A coalition of labor unions and faculty associations representing UC employees filed suit Tuesday aiming to stop the Trump administration from suspending research grants and seeking a $1.2-billion fine against UCLA.
The lawsuit filed in federal court for the Northern District of California accuses the administration of President Donald Trump of attempting to unlawfully stifle free speech within the UC system.
The coalition is seeking a court order to block the Trump administration from further use of financial threats to “coerce” the UC system to accede to demands that plaintiffs allege will harm faculty, staff and students, and that is in violation of the Constitution and existing law.
“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.
Wolfson’s organization, which is affiliated with faculty groups on UC campuses, is among plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The 123-page complaint references other attempts by the Trump administration to make significant changes at UCLA, and argues that demands to remake the university’s mission could harm large numbers of UC employees.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to the plaintiffs, the Trump administration has attempted to implement a playbook to threaten colleges and universities based on a disdain for the institutions’ curriculum, the nature and content of the activity that has taken place at those institutions, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives.
“In America, there is no king,” said Skye Perryman, president and chief executive of Democracy Forward, a legal organization representing the coalition of unions and faculty associations.
“Under our Constitution, the president cannot force people to think like he does, believe like he does, nor be exposed to only the ideas he agrees with. Yet he’s trying to do just that. The Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to stop students, faculty, and staff at UC campuses from exercising their First Amendment rights and to unlawfully seek to intimidate educational institutions is a callous dismissal of one of the most important pillars of our democracy.”
