UCLA’s Legal Win Over Trump

The Faculty of the University of California, Scored a Victory for the Los Angeles Branch Campus against the White House, the First Win for a University Individually Targeted by the Federal Government.

A Judge Ordered the Trump Administration to Restore a Portion of the more than $550 million Trump (R) Paused after the Federal Government found the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was in Violation of Federal Civil Rights Law over Alleged Antisemitism on Campus.

The Situation is Unique, as other Universities do Not have Faculty Challenging the Federal Government’s Crackdown on Funding. Jon Fansmith, Senior Vice-President for Government Relations and National Engagement at the American Council of Education (ACE), said in UCLA’s Case, Researchers Sued “to protect their own research projects.”

“I wonder a little bit if you won’t see more research faculty and staff across the country looking at this and saying … ‘My grants were suspended. What relief is available to me?’ and pursue the same action,” He said. The Lawsuit between Faculty in the University of California system and the Trump Administration began earlier this year, when the National Science Foundation (NSF) Terminated Grants to the Institution.

U.S. District Judge Rita Lin issued a Preliminary Injunction to have that Funding be Restored. But when the Trump Administration pulled more than $550 million from the University due to Antisemitism on Campus, more NSF Funding was Suspended from the Researchers. While the Federal Government tried to Argue these Grants didn’t Count in the Preliminary Injunction because they were Suspended, not completely Terminated, the jJdge did not go for it.

“For avoidance of doubt, the court also clarifies that grant ‘termination,’ as the term is used in the preliminary injunction, encompasses circumstances where grant funding is cut off on a long-term or indefinite basis, like the suspensions carried out by NSF on July 30,” Lin said at a Court Hearing.

It is the First Successful Case of a University clawing back Funding, after the Trump Administration paused it over Antisemitism Allegations. The Total Amount the University will Gain is Unclear, Ranging from Tens of Millions to Hundreds of Millions of Dollars.

Claudia Polsky, Director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of California, Berkeley and One of the Plaintiffs in the Suit, said She hopes this Ruling has Practical and Political impacts on Trump’s War with Her Institution and Higher Education Writ Large.










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