President Donald Trump has demanded a staggering $1 billion (Ksh.129 billion) fine from the University of California (UC) system, accusing UCLA of mishandling 2024 student protests related to Gaza and fostering antisemitism.
The amount five times the sum Columbia University agreed to pay in a similar federal settlement would “completely devastate” the 10-campus public university network, according to UC President James Milliken. He confirmed the administration’s demand was received Friday, stating, “As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system, as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom, a UC board member, vowed to fight back. “We’ll sue,” he told reporters, accusing Trump of using “extortion” to impose political will and silence academic freedom. Newsom credited the UC system as a cornerstone of California’s economic and scientific success, producing more Nobel laureates, engineers, and scientists than any other state.
Media reports suggest the Trump administration not only wants the $1 billion in instalments but is also demanding a $172 million claims fund to compensate Jewish students and others allegedly subjected to discrimination. The UC system, ranked among the best public universities in the U.S., is already reeling from a more-than-half-billion-dollar freeze on UCLA’s medical and science grants imposed by the administration.
The move mirrors the White House’s strategy with Columbia University, which agreed to multiple concessions, including compliance with federal rules banning race-based considerations in admissions and hiring. Trump’s team is reportedly using a similar approach with Harvard University.
Pro-Palestinian protests in 2024 sparked nationwide campus unrest, with student encampments at institutions from Columbia to UCLA leading to police crackdowns and violent clashes. Then-president Joe Biden had urged that “order must prevail” during the demonstrations.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has intensified scrutiny of U.S. universities, which his MAGA movement views as elitist, overly liberal, and resistant to the nationalist agenda. Newsom, however, made it clear California will not yield: “We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom, or on this extraordinary public institution.”
