UC Law Faculty to Regents: Fight Illegal Funding Cuts 

As faculty members of University of California law schools, we endorse Governor Newsom’s commitment to resist the Trump Administration’s unlawful actions taken against the University of California, Los Angeles. The Governor is on firm legal ground. The Trump Administration’s termination and suspension of federal funds has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in numerous ways. Governor Newsom and the University of California Regents will protect the vital interests not only of Californians but of all Americans if they defend the University of California’s rights. 

The U.S. Department of Justice notified UCLA on July 29, 2025, that it had found that UCLA had “violated its obligations under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Chancellor Frenk subsequently announced that “the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons” for federal grant terminations. UCLA faces losses of at least $584 million, funding that has supported vital research on matters ranging from treatments for pancreatic cancer to advances in online security.

The Trump Administration has made no pretense of following the law. Title VI permits a federal agency to terminate funding only if it has found that the particular program receiving that funding has violated the law’s non-discrimination provisions. Funding cannot disappear just because the agency’s policy or political preferences differ from the institution’s.

Moreover, the agency can act only after following specific procedural steps. Importantly, Title VI requires a formal administrative hearing—a proceeding much like a trial—before the agency can terminate funding. At the hearing, the agency would have the burden of proving the university’s alleged violations of Title VI before an impartial decision-maker. If the agency prevails at the hearing, the university or other interested persons could appeal to federal court. There, the court would order the funding to resume if it concludes that the government's action was unlawful, based on pretextual or irrelevant reasons, not well-justified, or unsupported by substantial evidence. No termination can go into effect unless the agency provides a written report of its findings to Congress, and even then the funding must continue for thirty days. Title VI allows the government to seek appropriate remedies through means other than the hearing process. But it must prevail in a lawsuit in federal court to do so, and any such case must honor due process and other procedural protections. The government does not have the option to cut off funding first and sue later.

The Trump Administration has not even pretended to limit its funding terminations to UCLA programs that have allegedly discriminated, as Title VI requires. It has conducted no hearing. It has afforded UCLA no right to appeal. It has provided no report to Congress. It has not obtained a judicial order against UCLA. The Trump Administration’s various and far-reaching demands—for example, that UCLA Health stop providing gender-affirming care—address matters well beyond anything conceivably related to antisemitism. This strongly suggests that antisemitism is a pretext for the administration’s ideological assault on UCLA’s academic freedom. The administration’s termination of federal funds is flagrantly unlawful.

Title VI’s procedures are essential. They ensure that funding ends only after an impartial decision-maker determines, after evidence and argument, that the government’s charges are factually supported and consistent with civil rights laws. Without the steps Title VI requires, there is no protection against an administration alleging discrimination as a pretext to force compliance with its policy or partisan preferences. Title VI’s procedures guarantee the constitutional due process requirement that no person can be deprived of liberty or property without fair notice and opportunity to be heard. They protect the university and its members’ academic freedom, an endowment essential to scientific research, intellectual discovery, and open debate.

We are deeply committed to the core principle of non-discrimination codified in Title VI and in the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The principle that no person may suffer discrimination because of race, color, or national origin protects equality and ensures fairness in political as well as social life. Allegations of discrimination deserve serious and careful consideration and, where established, effective redress. But this enforcement effort must follow the law. 

We urge Governor Newsom and the UC Regents to continue to stand up for the fundamental principles of the rule of law, due process, and equal protection. A defense of the University of California’s rights in court will model respect for these bedrock principles of equality and fairness, and it will ensure that the government honors them. The Trump Administration’s failure to abide by the law subverts these principles by denying the University of California a fair opportunity to contest the government’s charges of unlawful discrimination before an impartial decisionmaker. It is precisely because we cherish the principles of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution that we encourage Governor Newsom, the UC Regents, and the University of California to fight back.

Through its grantmaking powers, the federal government wields vast influence over social and economic life. If not held to account by the procedural protections enacted by Congress and enshrined in the Constitution, the President may exercise arbitrary and destructive power. The rule of law depends on the willingness of the government to follow the law, and upon those targeted by illegal actions to insist that the government do so. When the government breaks the law, the institutions it targets must seek redress. If they do not, those principles will suffer and, ultimately, become empty.

We understand that the pressures to comply with the Trump Administration’s demands are immense, given the vast resources at stake, and the many jobs and livelihoods, including our own, which ultimately depend on these resources. Nonetheless, we believe that a surrender to the Trump Administration’s unlawful coercion will only embolden it to take further steps to undermine legal principles, as well as academic freedom.

We applaud Governor Newsom’s declaration that he will fight back, and we call on the UC Regents to join him in a commitment to fight the Trump Administration’s unlawful termination of UCLA’s federal grants in court. Respect for the rule of law, due process, non-discrimination, and academic freedom require nothing less. We believe that the University of California’s case, that the Trump Administration has flagrantly violated Title VI, is irrefutable. If the University of California defends itself, it will win, not just for all Californians, but for all Americans.