The Trump administration is demanding that the College of California pay greater than $1 billion to settle federal costs of antisemitism in alternate for restoring greater than half a billion {dollars} in frozen grant funding to UCLA, sources stated Friday.
A proposal from the federal authorities despatched to UC on Friday stated the college system ought to pay the billion-dollar superb in installments and contribute $172 million to a fund to pay Jewish college students and different people affected by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. The statute covers unlawful discrimination associated to race, coloration, faith, intercourse, nationwide origin or shared ancestry, together with Jewish and Israeli identification.
Two UC senior officers, talking on background as a result of they weren’t licensed to publicly touch upon negotiations, confirmed the proposal to The Instances. A White Home official who spoke on background additionally confirmed the monetary figures.
UC, which is grappling with how you can restore $584 million in frozen medical and science grant funds to UCLA, has not accepted the proposal, sources stated. If it have been accepted, it will be the biggest settlement between a college and the Trump administration.
UC and UCLA spokespeople didn’t instantly reply to requests searching for remark.
The proposal got here sooner or later after Gov. Gavin Newsom stated UC shouldn’t bend “on their knees” to President Trump as college leaders negotiate with the administration to revive the frozen UCLA grants.
Newsom denounced settlements Trump struck with two Ivy League universities. Columbia and Brown agreed to pay hefty fines and make sweeping campus modifications in alternate for the restoration of analysis cash that was additionally canceled over Trump antisemitism allegations. Harvard too is negotiating with the federal government over comparable costs.
“We’re not Brown, we’re not Columbia, and I’m not going to be governor if we act like that,” Newsom stated, referring to settlements the schools introduced final month. “Interval. Full cease, I’ll battle like hell to make it possible for doesn’t occur.”
The college system, run by its president and Board of Regents, is unbiased beneath the state Structure. However the governor can train political sway over the regents, whose members he appoints. Newsom additionally holds an ex-officio seat on the board.
“There’s ideas. There’s proper and incorrect, and we’ll do the fitting factor. That is about our competitiveness. It’s concerning the destiny and way forward for this nation. It’s about our sovereignty,” Newsom stated Thursday. “It’s about a lot greater than the temperament of an aggrieved particular person who occurs to at present be president of the US.”
The proposal was first reported by CNN.
Kaleem reported from Los Angeles and Wilner from Washington.