University of California faculty, students, unions sue Feds over funding freeze

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Editor's note: This story has been revised its initial publication to add details about the plaintiffs in the first paragraph and headline.

(The Center Square) - The faculty, students and unions within the University of California system sued the Trump administration, calling the UCLA federal funding freeze a violation of the First Amendment. 

In August, the Trump administration froze over $500 million in federal research funding over claims of antisemitism on the college's campus.

The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by the American Association of University Professors, representing faculty, students and unions within the University of California system. 

"We will not stand by as the Trump administration destroys one of the largest public university higher education systems in the country and bludgeons academic freedom at the University of California, the heart of the revered free speech movement," said AAUP President Todd Wolfson. 

This coalition is requesting the court to stop the Trump administration from using financial threats to comply with demands. The lawsuit claims these actions harm faculty and students by violating the Constitution. 

The suit said plaintiffs are seeking to prevent Trump and federal agencies and their officers from continuing "to use the unlawful threat of federal funding cuts not authorized by law to illegally coerce the UC into suppressing free speech and academic freedom rights, implementing harmful federal policies on the Trump administration’s behalf, and otherwise violating the constitutional and state law rights of UC faculty, students, academic employees, and staff employees."

The lawsuit claims that “The President’s attempt to require that universities conform to his worldview is un-American and unconstitutional.” 

When the Trump administration initially froze federal funding at UCLA, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division claimed that the university violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

After the funds were frozen, the administration sought $1 billion in settlement from UCLA. 

 As the federal administration is taking action against UCLA, it is also investigating all 10 UC campuses, UC President James Milliken noted. 

 “This represents one of the gravest threats to the University of California in our 157-year history,” Milliken said. “Losses of significant research and other federal funding would devastate UC and inflict real, long-term harm on our students, our faculty and staff, our patients, and all Californians. It would also end life-saving research from which all Americans benefit.”

This continues the trend of the Trump administration withholding federal funding from higher education institutions based on grounds of violating anti-discrimination laws. 

In the case of Harvard University, a Boston federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s $2.2 billion funding freeze against Harvard over government claims of antisemitism.

Northwestern University's president resigned while the college faced a federal funding freeze by the Trump administration.