Will Newsom's ambitions save UCLA from caving to Trump?

Settling over the president's demands would be bad for the state and its governor.

- ANITA CHABRIA COLUMNIST

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times

UCLA faces frozen grants and demands of a $1-billion payout from the president.

What's the difference between Harvard and UCLA when it comes to fighting President Trump's attacks?

It may come down to how much Gavin Newsom wants his shot at the White House.

Harvard appears to be on the brink of caving to the president's demands around claims of antisemitism and a host of issues that most would describe as policies for inclusiveness and diversity, but which Trump derides as "woke," whatever that means.

The storied university may pay out a huge settlement — rumored to be about $500 million — to pacify an administration increasingly bent on domination of American institutions. Armed with that success, the president has targeted UCLA by freezing more than $500 million in federal grants and demanding a payout of about $1 billion.

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times

A STUDENT takes a selfie at UCLA. The school contributes more than $2 billion to the local economy.

"We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom on this extraordinary public institution," Newsom said recently. "We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path." Let's hope that's true.