The “investigations and actions” range from Trump administration allegations of the illegal use of race in admissions — at Irvine, Berkeley and San Francisco campuses — to civil rights complaints lodged with the Department of Education by Jewish and other community members at UCLA, Davis, San Diego and Santa Barbara campuses. There is also a UC-wide investigation alleging the system discriminates against Jews in hiring, retention and promotion… Students, faculty, staff and campus unions are pushing UC to fight back against the Trump administration. Milliken’s Oakland-based office and the governing board of regents is negotiating with federal officials. On Tuesday afternoon, a coalition of UC unions and faculty organizations will hold a protest at UC San Francisco before the kickoff of a two-day board of regents meeting, the trustees’ first public convening since the UCLA crisis unfolded.

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by Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times.

Posted: September 15th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

In this case, we were each informed of the existence of a file passed to the government without access to the file itself. We were not allowed to know the substance of the allegation nor were we provided with a review process where our own accounts could be considered. In the missive, Robinson does say that the incidents of antisemitic harassment or discrimination are “alleged,” implying that the allegations were not necessarily reviewed or adjudicated but left to stand on their own. Instead of treating the allegations according to established Title VI procedures, the university forwarded the allegation to an office of the federal government. Some of the allegations are anonymous, according to the university’s legal counsel. The fact that someone somewhere, protected by anonymity, has made allegations of this kind is apparently sufficient to forward the names to an office of the federal government that has demonstrated contempt for civil rights and established university procedures.

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by Judith Butler, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Posted: September 13th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Pressuring UC to pay a large sum has another dimension entirely: It’s going after state tax dollars paid by the people of California. This should matter to folks on the left and the right, to those who venerate higher education and those who vote in favor of states’ rights against federal overreach… For every dollar the state invests in us, we generate $21 of economic activity for the state. All of that activity generates $12 billion in tax revenue. We’re a great engine of growth. You’d think a self-proclaimed genius and “self-made” business tycoon would know a good deal when he sees one. To be sure, the supposed bases for demanding the extraordinary payment — antisemitism and civil rights abuses — are very serious. College students should expect to confront new ideas they may disagree with, but no one should be targeted for their beliefs. Full stop. But there are more effective remedies for addressing any failures, as have already been pursued at UCLA. For Trump, though, the accusations are the pretext for punishing institutions that he doesn’t like and, as the Associated Press reports, rebuking political opponents such as Gov. Gavin Newsom. They are not reflective of a genuine concern for student rights.

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by Giuliana Perrone, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: August 13th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

The University of California’s president, James B. Milliken, said in a statement on Friday that the university had “just received a document from the Department of Justice and is reviewing it.” He added, “As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources, and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country’s greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians.” … “These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism,” said Mr. Milliken, who started his job on Aug. 1. “Moreover, the extensive work that U.C.L.A. and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored.

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by Alan Blinder and Michael C. Bender, New York Times.

Posted: August 8th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered lawyers for the Trump administration to explain why last week’s suspension of about 300 UCLA grants by the National Science Foundation does not run afoul of that judge’s June order barring the agency from terminating additional grants. The California district court judge, Rita F. Lin, set a hearing for Aug. 12. Lin’s order is a response to a Monday filing from lawyers representing University of California researchers. They wrote in their filing to Lin that the science foundation must undo last week’s suspensions.

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by Mikhail Zinshteyn, LAist.

Posted: August 5th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Calling the proposed 35% cut to the NIH budget for 2026 one of the most “nonsensical” decisions he’s seen, Thompson said it threatens communities and the economy nationwide. “It’s going to hurt communities. It’s going to hurt workers. It’s going to hurt our research. It’s going to hurt our economy, not just right here, not just in the state of California, but our economy across the United States of America, and as I mentioned, it just furthers this race to the bottom. We have always been a leader. We have always been a leader. But you know, you don’t rest on your laurels,” Thompson said. Future leaders are worried about entering our field due to funding cuts and disrespect from the White House and the administration in Washington, DC.

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by Monica Stark, The Davis Enterprise.

Posted: August 3rd, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

In a letter to UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk dated Wednesday, the National Science Foundation wrote that it was terminating grants because “the University of California – Los Angeles continues to engage in race discrimination including in its admissions process, and in other areas of student life.” An estimated 300 NSF grants totaling $180 million have been canceled. About half of the funds were already distributed… Frenk called the government’s decision “deeply disappointing” and “a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on the groundbreaking work we do.” “In its notice to us, the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons,” Frenk wrote. “This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination.”

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by Jaweed Kaleem, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: July 31st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Earlier this month, the Manhattan Institute released a statement with a proposed “new contract” for higher education and called on President Trump to write the terms of that contract into “every grant, payment, loan, eligibility, and accreditation” and then revoke federal funding for colleges and universities if they aren’t following them… what is more concerning is it was signed by Congresswoman Virginia Foxx—former chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee who oversaw the first subpoena sent to a higher education institution under the pretext of fighting antisemitism on campus. It was also endorsed by Education Secretary Linda McMahon…

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by Amanda Fuchs Miller, Inside Higher Ed.

Posted: July 31st, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

UC admitted its largest class of California undergraduates for fall 2025, while also maintaining a diverse student body and increasing the number of students who are the first generation in their family to attend college, according to preliminary data released Monday. The University of California also offered admission to 17% more undergraduate international students, a group which has come under scrutiny from the Trump administration with increased vetting and visa delays. The strategy in raising international student admits took into account that UC raised nonresident tuition fees last year and that White House actions will likely mean fewer foreigners will decide to study in the U.S. in the fall. The bigger pool of admission offers aims to capture a large enough group of students who will enroll and bring the international diversity UC values — as well boost coffers with the full-price tuition paid by non-California residents.

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by Jaweed Kaleem, The Los Angeles Times.

Posted: July 28th, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.

Over the past few months, a great deal of national news has focused on the federal funding terminations targeting Ivy League institutions and the political retribution against them, especially Harvard. While the Trump administration has claimed to pursue “woke” universities and colleges and taken aim at diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, federal data on grant terminations show that the administration has targeted more than 4,000 grants for termination to over 600 universities and colleges across the country, affecting institutions in every state… Higher education, research and development, and science at large are under attack… Public institutions have had nearly twice the amount of funding targeted, at $2.1 billion in total, compared with private institutions, which have had approximately $1.2 billion targeted in total.

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by Greta Bedekovics and Will Ragland , The Center for American Progress.

Posted: July 23rd, 2025, by: admin. Categories: . Awaiting Comments.