The Trump administration has demanded that the University of California pay a $1-billion fine to settle federal accusations of antisemitism in exchange for restoring frozen grant funding to UCLA.
The Los Angeles Times reports that California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the proposal "extortion" and said the state will go to court to protect the university system.
"We'll sue," Newsom says.
President Trump is "trying to silence academic freedom" by "attacking one of the most important public institutions in the United States of America," Newsom said.
The federal government says the university system should pay the billion-dollar fine in installments and contribute $172 million to a fund for Jewish students and other individuals affected by alleged violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
In addition, the Trump administration demanded sweeping campus changes encompassing protests, admissions, gender identity in sports and housing, the abolition of scholarships for racial or ethnic groups, and submission to an outside monitor over the agreement.
Newsom's response: "We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom."
In a statement Friday, University of California President James B. Milliken, who oversees the 10-campus system that includes UCLA, also seemed to rebuff the demand.
"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," Milliken said.
The university system and individual campuses are under multiple federal investigations into alleged use of race in admissions, employment discrimination against Jews, civil rights complaints from Jewish students and improper reporting of foreign donations.
The university system has already overhauled practices in some areas called for by the Trump administration -- including a ban on protest encampments and the abolition of diversity statements in hiring.
