Twenty-four professors of constitutional law released the memo “DEI Programs Are Lawful Under Federal Civil Rights Laws and Supreme Court Precedent.” The authors of the memo include four of our colleagues at the UCLA School of Law. Listen to our colleague Ariela Gross interviewed on KPBS.
These four demands include: (1) a clear public statement rejecting any policies that facilitate discrimination or deportation based on national origin, religion, or political activities, (2) a public commitment to avoiding voluntary cooperation or information sharing with ICE, (3) a public commitment that UC will voluntarily uphold the practices endorsed by California‘s Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB 450), and (4) a public commitment to not comply with the recent executive order that calls for universities to “monitor for and report activities by alien students and staff.”
On February 19, we joined UAW 4811 for the nationwide “Hands Off Our Healthcare, Our Research, and Our Jobs” action. The Trump administration attacks on higher education are summarized here by the AAUP and here, a live document supported by the work of UCLA scholars. The UC is asking all of us to protect biomedical research by contacting our elected officials here.
