DOJ drops appeal in civil rights case at UCLA

Federal judge blocked $1.2-billion settlement proposal over alleged violations on campus.

- By JAWEED KALEEM

THE WHITE HOUSE had proposed sweeping changes amid demands to push UCLA ideologically rightward.

(MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times)

The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked the government's $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations.

In a Wednesday filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Department of Justice lawyers asked judges to dismiss an appeal it filed last month seeking to reverse a lower court decision. The November ruling — a major victory for UC workers who sued — had stalled the fine and a 27-page settlement document outlining administration demands to push the university ideologically rightward.

The proposal called for sweeping changes at UCLA — and by extension all of the UC system — including a ban on diversity-related scholarships, restrictions on foreign student enrollment, a declaration that transgender people do not exist, an end to gender-affirming healthcare for minors, limits on free speech and nearly unfettered sharing of personnel data with the government.