US President Donald Trump on Friday demanded that the University of California pay a USD 1 billion fine, as his administration escalates accusations of alleged antisemitism over the school system’s handling of student protests related to the Gaza war, according to Agence France-Presse.

 

University President James Milliken said the fine, five times larger than what Columbia University agreed to pay in a similar federal settlement, would “completely destroy” the University of California system, which includes 10 campuses.

 

Milliken confirmed that the university’s board of regents received the USD1 billion demand on Friday and is reviewing it.

 

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who sits on the university’s board, vowed to fight the fine, calling it “extortion” and accusing Trump of trying to silence academic freedom.

 

Newsom praised the university system as “one of the reasons California is the backbone of the US economy, and why we have more scientists, engineers, and Nobel laureates than any other state.”

 

In addition to the fine, the federal government is also seeking USD 172 million in compensation for Jewish students and others allegedly harmed by discrimination.

 

The University of California, consistently ranked among the top public universities in the United States, is already facing the Trump administration’s freeze of over half a billion dollars in federal grants.

 

The White House used similar tactics to extract concessions from Columbia University and is attempting the same with Harvard University. Columbia’s settlement included a pledge to comply with rules prohibiting consideration of race in admissions or hiring, among other concessions that drew criticism from Newsom.

 

“We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom or on this exceptional public institution,” Newsom said. “We are not like other institutions that have taken a different path.”

 

Pro-Palestinian protests swept dozens of US campuses in 2024, often met with heavy police crackdowns and violent incidents in student encampments.