3.6 million is put aside for legal bills and other costs.According to the deal, UCLA denied any wrongdoing. The agreement must be approved by a judge.

However, a lawyer for five pro-Palestinian professors and students, two of whom are Jewish and participated in the camping last year, was incensed by that agreement. Thomas B. Harvey, the attorney, filed a document in the case arguing that the settlement itself was faulty and that the camping was not antisemitic. His filing’s central argument is that Zionism and antisemitism are being mistakenly confused.

Harvey is one of several attorneys who filed a lawsuit against the UC in March over injuries pro-Palestinian demonstrators suffered during a mob attack on the campsite last spring.Harvey said in an email to CalMatters that the plaintiffs in the case that UCLA settled this week never even claimed that they were excluded by members of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment, much less due to their religious beliefs. UCLA declined to adequately defend its academics and students against unsubstantiated accusations.He went on to write that UC attorneys did not engage in discovery, question any witnesses, or take depositions. In his interim order, Judge Scarsi even mentions this egregious failing.Harvey claimed that UC’s goals seem to be stifling opposition to the genocide in Palestine, gaining favor with the Trump administration, and generally giving in to pressure.

Nonpartisan, independent California news for all

We re CalMatters, your nonprofit and nonpartisan news guide.

Our journalists are here to empower you and our mission continues to be essential.

We are independent and nonpartisan.

Our trustworthy journalism is free from partisan politics, free from corporate influence and actually free for all Californians.
We are focused on California issues.

From the environment to homelessness, economy and more, we publish the unfettered truth to keep you informed.
We hold people in power accountable.

We probe and reveal the actions and inactions of powerful people and institutions, and the consequences that follow.

But we can t keep doing this without support from readers like you.

Please give what you can today. Every gift helps.