Judge blocks Trump bid to cut federal funding for University of California

The Trump administration cannot immediately cut federal funding to the University of California or issue fines against the school system over claims it allows antisemitism and other forms of discrimination, a federal judge ruled Friday.

US District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco granted a preliminary injunction sought by labor unions and other groups representing UC faculty, students and employees.

Messages sent to the White House and the US Department of Justice were not immediately returned.

The unions argue in a lawsuit that the administration is using funding cuts, and the threat of cuts, to silence opposing viewpoints at UC in violation of the Constitution and federal law. President Donald Trump has decried elite colleges as overrun by liberalism and antisemitism.

 

His administration has launched investigations of dozens of universities, claiming they have failed to end the use of racial preferences in violation of civil rights law. The Republican administration says diversity, equity and inclusion efforts discriminate against white and Asian American students.

Over the summer. it fined the University of California, Los Angeles $1.2 billion and froze research funding after accusing the school of allowing antisemitism on campus. UCLA was the first public university to be targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations.

It has also frozen or paused federal funding over similar claims against private colleges, including Columbia University.

University of California President James B. Milliken has said the size of the UCLA fine would devastate the UC system, whose campuses are viewed as some of the top public colleges in the nation.

UC is in settlement talks with the administration and is not a party to the lawsuit before Lin, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The administration has demanded UCLA comply with its views on gender identity and establish a process to make sure foreign students are not admitted if they are likely to engage in anti-American, anti-Western or antisemitic disruptions or harassment, among other requirements outlined in a settlement proposal made public in October.

The administration has previously struck deals with Brown University for $50 million and Columbia University for $221 million.