The University of California Los Angeles is making attempts to regain over $300 million in federal funding that the Trump administration froze after the Justice Department found the school violated Jewish students’ civil rights. 

The DOJ notified UCLA one week ago that a government investigation determined university officials failed to adequately respond to complaints of harassment and abuse that Jewish students suffered on campus, putting it in violation of federal civil rights law. Days later, the Trump administration froze over $339 million in federal funding to UCLA due to the DOJ’s findings.

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On Monday, senior school administrators sought to provide some answers as to whether they hope to negotiate an agreement with the government that recoups federal funding before a deadline to address concerns about civil rights violations.

“There is a time period to resolve the questions the government has for us,” Marcia Smith, associate vice chancellor for UCLA research administration, said during a virtual town hall in which UCLA leadership spoke to roughly 3,000 faculty. 

Smith said the leaders were “preparing” to contact the National Institute of Health, National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy, which froze roughly 800 grants, “to talk about what kinds of information they need to lift these suspensions,” according to the Los Angeles Times, which reported negotiations would also not preclude a potential lawsuit.

The bulk of the frozen funding last Friday came from the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health. The National Science Foundation and Department of Energy also paused funding because of concerns that the school “continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admissions process, and in other areas of student life, as well as failing to promote a research environment free of antisemitism and bias.”

Smith said Monday she was “very hopeful” that UCLA will “find a solution” to regaining the funding, which is pivotal to the university’s research programs.  If unsuccessful, the university could also tap into billions in unrestricted endowment funds to continue research programs stripped of federal funding. 

“Every single public institution in the nation is watching us very carefully,” UCLA vice chancellor for research Roger Wakimoto said during the town hall. “We’re out of the gate setting the pace.”

DOJ FINDS UCLA VIOLATED JEWISH STUDENTS’ CIVIL RIGHTS

UCLA is only one of many elite universities being probed by the Trump administration over concerns they failed to protect Jewish students from antisemitic violence, particularly during pro-Palestinian protests that broke out on campuses across the country after Israel attacked Hamas in Gaza following the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed roughly 1,200 Israeli civilians.

Harvard and Columbia are among some of the top Ivy League institutions that have been fined, notified of civil rights violations, or had federal funding frozen, among other punishments, due to the Trump administration’s investigations into antisemitism on college campuses.