Trump admin halts UCLA federal research funding after DOJ uncovers 'systemic anti-Semitism'
The Trump Administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research grants to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after the Department of Justice determined the university has failed to protect Jewish students.
In a statement issued on July 29, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ found 'concerning evidence of systemic anti-Semitism at UCLA' following a months-long investigation.
The Trump Administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research grants to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) after the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined the university failed to protect Jewish students and foster an unbiased research environment.
In a statement issued on July 29, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the DOJ found “concerning evidence of systemic anti-Semitism at UCLA” following a months-long investigation.
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The agency concluded that UCLA administrators also failed to address a “hostile educational environment” for Jewish and Israeli students stemming from campus protests and encampments in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
“This disgusting breach of civil rights against students will not stand: DOJ will force UCLA to pay a heavy price for putting Jewish Americans at risk and continue our ongoing investigations into other campuses in the UC system,” she continued.
Initially, reports indicated that the funding freeze affects approximately $300 million from federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). However, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk has since stated that about $584 million is at risk.
Roughly half of the funds had already been distributed, while the remaining amount was halted following the DOJ’s findings, the Los Angeles Times reported.
On July 31, Frenk issued a statement to the university community, calling the suspension “deeply disappointing” and saying that the move is a “far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination.”
Frenk also highlighted medical and scientific advances made possible by federal grants, including organ transplant breakthroughs and disease research, and warned that the loss could jeopardize ongoing work.
“We share the goal of eradicating antisemitism across society,” Frenk wrote. “Antisemitism has no place on our campus, nor does any form of discrimination. We recognize that we can improve, and I am committed to doing so.”
The NSF also informed UCLA in a recent letter that grants were frozen because the university “continues to engage in race discrimination including in its admissions process, and in other areas of student life,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
Campus activists pushed back on the DOJ’s action by taking to social media.
On Instagram, Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UCLA called the freeze a “cynical weaponization of antisemitism” and claimed it is part of “long-standing conservative goal of dismantling higher education.
The group also blamed the UCLA administration for its role in helping Israel’s “genocide,” concluding that: “The theatrics of the Trump administration, echoed by UCLA, are part of a larger attempt to cover up this genocidal catastrophe in which all of us, and our university, are complicit.”
Campus Reform has reached out to Chancellor Julio Frenk, the Department of Justice, and the Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UCLA for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
