WASHINGTON — As Gov. Gavin Newsom and the College of California contemplate whether or not to sue the Trump administration to revive greater than half a billion {dollars} in federal grants to UCLA, the White Home on Tuesday had a terse response.
“Carry it on, Gavin,” stated White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt when requested about Newsom’s opposition to a Trump plan demanding greater than $1 billion and sweeping campus adjustments at UCLA to resolve federal antisemitism findings towards the college.
“This administration is properly inside its authorized proper to do that, and we need to make sure that our schools and our universities are respecting the first Modification rights and the non secular liberties of scholars on their campuses and UCLA has failed to try this, and I’ve a complete checklist of examples that I’ll ahead to Gavin Newsom’s press workplace, if he hasn’t seen them himself,” Leavitt stated.
The assertion was the primary public remark from the White Home concerning the high-stakes battle between the nation’s premier public college system and the Trump administration, which has accused UCLA of violating the civil rights of Jewish college students, illegally contemplating race in admissions and treating transgender folks in sports activities, healthcare and campus life in ways in which the federal government claims hinder ladies’s rights.
Leavitt spoke after a query from The Instances about how Trump would reply to Newsom’s feedback late final week that the settlement provide for UCLA was “extortion” and “ransom.”
“We’ll sue,” Newsom stated Friday.
Responding to Leavitt’s feedback, a Newsom spokesperson pointed The Instances to a meme posted on X after the information convention.
“Wonderful chief is entitled to all treasures of the realm, particularly from universities,” stated the publish from Newsom’s press workplace account. The graphic options a picture of what seems to a be a North Korean information anchor with a North Korean flag within the background.
In an earlier joint assertion with California legislative leaders, Newsom stated that the motion towards UCLA “isn’t about defending Jewish college students — it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president. Trump has weaponized the Division of Justice to punish California, crush free pondering, and kneecap the best public college system on the earth.”
No lawsuit has been filed and the UC Board of Regents, which held an emergency assembly Monday afternoon over the grant cuts, has not introduced the way it will proceed other than calling Trump’s present phrases “unacceptable.”
Newsom sits as a voting member on the 24-person board, has appointed a number of of its members and might wield affect on the physique, though the ultimate determination on a lawsuit or settlement rests with the regents. Newsom didn’t attend Monday’s assembly.
In a press release after the assembly, a UC spokesperson stated the $1-billion price ticket could be “devastating.”
“UC’s management spent latest days evaluating the demand, updating the UC group, and fascinating with stakeholders,” stated Meredith Turner, UC senior vice chairman of exterior relations. “Our focus stays on defending college students’ entry to a UC schooling and selling the educational freedom, excellence, and innovation which have at all times been on the coronary heart of UC’s work.”
A whole lot of grants — from the Nationwide Science Basis, Nationwide Institutes of Well being and Division of Power — are on maintain at UCLA. The cash funds analysis into most cancers, math, mind science and different areas, and helps pay for graduate pupil stipends and tuition in addition to lab repairs. If the freezes keep for the long run, directors are contemplating layoffs and different price range reductions.
Citing the explanations for the freezes, a July 30 NSF letter to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk alleged UCLA “engages in racism, within the type of unlawful affirmative motion, UCLA fails to advertise a analysis atmosphere freed from antisemitism and bias; UCLA discriminates towards and endangers ladies by permitting males in ladies’s sports activities and personal women-only areas.”
Frenk, in a campuswide message the following day, disputed the funding halt.
“This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving analysis does nothing to handle any alleged discrimination,” he wrote.
