- “There can be no clearer attack on academic freedom than an attempt to dictate curricular content, research priorities, hiring decisions, and admissions standards.” – UC Academic Council
By Vanguard Staff
The University of California is facing what officials are calling one of the most serious threats in its 157-year history, as the Trump administration presses sweeping demands on the system following the suspension of UCLA’s research funding and a federal order that the university pay over $1 billion.
In a unanimous statement adopted on October 3, the UC Academic Council declared that “the government’s investigation and actions against UCLA must now be understood as part of a systematic and unprecedented campaign to align universities with the politics and perspectives of the Trump administration.” The council warned that at stake is “not only our institutional autonomy but the integrity of higher education itself.”
The Academic Council accused the administration of seeking concessions that would “cede control of core university functions,” including curriculum, research, hiring, and admissions.
“There can be no clearer attack on academic freedom than an attempt to dictate curricular content, research priorities, hiring decisions, and admissions standards,” the statement read. The council called on UC’s Office of the President and the UC Board of Regents to “unequivocally reject governmental demands that compromise institutional autonomy and academic freedom.”
UC President James B. Milliken, in a September 15 message to the UC community, said the scale of the crisis could devastate the university and ripple across California.
“This represents one of the gravest threats to the University of California in our 157-year history,” Milliken wrote. “Losses of significant research and other federal funding would devastate UC and inflict real, long-term harm on our students, our faculty and staff, our patients, and all Californians. It would also end life-saving research from which all Americans benefit.”
Milliken noted that UC receives more than $17 billion in federal support annually, including $9.9 billion in Medicare and Medicaid funding, $5.7 billion for research and program support, and $1.7 billion in student financial aid.
He warned that cuts would mean fewer classes and services, reduced health care access, job losses, and faculty departures.
“It will mean fewer classes and student services, reduced access to health care, tens of thousands of lost jobs across the state, and an exodus of world-class faculty and researchers to other states or countries,” Milliken said.
Governor Gavin Newsom has also issued sharp warnings, calling Trump’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” radical and dangerous.
“Do the right thing,” Newsom said. “What’s the point of the system? What’s the point of the university? What’s the point of all of this?”
He pledged that “California will not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers and surrender academic freedom.”
Newsom, who sits as an ex officio member of the UC Board of Regents, threatened to immediately cut state funding to any California university that signs onto the compact.
“We’re losing this country,” he said. “We’re losing it in real time. This is a chaos presidency. He is a wrecking ball. This is unlike anything we’ve experienced in our lifetime. It is code red. No time for neutrality. It’s time to stand up, pick a side, and be firm and resolute.”
The governor also requested an independent review into UC Berkeley’s disclosure of 160 student, faculty, and staff names to federal officials as part of an antisemitism investigation.
UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz said the university is cooperating, adding, “We will continue to work closely with the governor on this and other issues.”
The Academic Council said it stands ready to work with the administration to defend UC as a “self-governing, public trust.” Milliken told the UC community that the university would continue working with elected officials in Sacramento and Washington to explore every option to resolve the conflict.
“The fact is that we are in uncharted waters,” Milliken wrote. “Our top priority now is protecting this institution — its resources, its mission and its values — for the sake of everyone we serve.”
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From article: “What’s the point of the system? What’s the point of the university? What’s the point of all of this?”
(Increasingly, young people are apparently asking themselves the same question. And who can blame them – when they can’t find a job but still have to pay off student loan debt?)
When everyone and their grandma has a college degree (but still don’t have any marketable skills after graduation), and universities increasingly enroll anyone with a pulse – it’s not difficult to understand where this is going.
That, combined with the enormous reduction in the number of “new people” being minted, these days.
But it does seem to be true that the UC system is the “last man standing”. (Which also means that everyone and their grandma will have a degree from oh-so-prestigious UC system – and not from a state college which are increasingly experiencing a reduction in the number of students).