'Bring it on, Gavin,' White House says to Newsom on threat to sue over UCLA cuts

[ad_1] WASHINGTON — As Gov. Gavin Newsom and the College of California think about whether or not to sue the Trump administration to revive greater than half a billion {dollars} in federal grants to ULCA, the White Home on Tuesday had a terse response.

“Deliver it on, Gavin,” mentioned White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt when requested about Newsom’s opposition to a Trump plan demanding greater than $1 billion and sweeping campus adjustments at UCLA to resolve federal antisemitism findings towards the college.

“This administration is nicely inside its authorized proper to do that, and we need to be certain that our schools and our universities are respecting the First Modification rights and the non secular liberties of scholars on their campuses and UCLA has failed to try this, and I've an entire record of examples that I'll ahead to Gavin Newsom’s press workplace, if he hasn’t seen them himself,” Leavitt mentioned.

The assertion was the primary public remark from the White Home in regards to the high-stakes battle between the nation’s premier public college system and the Trump administration, which has accused UCLA of violating the civil rights of Jewish college students, illegally contemplating race in admissions and treating transgender folks in sports activities, healthcare and campus life in ways in which the federal government claims hinder ladies’s rights.

Leavitt spoke after a query from The Occasions about how Trump would response Newsom’s feedback late final week that the settlement supply for UCLA was “extortion” and “ransom.”

“We’ll sue,” Newsom mentioned Friday.

Responding to Leavitt’s feedback, a Newsom spokesperson pointed The Occasions to a meme posted on X after the press convention.

“Superb chief is entitled to all treasures of the realm, particularly from universities,” mentioned the publish from Newsom’s press workplace account. The graphic options a picture of what seems to a be a North Korean information anchor with a North Korea flag within the background.

In an earlier joint assertion with California legislative leaders, Newsom mentioned that the motion towards UCLA “isn’t about defending Jewish college students — it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president. Trump has weaponized the Division of Justice to punish California, crush free considering, and kneecap the best public college system on the planet.”

No lawsuit has been filed and the UC board of regents, who held an emergency assembly Monday afternoon over the grant cuts, has not introduced the way it will proceed apart from calling Trump’s present phrases “unacceptable.”

Newsom sits as a voting member on the 24-person board, has appointed a number of of its members and may wield affect on the physique, though the ultimate choice on a lawsuit or settlement rests with the regents. Newsom didn't attend Monday’s assembly.

In a press release after the assembly, a UC spokesperson mentioned the $1 billion price ticket could be “devastating.”

“UC’s management spent latest days evaluating the demand, updating the UC group, and fascinating with stakeholders,” mentioned Meredith Turner, UC senior vp of exterior relations. “Our focus stays on defending college students’ entry to a UC training and selling the educational freedom, excellence, and innovation which have all the time been on the coronary heart of UC’s work.”

A whole bunch of grants — from the Nationwide Science Basis, Nationwide Institutes of Well being and Division of Vitality — are on maintain at UCLA. The cash funds analysis into most cancers, math, mind science and different areas, and helps pay for graduate pupil stipends and tuition in addition to lab repairs. If the freezes keep for the long-term, directors are contemplating layoffs and different price range reductions.

Citing the explanations for the freezes, a July 30 NSF leter to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk alleged UCLA “engages in racism, within the type of unlawful affirmative motion, UCLA fails to advertise a analysis surroundings freed from antisemitism and bias; UCLA discriminates towards and endangers ladies by permitting males in ladies’s sports activities and personal women-only areas.”