UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk announced that the university had been notified it would be losing critical federal funding for research, after the government alleged “antisemitism and bias.”
In a letter to the school community, Frenk said the university received a notice that the federal government, “through its control of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies,” would be suspending certain funding to the school.
“This is not only a loss to the researchers who rely on critical grants,” Frenk said. “It is a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on the groundbreaking work we do.”
Frenk did not specify how much money the university could lose, but described the news as “deeply disappointing” and said the federal government had cited “antisemitism and bias” as justification.
“This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination,” Frenk said.
The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division claimed the university had violated the “Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” It also said the university failed to “adequately” respond to complaints from Jewish and Israeli students over alleged “offensive harassment and abuse” they faced from Oct. 7, 2023, to the present.
“Our investigation into the University of California system has found concerning evidence of systemic anti-Semitism at UCLA that demands severe accountability from the institution,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi.
In response to the decision, the NSF said it informed the university that it will be suspending awards because “they are not in alignment with current NSF priorities and/or programmatic goals.” An official from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also said it will “not fund institutions that promote antisemitism.”
Frenk explained that the university is committed to helping eradicate antisemitism and had taken action to implement new policies to manage protests, created a new Office of Campus and Community Safety and launched an Initiative to Combat Antisemitism.
Frenk said fighting antisemitism is “deeply personal” to him as his family left Germany in the 1930s because of an “intolerable climate of antisemitism and hate.” He also said his wife is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, whose family was murdered in concentration camps.
He assured the campus community that the university’s leadership team has been preparing for this situation and has been developing comprehensive contingency plans. He did not immediately share what those plans are.
“We will do everything we can to protect the interests of faculty, students and staff — and to defend our values and principles,” Frenk said. “With the support of the UC Board of Regents and the UC Office of the President, we are actively evaluating our best course of action.”
Frenk emphasized that the federal research grants UCLA has received are “not handouts” and that researchers compete for those grants. He said those grants lead to “medical breakthroughs, economic advancement, improved national security and global competitiveness — these are national priorities.”
This decision comes as UCLA has faced scrutiny over its handling of pro-Palestinian protests and encampments that erupted on campus last year.