After court forces release of Trump's billion-dollar settlement demands, UC opposition groups turn to next goals

After losing a public records lawsuit last week, the University of California has released the 27-page settlement proposal it received from the Trump administration’s Justice Department.

The release followed a September lawsuit from the UCLA Faculty Association and the Council of University of California Faculty Associations, under the California Public Records Act.

“For the folks who are going to be most impacted —students, workers, parents, faculty — the devil is in the details,” said UCLA Faculty Association President Anna Markowitz.

“Our working conditions could be directly impacted by this proposal, and we wanted to understand exactly how,” added Caroline Luce, communications chair of UC-AFT, a union that represents non-tenured faculty.

What's in the proposal?

The proposal demands a host of changes that could alter campus life and healthcare access at UCLA — and more than $1 billion for the federal government. CNN and the L.A. Times were among the first to report on some of the proposal’s contents. But for months, the Justice Department and UC administrators have largely negotiated behind closed doors.

The administration sent the settlement proposal to UCLA in August, claiming it didn’t do enough to combat antisemitism during last year’s pro-Palestine protests and that it’s violating federal civil rights law.

What do the negotiating parties say?

The Justice Department has not responded to requests for comment. In a statement, the UC says it did as instructed by the courts and that the system “remains committed” to protecting its mission, governance and academic freedom.

What will faculty and unions do next?

A coalition of faculty groups and unions — including the UCLA Faculty Association — has also sued the Trump administration.

Markowitz told LAist that she and her colleagues are taking a multi-pronged approach to “combatting Trump’s attacks on higher ed.” This includes suing to get the details of the settlement proposal; suing to restore federal funding for science research; and asking the public to support a bill that promises state-based funding for research, among others.

Disclosure: Julia Barajas is a part-time graduate student at UCLA Law.