News

  • Stand Up for Science

    ByMichael Chwe

    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 

    ByMichael Chwe

    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…

  • UC Berkeley faculty and counsel explained the Thakur v. Trump case and its implications for the UCLA federal funding suspensions.

    ByMichael Chwe

    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.

  • UC Stand Up For Our Values

    ByMichael Chwe

    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…

  • UC Regents: Stop the Cuts

    ByMichael Chwe

    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.

  • What is UCLA Health doing about ICE in our hospital?

    ByMichael Chwe

    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…

  • Falling Short of Sanctuary

    ByMichael Chwe

    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.

  • UCLA faculty helped support our commencement ceremonies.

    ByMichael Chwe

    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.

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    PERB issues complaint against UC, finding merit in CUCFA ULP charge

    Byadmin

    Last fall, the UCLA FA spearheaded a broader Council of UC Faculty Associations effort to submit an Unfair Labor Practice charge regarding the UC’s handling of protest and strike activity on campus last spring. Now, the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB) has issued a complaint against the UC, finding merit in our charges that UC violated our labor rights and taking them to the next step in the legal process! This is a significant win in the fight for faculty rights on UC campuses. Stay tuned for more updates on how we will use this victory to protect our rights…