WASHINGTON: California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests. UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding.

UCLA is the first public university whose federal grants have been targeted by the administration over allegations of civil rights violations.

University of California president says ‘a payment of this scale would completely devastate’ public university system