Trump demand letter finally released
Today, as the result of a lawsuit brought by the UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations under the California Public Records Act, the Supreme Court of California ordered the release of the Trump administration’s demand letter to UCLA. Here it is.
We are the UCLA Faculty Association (UCLA FA), an independent body since 1979
We represent UCLA faculty on employment and academic freedom issues and advocate for a vibrant and well-funded system of public higher education in California.
We coordinate research and advocacy efforts with faculty on other UC campuses through our affiliation with the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA).
Please join us at these upcoming events.
What should you do if an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent comes to campus?
We have some guidelines to share.
We sued the Trump administration to protect the UC, our rights, and our values.
On September 16, a coalition of 21 groups including the UCLA Faculty Association filed suit to stop “the unlawful threat of federal funding cuts not authorized by law to illegally coerce the UC into suppressing free speech and academic freedom rights, implementing harmful federal policies on the Trump administration’s behalf and otherwise violating the constitutional and state law rights of UC faculty, students, academic employees, and staff employees.” Our lawsuit was covered by the Los Angeles Times and more information is here and here. Also, on September 15, the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) filed suit to compel the UC to publicly share the Trump administration $1 billion “demand letter.”
Science Fair for Suspended Research
On September 10 and 11, we held a Science Fair for Suspended Research on campus to reach out to the public to show what is at stake in all the life-changing research that has been suspended in the federal grant cuts. Our events were covered by the Los Angeles Times (pdf version here and video here) and LAist.com. The online program for the event is here.
Write to Governor Newsom
Please consider signing our open letter to Governor Gavin Newsom. We are coming together to ask: (1) Provide emergency state funding of up to $1 billion to stabilize UC programs and personnel that have had federal funds cut or suspended, (2) Meet with us at your earliest availability to discuss both immediate and long-term solutions, and (3) Pursue legal action to challenge and reverse these targeted federal attacks and to resist negotiating with an administration whose actions represent undue federal interference in UC’s mission and operations.
Stand Up for Science
On August 18 and 25, UCLA faculty together with our colleagues from UC Davis visited the offices of our legislators and also held a rally at the California state capitol building in support of the Save Our Science initiative. On September 23, State Senator Scott Weiner and Assemblymember José Luis Solache Jr. introduced a bill to establish a $23 billion research fund to make research grants to universities, companies, and health care organizations, effectively creating a “California NIH and NSF.” If the bill passes the California legislature in early 2026, a ballot measure will be voted on by California voters.
UC Law Faculty to Regents: Fight Illegal Funding Cuts
Over 170 University of California law faculty have signed a public statement: “We urge Governor Newsom and the UC Regents to continue to stand up for the fundamental principles of the rule of law, due process, and equal protection. A defense of the University of California’s rights in court will model respect for these bedrock principles of equality and fairness, and it will ensure that the government honors them. The Trump Administration’s failure to abide by the law subverts these principles by denying the University of California a fair opportunity to contest the government’s charges of unlawful discrimination before an impartial decisionmaker. It is precisely because we cherish the principles of the Civil Rights Act and the Constitution that we encourage Governor Newsom, the UC Regents, and the University of California to fight back.”
Jews in Defense of UC
Over 600 Jewish faculty, staff, students, and community members in the University of California have signed the letter Jews in Defense of UC stating: “The Administration’s demand that UCLA pay the federal government $1 billion, along with a $172 million claims fund, is misguided and punitive. Cutting off hundreds of millions of research funds will do nothing to make UCLA safer for Jews nor diminish antisemitism in the world.” The letter was covered in the Los Angeles Times. On the same day, the opinion piece “Trump’s claim of fighting antisemitism at UCLA is a dangerous charade” by David N. Myers (UCLA faculty), Aaron Greenberg and Kate Pynoos, also appeared.
Save Trans Health Care at UC
Over 1600 UC faculty, staff, students, and community members have signed the open letter to Save Gender-Affirming & Trans Healthcare at UCLA. We demand: No cuts, restrictions, or limitations on gender-affirming care at UC and No capitulation to anti-trans demands. Please consider signing.
UC Stand Up For Our Values
On August 1, 2025, we released an open letter (please sign here) in response to the Trump administration’s suspension of roughly eight hundred federal research grants to UCLA scholars. This letter has received over 2400 signatures, including from over 1100 UC faculty, and has been covered in the national and international press.
We demand that the UC Office of the President immediately challenge the Trump administration attacks in court and collaborate with Governor Newsom and the California state legislature to supplement this shortfall. We further ask that the university administration explore using a portion of the over $5 billion in unrestricted endowment funds to help keep our university’s mission intact.
UCLA faculty, staff, and students are speaking out in the media, and coverage is compiled here.
UC Berkeley faculty and counsel explained the Thakur v. Trump case and its implications for the UCLA federal funding suspensions.
On August 8, UC Berkeley faculty Claudia Polsky, Erwin Chemerinsky, Nell Green Nylen, and Christine Philliou, together with counselors Elizabeth Cabraser and Linda Gilleran, explained their class action lawsuit Thakur, et al. v. Trump, et al. in a zoom event at UCLA. In Thakur, on June 23, U.S. District Court Judge Rita Lin issued a preliminary injunction restoring federal research grants to UC researchers. On August 4, plaintiffs submitted a legal filing notifying Judge Rita Lin that by suspending research grants to UCLA, the NSF was violating the preliminary injunction. Notes from the meeting and how to get involved are available here.
