LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration's settlement proposal to UCLA — which includes a nearly $1.2-billion fine over allegations of antisemitism and civil rights violations — seeks to drastically overhaul campus practices on hiring, admissions, sports, scholarships, discrimination and gender identity, a Times review of the document shows. The 28-page letter — whose full contents have not been ...

UCLA students walk at the Westwood campus on Sept. 10.

Genaro Molina/The Los Angeles Times/TNS

LOS ANGELES — The Trump administration's settlement proposal to UCLA — which includes a nearly $1.2-billion fine over allegations of antisemitism and civil rights violations — seeks to drastically overhaul campus practices on hiring, admissions, sports, scholarships, discrimination and gender identity, a Times review of the document shows.

The 28-page letter — whose full contents have not been made public — also lays out in sweeping detail how it wants the university to enforce new policies that adhere to the president's conservative agenda.

The Department of Justice's August demands reach into numerous aspects of campus life and call for the university to make public declarations that it has agreed to significant elements of Presiden Donald Trump's vision of higher education. In exchange, the government will release roughly half a billion dollars in suspended research grants from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Energy to UCLA.

The letter has launched ongoing negotiations between University of California leaders and the Department of Justice. UC has not publicly agreed to the stipulations — which have been broadly summarized in reporting from The Times. In statements, leaders have scoffed at the exorbitant fine. Privately, they've said many other requests would violate UCLA's mission and values.

The more than 7,300-word proposal outlines a three-year agreement that calls on UCLA to:

•Make five years of payments — $200,000 annually — and set up a $172,000 fund for people with claims of civil rights violations.

•Ensure foreign students who are "anti-Western" will not be admitted.

•Pay for all costs of the settlement, including the fee for an outside monitor.

•Annually release demographic data for hires as well as students who have applied or have been admitted, broken down by "race, color, grade point average, and performance on standardized tests."

•Make a public statement declaring that transgender people's identities are no longer recognized.

•End gender-affirming care for minors at medical facilities.

•Give the government access to "all UCLA staff, employees, facilities, documents, and data related to the agreement" not protected by attorney-client privilege.

Gov. Gavin Newson has called the demands "extortion" and said California will "stand tall and push back." UC President James B. Milliken said the funding cuts represent "one of the gravest threats in UC's 157-year history."

The document shows signs of being hastily put together. Nouns and verbs occasionally do not match in tense. There are references to the "president" of UCLA, but the top campus administrator, Julio Frenk, is a "chancellor." A sentence about medical facilities references the "Feinberg School of Medicine," which is at Northwestern University.

Much of the language in the UCLA proposal matches Trump settlements reached with Columbia and Brown universities, which posted their final documents.

The Trump push continues across UC, including Berkeley

On Sept. 4, UC Berkeley notified 160 faculty, staff and students that it had given their names to the government as part of an investigation by the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Berkeley officials said the information was produced as part of an "investigation into how UC Berkeley handles complaints involving alleged incidents of antisemitism and/or discrimination." The names included people accused of antisemitism and those who have made complaints about it.

Berkeley representatives said the UC systemwide general counsel directed the university to submit the names. In a statement, UC said it is "committed to protecting the privacy of our students, faculty, and staff to the greatest extent possible, while fulfilling its legal obligations."

The turnover has been criticized by faculty who say UC is retreating on free speech values in fear of more potential campus funding cuts.

Judith Butler, a pro-Palestinian Berkeley professor emeritus known for their books on gender, was among those notified that their information was shared. Butler, who is Jewish, said in a letter to UC that such cooperation with the government was a "well-known practice from the McCarthy Era."

On Aug. 25, the UCLA and UC San Francisco medical schools also received letters from a congressional education committee demanding years of internal documents connected to allegations that the campuses have not "meaningfully responded" to Jewish community member complaints of experiencing "hostility and fear." The submission deadline was Sept. 8.

Two pivotal events this week

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the 24-member UC Board of Regents — the independent body that oversees the 10-campus system and plays a central role in federal negotiations — will hold its first public meetings since the crisis unfolded. Discussions about the funding halt and negotiations are on the agenda.

On Thursday, a San Francisco-based U.S. district judge holds a key hearing in a case UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley faculty filed months ago after the government canceled their individual grants. The judge, Rita F. Lin, ruled last month that an injunction in the class-action suit required the U.S. to release $81 million in frozen National Science Foundation grants to UCLA.

This week's hearing will focus on the largest chunk of federal grants to UCLA, about $500 million in NIH funding.

Here is a detailed look at the Trump administration's settlement letter to UCLA:

Antisemitism allegations

Allegations that UCLA has failed to address antisemitism complaints are at the center of the government's public accusations, but proposals to improve Jewish civil rights make up only a small part of the federal demands.

