Events
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Community Science Day at the Paramount Library
On January 24, 2025, from 10am to noon, the UCLA Brain Research Institute, the UCLA Faculty Association, the Paramount Library, and the office of Assemblymember José Luis Solache are sponsoring a Community Science Day at the Paramount Library. We are looking forward to reaching out to the community to talk about all the exciting science happening at UCLA! We are also hoping to build support for SB 895, principally co-authored by Assemblymember Solache, which will establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research.
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Rally with UC Unbowed
On November 18, 2025 during the meeting of the Regents on campus, we joined UC Unbowed, a new organization of UC alumni, to call on the Regents to not cave to the demands of the Trump administration.
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AAUP National Day of Action, November 7
On November 7, 2025, for the AAUP National Day of Action, we sponsored a panel discussion with Claudia Polsky (UC Berkeley Law) and Ariela Gross (UCLA Law) on the landmark Thakur v. Trump victory restoring $580 million in federal research grants to UCLA researchers and the next steps in the AAUP v. Trump case. Later that day we participated in the CUCFA Systemwide Town Hall, Fight for the Future of Higher Education, to discuss Trump’s threats to research, DEI, and healthcare, the erosion of shared governance, and how we can act together.
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Rally to mark our successful legal effort to make the Trump “demand letter” public
On October 12, 2025, we held a rally on the Tongva Steps to strategize future efforts given our successful legal effort to get the UC to release the Trump “demand letter.” The UC had gone to extensive efforts, appealing all the way to the Supreme Court of California, to prevent it from being released to the public.
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Welcome Back All Members meeting, October 12
On October 12, 2025 we had a Welcome Back All Members meeting at Mira Hershey Hall on the UCLA campus, with roughly 70 members in attendance.
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Help build our Chain of Hearts every Thursday at 1pm in the Court of Sciences.
Since June we have been making a Chain of Hearts every Thursday at 1pm 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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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).
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Roughly 250 Los Angeles scientists participated in the “Kill the Cuts” march.
On April 8, around 250 UCLA students, postdocs, and faculty participated in the “Kill the Cuts” march to the Westwood Federal Building, to protest federal funding cuts to higher education. This march was covered in the LA Times.
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Hands Off Our Students! Rally
In the past week alone, at least 44 students across the UC system have reportedly had their I-20 Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) record terminated by the Department of Homeland Security, with at least one deportation occurring. The current count of visa revocations at UCLA is thirteen. These detentions and visa revocations are taking place without warning, and without the University being able to inform visa holders in a timely way that their legal status to remain in the U.S. has been terminated. The cases across the University of California and elsewhere suggest there is no consistent pattern…
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AFSCME and UPTE are on strike from February 26 to February 28, 2025
AFSCME Local 3299, the union representing 37,000 Service and Patient Care workers at the UC, is conducting a statewide Unfair Labor Practices strike this week over bad faith bargaining and interference with workers’ free speech rights. UPTE-CWA Local 9119 (University Professional and Technical Employees), the union representing 20,000 UC employees including nurse case managers, mental health counselors, optometrists, pharmacists, physical therapists, clinical researchers, IT analysts and animal health technicians, are on strike in response to repressive limitations the UC is placing on employee and union free speech. AFSCME and UPTE are asking all community members to not purchase products (including…
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Hundreds of Los Angeles scientists rallied to Stand Up For Science.
On March 7, hundreds of faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and community members from UCLA, USC, and our entire community participated in the nationwide Stand Up For Science rallies. The rally was covered in the Los Angeles Times.
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The UCLA Faculty Association has presented UC President Drake with four demands to protect our community from deportations.
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.”
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What to do when grades come due? CUCFA Virtual Town Hall, Fri 7/7 @ noon
Many UCLA faculty are teaching courses with TAs who are on strike, and therefore striking TAs may not be grading final assignments and exams. What does this mean for us as faculty? What does it mean for our undergraduates, their courses, and their final grades? The UCLA Faculty Association invites all UCLA faculty to participate in a Virtual Town Hall Meeting this Friday, June 7 from 12-1PM hosted by CUCFA (Council of UC Faculty Associations). This meeting is intended to be an opportunity for faculty to think through and share the policies that have been devised by other faculty at…
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Which Way UCLA? May 6, 12 noon
Save the date! Which Way UCLA? Faculty and the Future of Public Higher Education Wednesday, May 6, 12 noon to 1:30 PM UCLA Faculty Center, Sequoia Room Buffet lunch will be served As Janet Napolitano and Jerry Brown battle over tuition increases and state funding for the UC, faculty face eroding compensation and increasing privatization of the university. Is shared governance still meaningful amidst the race for private donations and bond-funded construction? Where is the common ground between tenure and non-tenure system faculty? How does the crisis of student loan debt change our relationship with our students? Join representatives of the Academic Senate, the Council…
