Jews in Defense of UC

We, Jewish members of the University of California community, express our shock at the Trump Administration’s threatened imposition of a $1 billion fine against UCLA in the name of protecting Jews. We represent a wide swath of students, staff, scholars, faculty, and alumni in terms of what we do and study on our various campuses. We also represent a diverse range of approaches and opinions about how to define and combat antisemitism. 

But we stand together now in defense of the University of California, the top-rated public university system in the United States. The Administration’s demand that UCLA pay the federal government $1 billion, along with a $172 million claims fund, is misguided and punitive. Cutting off hundreds of millions of research funds will do nothing to make UCLA safer for Jews nor diminish antisemitism in the world. It will not benefit Jewish Bruins nor Jews beyond campus who make extensive use of its first-rate medical facilities, ground-breaking scientific innovations, and cutting-edge cultural institutions. 

We write as Jews committed to the safety and well-being of Jews. But we also write as citizens concerned about the devastating effects of this proposed fine on all members of the UC community and on millions of people in California and beyond who depend on and benefit from it. We urge the Trump Administration to cease its attempts to deprive institutions such as ours of vital research funds intended to save and improve lives. And we ask that it cease its misplaced efforts to withhold funds in the name of combating antisemitism. The impact of the cuts will have a deleterious effect on all members of our community, including but not restricted to Jews.