UC Labor Groups Sue Trump Over ‘Coercive’ Antisemitism Investigations and Demands

A coalition of labor groups sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over what they called the use of civil rights laws as a “coercive cudgel” to attack the University of California system and the rights of union members.

The federal complaint, filed in San Francisco, followed the Trump administration’s August settlement proposal to UCLA that included a $1.2 billion fine over allegations that the university ignored antisemitism on campus. It also comes as the government continues to investigate allegations of antisemitism and demands information from several campuses, including UC Berkeley.

While the White House’s 28-page proposal to UCLA has not been made public, the settlement includes a series of demands that would drastically overhaul university policies around admissions, gender and diversity, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

“Under the pretense of addressing antisemitism at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Trump administration has demanded terms that would violate the constitutionally protected free speech and association rights of faculty, students, and staff and fundamentally remake the UC system to align with the president’s ideology,” the labor groups wrote in a press release on Tuesday.

According to the groups, the Trump administration’s demands include restricting campus protest rights, as well as:

• Unfettered government access to faculty, student and staff data
• An official statement that the UC does not recognize transgender identity
• A ban on gender inclusive restrooms and locker rooms
• The cessation of gender affirming care for minors
• An end to diversity scholarships
• Cooperation with immigration enforcement, which appears to include giving ICE access to UC hospitals
• The creation of viewpoint policies for the admission of international students.

Labor leaders called the Trump administration’s move the most aggressive that they had seen out of the White House, targeting academic freedom so far, and said it threatened the rights of employees and students across the state, not just at UCLA.

“We will not stand by as the Trump administration tries to destroy one of the largest public university higher education systems in the country and bludgeons academic freedom at the University of California, the heart of the revered free speech movement,” Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors, said in a statement. “In this historic lawsuit, faculty, students, and staff walk together to fight the authoritarian takeover of our universities.”

The wide-ranging coalition backing the lawsuit includes the AAUP, the American Federation of Teachers, as well as the faculty associations at all 10 UC campuses and a group of other labor unions. It collectively represents tens of thousands of faculty, students and staff working at UCs across the state.

“Agreeing to this settlement would be devastating for researchers, healthcare workers, and the whole UC community,” Ursula Quinn, an occupational therapist at UCLA, said in the statement. “We’re already understaffed and under-resourced. Surrendering this money to Trump would send a terrible moral signal to people who work here and could trickle down to impact patient care.”

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten pushed back against the idea that the settlement was intended to “eradicate antisemitism” on campuses, rather than an act of retaliation against the UC system.

“Let’s be clear: we should tackle antisemitism and other acts of hate and discrimination. But these illegal demands on the University of California are intended to punish an esteemed institution by crippling economic opportunity and hindering the open pursuit of knowledge,” Weingarten said.

In a letter to the UC community on Monday, UC President James Milliken acknowledged the administration’s investigations in various stages across all 10 campuses — including an ongoing probe at UC Berkeley, which turned over 160 names of staff and students accused of antisemitism last week.

Federal action against the UC system — as California’s second-largest employer, with a presence in every county in the state — could ripple across the state’s economy.

“The fact is that we are in uncharted waters. Our top priority now is protecting this institution — its resources, its mission and its values — for the sake of everyone we serve,” Milliken wrote.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, UC’s board of regents will meet in San Francisco to discuss the ongoing threats and negotiations with the Trump administration. While the UC system has not filed its own lawsuit, the AAUP’s hope is that the labor groups’ action will “empower the University of California to defend their rights in court,” said Veena Dubal, AAUP’s counsel.