UC employees sue Trump over funding cuts
Across the University of California, 21 unions and faculty associations representing over 100,000 employees sued the Trump administration for allegedly using budget cuts as a way of suppressing free speech and pushing the administration’s agenda on the UC.
“Determined to exert ideological control over the nation’s core institutions, the Trump administration is engaged in tactics that violate the central norms of our democracy, the United States Constitution, and duly enacted federal laws,” the lawsuit, filed Sept. 16, reads.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently fined UC Los Angeles nearly $1.2 billion for alleged civil rights violations and antisemitism. According to the Los Angeles Times, the DOJ’s demands include rejecting foreign exchange students with “anti-Western” views, annual demographic data on university hires and students and a public statement declaring that the identities of transgender people will no longer be recognized, among others.
Over the last several months, UCLA has lost and partially regained hundreds of research grants. UC President James B. Milliken said that outside of the actions the federal government is taking against UCLA, it is investigating and pursuing actions against all 10 UC campuses, calling it “one of the gravest threats to the University of California in our 157-year history.”
“Our top priority now is protecting this institution — its resources, its mission and its values — for the sake of everyone we serve,” Milliken’s statement read.
UC Berkeley shares 160 names with federal government
UC Berkeley shared the names of around 160 students and faculty members to the Trump administration as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitism. On Sept. 4, the University emailed those identified in the documents that it had given their names to the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
According to The Daily Californian, Berkeley provided the documents to the government over two weeks earlier on Aug. 18. An anonymous graduate student at Berkeley said they believed the investigation targeted Muslim and Arab individuals who had publicly voiced support for Palestine. The student alleged that they had been falsely reported for antisemitism to the campus Title IX and Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination.
“Whenever we teach about Palestine, it usually leads to an investigation. I think they flagged and sent all of that information to the federal government,” the student told The Daily Californian.
According to Judith Butler, a comparative literature professor at Berkeley, the University told them that the normal process for complaints had been suspended, meaning all reports were sent regardless of whether they were adjudicated or not. The University declined to share the files with Butler, and it is unknown who was accused of antisemitism and who is named in association.
“We are committed to transparency and supporting our campus community while complying with federal investigations,” UC Berkeley Spokesperson Janet Gilmore told The Guardian.
UC researchers and public service professionals unionize
In early September, over 7,000 UC research and public service professionals voted to unionize under the United Auto Workers (UAW). The unit, named Research and Public Service Professionals-United Auto Workers (RPSP-UAW), represents research data analysts and research administrators, among others.
According to the Santa Barbara Independent, UC Santa Barbara had the highest voting turnout percentage across the UC system. The union will now elect a bargaining committee to decide its bargaining priorities.
RPSP-UAW has expressed frustration with stagnant salaries despite increasing workloads and a lack of transparency from administrators regarding decision-making, according to the union’s website.
A version of this article appeared on p. 2 of the Oct. 2, 2025 print edition of the Daily Nexus.
As proud democrats we must stand to the Trump administration and to the FoxNews-watching morrons who put that idoit in charge of are country. You hated filled republitard voters our responsable for installing that orange fashist who is ruining are country with these funding cuts to are education system. It takes a village and we must take are country back. VOTE DEMOCRAT unless you our stupid