The proposed resolution does not lay out details on the allegations. But in a government letter to UCLA in July, the Trump administration said the campus was "failing to promote a research environment free of antisemitism and bias."

Much of what the Trump administration is demanding has already been put into place by the university, such as a ban on denying access to campus facilities based on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.

After a pro-Palestinian encampment faced a violent attack last year, activists were accused of restricting pro-Israel Jews from the camp and other protests. The government is calling for a ban on wristbands and "ideological pledges" to gain access to university grounds.

UCLA would also have to hire an outside firm to conduct a campus survey focused on Jewish students' experiences with antisemitism.

The proposal does not directly call for monitoring of Middle Eastern studies programs or the expansion of Jewish and Israeli studies at UCLA — areas that have been part of federal negotiations with other elite schools.

Protests rules

The Trump administration wants UCLA to agree to limits on protests, saying the university should prohibit "demonstrations in Dickson Plaza and Royce Quad that violates university time, place, and manner rules which are designed to limit disruption during times when classes are offered in nearby buildings."

But those areas are already off-limits for protests, although there have been complaints of uneven enforcement of rules. Overnight demonstrations that do not have a permit are also banned. The government wants an all-out "prohibition on overnight demonstrations in any university locations."

The government seeks to ban protesters from wearing masks to shield identity while breaking the law or university policy, and says "all individuals must briefly unmask to verify their identity" when asked by authorities.

UC has such rules, though campuses have not regularly followed it. The Trump proposal says masking policy violations could lead to discipline, trespass charges and possible prosecution.

Gender identity

The government details how the university would ban gender-affirming care for minors.

"Hormonal interventions and 'transgender' surgeries, including but not limited to gender-affirming surgeries such as mastectomies, phalloplasties, vaginoplasties, and other procedures intended to alter an individual's sex characteristics, on all patients under the age of 18 years old," would be banned at university medical centers.

Gender-affirming surgical procedures on minors are rare in the U.S., require parental permission, and typically focus on older teens who want breast removal. Other medical care, such as therapy and puberty blockers, are more common.

The document does not ask UCLA to halt gender-affirming care for adults.

The letter asks the university to declare "to the UCLA community" that it does not recognize transgender people's gender identities. The government also wants the university to make clear through the statement and on its website that it does not welcome transgender people on sports teams, in bathrooms, or single-sex dorm rooms that match their gender identities.

In addition, the proposal specifies that "Title IX compliance means UCLA would not allow male students to compete in any athletic program restricted to women."

Title IX of the Education Amendments, a 1972 federal law, prohibits discrimination "on the basis of sex" in educational programs that receive federal funding. UCLA is a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., which this year instituted new rules that bar transgender players from women's teams.

But the Trump administration says it wants UCLA to make and enforce its own policy.

Race, diversity in employment and admissions

The Trump administration wants UCLA to appoint a senior administrator to conduct a "thorough review" of the university's "diversity, equity, and inclusion" policies in admissions and employment, which it alleges are discriminatory.

The proposal says that the campus will also be prohibited from using "indirect methods or criteria that serve as a substitute for race-conscious hiring, promotion, tenure, compensation, and other employment practices."

"Indirect methods" are not defined and the document says "no proxy for racial admission will be tolerated."

It also calls for an end to "personal statements, diversity narratives, or an applicant's reference to racial identity" as a means to "justify discriminatory practices" in employment.

Since 1997, state law has banned UCLA and other public education institutions from using race in hiring and admissions. In March, the UC system eliminated the use of "diversity statements" in faculty hiring.

The government also asks the school to discontinue any race- and ethnicity-based scholarships. The Justice Department asks for applicants' standardized test scores, but UC does not require undergraduates to submit SAT or ACT scores. If they are submitted, they are not considered in admission reviews.

International students

The Trump administration wants UCLA to make sure foreigners who are "likely to engage in anti-Western, anti-American, or antisemitic disruptions or harassment are not recruited or admitted."

"Moreover, UCLA will ensure that the university is not financially reliant on foreign student admissions or partnerships with foreign entities." UCLA would also develop materials "to socialize international students to the norms of a campus dedicated to free inquiry and open debate," the proposal says.

UCLA, upon request, must also provide the government with all disciplinary actions involving student visa holders.

Compliance and guardrails

The government wants UCLA to agree to an outside resolution monitor to report on how the university is complying with the new policies. If the sides can't agree on the person, the government would choose.

This monitor would be copied on reports from either side about settlement violations that would eventually lead to "non-binding, advisory only" decisions by a separate arbitrator.

The document says the government does not have the authority to "dictate faculty hiring, university hiring, admission decisions, or the content of academic speech." It adds that UCLA should develop "policies to protect faculty and students from retaliation for expressing minority opinions or engaging in free expression."

The Trump administration says that although the proposed agreement would resolve current federal investigations of UCLA, it would not prevent government from undertaking future investigations, funding cuts or lawsuits.