What is UCLA Health doing about ICE in our hospital?
On June 24, ICE agents abducted a woman religious asylum seeker in the Westwood area and she went into convulsions as a result. ICE agents took the woman to the UCLA Ronald Reagan emergency room and were allowed into private treatment areas without a judicial warrant, in violation of UCLA policy. UCLA police were present and cleared the woman’s supporters from the waiting area, in violation of UCLA policy stating that UCLA police does not cooperate with ICE (for more information, click here).
On June 27, we joined UCLA Health staff, medical students, and AFSCME 3299, the union representing Patient Care Technical Workers, in a community rally to ask “What is UCLA Health doing about ICE in our hospital?”
Ahilan Arulanantham: Know Your Rights
On May 27, the UCLA Faculty Association hosted a Know Your Rights event with Ahilan Arulanantham on the Law School faculty and Senior Counsel for the ACLU of Southern California. Notes of the event, including how to respond to ICE and also best practices when entering the US from abroad, are available here (additional notes here).
Falling Short of Sanctuary
Noah Zatz on the Law School faculty prepared the document Falling Short of Sanctuary:
Understanding the Limitations of UC Protections for Immigrant and International Community Members to explain how the UC has a very incomplete conception of sanctuary, which focuses on UCPD and leaves out the many other ways UC can cooperate with ICE and the Trump administration. The bare minimum would be for the UC to refuse voluntary complicity, but the University of California (UC) has not adopted this basic principle. An accompanying FAQ is also available.
UC Regents: Stop the Cuts
On July 15, the UCLA Faculty Association joined with UC-AFT, the union of teaching faculty and librarians at the UC, to tell the UC Regents (during their annual meeting at UCLA) to stop the cuts! Over 170 lecturers and librarians in the UC have had their classes cut and their jobs reduced or eliminated, and many are still awaiting their reappointment letters for the fall. We need to tell the Regents that these drastic and unnecessary cuts have consequences. UC-AFT is asking everyone to sign this petition and fill out this form to get involved.
Faculty deserve a voice in common calendar decisions.
The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) has convened a working group to respond to the push for a “common calendar” (semester system) happening statewide, with results from a survey of faculty here. CUCFA will send a letter to UC President Drake and other administrators with the results of the survey in February.
A petition to request a special meeting of the UC-wide Academic Senate to discuss the issue is open for signatures here.
Graphic from Daily Bruin, June 8, 2018.
UCLA faculty helped support our commencement ceremonies.
UCLA’s commencement weekend from June 13 to June 15 was preceded by reports of ICE agents abducting people at school graduation ceremonies in the Los Angeles area. Organizers of several ceremonies including the Latinx Graduation and the Lavender Extravaganza requested additional security but UCLA did not provide any. Thus the UCLA Faculty Association solicited volunteers to create a faculty presence outside these celebrations.
UCLA Faculty Association Annual Meeting
On May 31 we had our Annual Meeting in Mira Hershey Hall to discuss all the challenges we face and our plans to grow in the future. Roughly sixty people were in attendance.
Stoles for commencement
For faculty and students to wear at commencement, we made roughly 200 stoles stating “Stop Deportations/Protect Students.”
Vigil for abducted students every Monday at 12:30pm in front of Powell Library.
Since May we have been holding weekly vigils calling for the release of students and all people illegally abducted, deported, and imprisoned by the Trump administration. We meet at 12:30pm on Mondays in front of Powell Library and all are welcome.
Help build our Chain of Hearts every Thursday at 12:30pm in the Court of Sciences.
Since June we have been making a Chain of Hearts every Thursday at 12:30pm in the Court of Sciences so all of us can show our support for international, LGBTQ+, undocumented, immigrant, and trans students and scholars. Please join us!
Faculty have significant concerns about Trellix.
On May 5, 2025, UCLA administrators announced that by June 1, all UCLA employees must install “Trellix Endpoint Security” on their devices, even personal ones, to access “select critical UCLA applications.”
Information collected by the Trellix software is not under the user’s control, and there is the danger that it might be given to government authorities. A previous version of Trellix, called “FireEye,” was hacked in 2021 by “a nation with top-tier offensive capabilities.” The Trellix software is also computationally demanding and slows down other computer processes. These and other concerns were raised by a letter by the UC system-wide Academic Senate in June 2024.
The Council of the University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) is circulating an open letter for faculty to sign demanding that the UC delay the cybersecurity mandate until Fall 2025.
Documents on the federal grant terminations
The two letters that the Trump administration NSF sent to Julio Frenk, UCLA Chancellor, on the grant terminations are available here. The letters are included as exhibits in an August 4 court filing by the NSF in the Thakur et al. v. Trump et al. case.
The list of all grants that were suspended, from the NSF, NIH, and other funding agencies, is available here (because the NSF grants were later restored, UCLA no longer includes them in their list). The number of these suspended grants by department, and adjusted by the size of the department, are also available here.
Meet our members
The UCLA Faculty Association is proud to have members in all disciplines and all fields on campus. Here are some interviews of our members so you can get to know us better!