UC Faculty Escalate Court Battle Against Trump Efforts to Reshape Higher Education

University of California faculty groups are escalating their pushback against the federal government’s efforts to reshape higher education, demanding access this week to a settlement proposed by the Trump administration that they say is part of an effort to exert control over universities.

In August, the Trump administration moved to freeze hundreds of UCLA research grants totaling roughly $500 million over allegations that the school ignored antisemitism on campus. Federal officials said universities, including UCLA, Columbia and Harvard, have fallen into a “decades-long woke-capture” spearheaded by Democrats.

The administration’s proposed settlement agreement in exchange for releasing those funds includes a $1.2 billion fine — the largest the Trump administration has requested from a university so far. According to reports from the Los Angeles Times and others, it was also accompanied by nonmonetary demands that would radically remake the university “in a conservative image.”

While national news outlets say they have viewed the administration’s lengthy list of demands and reported on their broad strokes, faculty members say the UC Board of Regents is refusing to share the document, hampering their ability to fight the proposed changes.

This week, in addition to suing the Trump administration over the proposed settlement, UCLA’s faculty association and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations sued the regents for declining a public records request for Trump’s demand letter.

“We feel this is essential for us to understand what our working conditions will be like over the next few years,” said Anna Markowitz, the president of the UCLA faculty association’s executive board.

According to media reports, the proposed settlement demands that UCLA bar health care workers from offering some gender-affirming care at its hospitals, exclude transgender women from athletics and “single sex housing” and rescind records and recognitions previously awarded to transgender women in “female-only events.”

The faculty groups believe the list also calls for UCLA to revise its free expression policies and includes demands to end race and ethnicity-based scholarships, which Markowitz said help California students who might not otherwise be able to access the prestigious institution. Additionally, they said, it demands that the school alert the federal government of “disciplinary actions involving student visa holders,” among other things.

The Board of Regents, walking a thin line to try to recover the half a billion dollars in frozen research grants, told the faculty groups last month that it would not release the letter, citing pending litigation, Federal Privacy Act and other state public records exemptions.

But the faculty groups say that withholding the document violates their right to information under California’s Constitution. They say it’s unfair for the university system to call on them and other UC staff to oppose it without knowing its demands.

“The UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of University Faculty Associations … are also mobilizing in response to the Trump administration’s demands, though their efforts to do so are being hampered by the University’s refusal to disclose the requested document,” their lawsuit against the regents reads.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Rebekah Evenson instructed the regents on Friday to present any evidence showing that producing a copy of the letter could incur damages, and to identify whether other universities that have engaged in similar negotiations with the Trump administration have released such documents.

She plans to schedule a hearing on the matter in October, according to Markowitz.

Although Markowitz said the faculty groups appreciate news reports outlining the proposed settlement demands, she said it’s important that faculty members see the document for themselves to flag specific language that could have a significant impact on their ability to teach.

“The devil is in the details, and understanding what the specific language is and what the specific requests are would give us a much better sense of to what level the federal government wants to be interfering with UC operations,” she said.

She also believes the settlement demands are relevant to all Californians, since a deal could have wide-ranging effects across the university system’s 10 campuses in the future.

The suit warns that UCLA is just the latest to be affected by a pattern the Trump administration is using to exert power over higher education.

“The Trump administration has developed a strategy to reverse what it calls ‘the decades-long woke-capture of our nation’s higher education institutions,’” it reads. “It conditions the restoration of grant funds on both monetary payments and — critically — sweeping concessions on policies related to admissions, financial aid, free expression, faculty hiring, and inclusivity.”

Universities across the country, including UC Berkeley, are under ongoing investigations for alleged antisemitism, the Trump administration announced in March. It sent letters to 60 universities notifying schools of the probe, and last week, UC Berkeley handed over personal information for about 160 students and employees accused of antisemitism that the government subpoenaed in the spring.

Markowitz said Californians need to know what’s at stake as the regents discuss how to negotiate with the Trump administration.

“The regents have only ever talked about one demand, which is the $1.2 billion settlement … but they’re actually asking for a lot more,” she continued. “Whatever else they’re asking for is actually really important to the character and the mission of the UC and to the public of California, and we want to know what other factors might be involved as our administration tries to figure out a path forward.”