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.
Please consider signing on to an open letter in support of the California Science and Health Research Bond Act. This bill places a bond on the 2026 ballot to create and fund the California Foundation for Science and Health Research, which would award grants and make loans to public or private research companies, universities, institutes, and health care organizations in the State of California for scientific research and development.
On November 21, 2025, UC President Milliken reversed course and pledged to continue funding the hiring incentive for the Presidential Postdocs Fellowship Program. This represents a significant faculty organizing win. The UCLA Faculty Association thanks the thousands of faculty who signed letters, sent emails, and spread the word quickly!
On November 19, 2025, four UCLA undergraduate students were arrested by UCLA police while picketing in support of AFSCME 3299’s protected strike. On November 20, 2025, two UCLA graduate student members of UAW 4811 were detained by university police on Wednesday at a union action about contract violations and labor cuts. The UCLA Faculty Association joined with AFSCME 3299, UAW 4811, Teamsters Local 2010, UPTE CWA 9119, UCLA Chapter of University Council – AFT, UC-AFT Local 1474, the UCLA Undergraduate Students Association, and all of our sibling UC Faculty Associations to condemn UC’s violation of our free speech and organizing…
On November 14, 2025, the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California granted the plaintiffs in AAUP v. Trump, including UCLA-FA, a preliminary injunction! By temporary court order, the federal government is now prohibited from holding federal funds hostage in an effort to coerce the University of California into imposing policies that would violate our first amendment rights. This order means that the Trump administration is now explicitly prohibited from doing the following: In last week’s preliminary injunction hearing, lawyers from Alshuler, Berzon—Connie Chan and Stacey Leyton—were able to argue convincingly, based on a mountain of evidence assembled by the team…
On September 30, 2025, we spearheaded a special meeting of the Legislative Assembly of the UCLA Academic Senate, which unanimously passed a resolution, 116 votes in favor and zero opposed, to request that Chancellor Julio Frenk share the Trump “demand letter” with the public.
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…
