Judge Restores Another Batch of Frozen Grants to UCLA

"The preliminary injunction, first reported by CalMatters and , is temporary. But for now it reinstates more than 500 grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor, allowing hundreds, if not thousands, of university researchers to resume their work. That's on top of a previous order in August from the same court that unfroze about 300 grants from the National Science Foundation."

"The funds were first withheld in late July, less than a week after the Justice Department accused the university of tolerating discrimination against Jewish students, faculty members and staff, in violation of federal civil rights law. The Trump administration later said UCLA could resolve the situation by paying $1.2 billion and agreeing to lengthy list of policy changes. But university researchers pushed back, using an existing broader lawsuit and injunction to challenge the grant freeze."

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction restoring roughly $500 million in UCLA federal research grants, reinstating more than 500 awards from NIH, the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor and allowing researchers to resume work. A prior August order unfroze about 300 National Science Foundation grants, and together the rulings returned almost all of UCLA's federal research funding. The grants had been suspended in late July after the Justice Department accused the university of tolerating discrimination against Jewish students, faculty and staff. The Trump administration sought $1.2 billion and policy changes. Faculty members challenged the suspensions, and Judge Rita F. Lin ruled the indefinite freezes were likely arbitrary, capricious and violative of the Administrative Procedure Act.

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