Judge orders Trump administration to restore $500 million in federal
grant funding to UCLA
[September 23, 2025]
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the Trump
administration to restore $500 million in federal grant funding that it
froze at the University of California, Los Angeles.
U.S. District Judge Rita Lin in San Francisco granted a preliminary
injunction on Monday, saying the government likely violated the
Administrative Procedure Act, which requires specific procedures and
explanations for federal funding cuts. Instead, the government informed
UCLA in generalized form letters that multiple grants from various
agencies were being suspended but offered no specific details.
In August, UCLA announced that the Trump administration had suspended
$584 million in federal grants over allegations of civil rights
violations related to antisemitism and affirmative action.
Lin issued a ruling later that month that resulted in $81 million in
grants from the National Science Foundation being restored to UCLA. She
ruled that those cuts had violated a June preliminary injunction where
she ordered the National Science Foundation to restore dozens of grants
that it had terminated at the University of California, which operates
10 campuses across the state.
The White House did not immediately respond to an email from The
Associated Press requesting comment on Monday's ruling.
The Trump administration has used its control of federal funding to push
for reforms at elite colleges that the president decries as overrun by
liberalism and antisemitism. The administration also has launched
investigations into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, saying they
discriminate against white and Asian American students.
[to top of second column]
|
Students walk past Royce Hall at the UCLA campus in Los Angeles,
Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Two Ivy League institutions, Columbia and Brown, struck deals to
preserve funding that was held up by the Trump administration over
similar claims that they had not done enough to respond to campus
antisemitism.
In the case of Harvard, which pushed back with a lawsuit over cuts
to its funding, a federal judge in early September ruled the funding
freeze amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of
the Trump administration’s demands.
The Trump administration had proposed to settle its investigation
into UCLA through a $1 billion payment from the institution.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called it an extortion
attempt.
UCLA has said that such a large payment would “devastate” the
institution.
Monday's ruling concerns hundreds of medical research grants from
the National Institutes of Health that include studies into
Parkinson’s disease treatment, cancer recovery, cell regeneration in
nerves and other areas that campus leaders argue are pivotal for
improving the health of Americans.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
