This post was updated Sept. 16 at 10:46 p.m.
Groups representing over 100,000 employees sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday, alleging that the suspension of research funds and settlement demands of $1 billion is financial coercion and a violation of the free speech and due process rights of employees.
The suit follows the Trump administration’s proposed $1 billion settlement for UCLA to regain its research funding – including 800 grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Energy which were suspended July 30 and 31. The settlement demands – further details of which became available to the public Monday – five years of $200 million installments to be paid out-of-pocket by the UC, $172 million in a claims fund for those allegedly faced employment discrimination and changes to admissions, staff, health care and protest guidelines, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California – the same court where Judge Rita F. Lin ordered the temporary reinstatement of UCLA’s suspended NSF grants Aug. 12. The court will hear arguments on if the same will be done for the frozen NIH funds Thursday.
[Related: District court judge to hear arguments on restoring suspended NIH grants to UCLA]
The lawsuit – brought by 21 groups, including labor unions and faculty associations – alleges that the Trump administration’s $1 billion demand from UCLA to restore federal research funding is “coercion.” The UC Office of the President did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
UC President James Milliken said in a Monday statement that he is working with elected officials to try to resolve the freeze, with the university also previously having agreed “to engage” in talks with the federal government.
The plaintiffs alleged that Trump has attempted to “require that universities conform to his worldview,” calling the efforts unconstitutional and “un-American.”
As a part of the proposed settlement deal from the federal government, UCLA would have to hire a resolution monitor to “oversee the school,” according to CNN.
UCLA would also be expected to make a statement that it no longer recognizes the identities of transgender individuals, end gender-affirming care for minors at its medical facilities, offer female-only housing and “make clear through the statement and on its website that it does not welcome transgender people on sports teams,” as part of the deal, according to the LA Times.
Diego Emilio Bollo, the president of the Undergraduate Students Association Council, said he believes the federal government is withholding the funds in an attempt to coerce the university to compromise its values – including those of academic freedom, free speech and equity. He added that USAC is “incredibly thankful and in support” of the lawsuit.
“We want to call on the UC administration to stand boldly in defense of its students and faculty and staff,” Bollo said. “The moment needs for legal action. It can’t be more just private conversations, it needs to be leadership and transparency and USAC is doing everything in its power to restore federal funding and protect our integrity and stay committed to our values as an institution and resist this political coercion.
The university will also be told not to admit anyone who is “likely to engage in anti-Western, anti-American, or antisemitic disruptions or harassment.” Materials for international students meant “to socialize” them “the norms of a campus dedicated to free inquiry and open debate” will also have to be created.
“Determined to exert ideological control over the nation’s core institutions, the Trump administration is engaged in tactics that violate the central norms of our democracy, the United States Constitution, and duly enacted federal laws,” the plaintiffs said in the filed complaint.
Milliken also said in the statement that the UC receives $17 billion in federal funding each year, including $5.7 billion annually for research and program support. He added that the funding cuts represent one of the “gravest threats” to the University in its entire history and would create a “detrimental ripple effect across the entire state economy.”
Stett Holbrook, a UC Office of the President spokesperson, said in an emailed statement that the UC is not a party in this lawsuit, but is working to “restore and maintain” federal research funding through legal and advocacy efforts.
“Federal cuts to research funding threaten lifesaving biomedical research, hamper U.S. economic competitiveness and jeopardize the health of Americans who depend on the University’s cutting-edge medical science and innovation,” he said in the statement.
The suit alleges that Trump violated the Administrative Procedures Act, which governs how administrative agencies can create and enforce regulations.
The plaintiffs also argued that he violated the Fifth Amendment by not providing plaintiffs “fair notice or a reasonable opportunity to be heard” under due process laws. They additionally alleged that he has no constitutional power to “take over day-to-day management” of any university, which they said violates the 10th Amendment – or exceeds the power granted to the federal government in the Constitution.
The suit further alleged that Trump is attempting to gain control over “curriculum, faculty hiring and promotion, and university admissions to the federal government and its government-appointed monitor.”
In a Tuesday press conference at UC San Francisco, Veena Dubal, a professor of law at UC Irvine, said allegations of antisemitism are being used as a “smokescreen” to get the UC to conform to the federal government’s conservative policy changes, calling the attacks against the UC “authoritarian.”
Dubal, the general counsel of the American Association of University Professors, added that the lawsuit does not just concern constitutional principles, but is also about “protecting the health of everyday Californians,” economic mobility and “critical debate, knowledge and innovation.”
“Donald Trump is attacking not just the UC system, not just our students, staff and faculty members, he is attacking California,” Dubal said. “This tremendous coalition and this lawsuit are just the beginning.”
