UCLA students and faculty say new chancellor Julio Frenk has long to-do list

UCLA’s winter quarter started Monday — and the first full week for Julio Frenk as the school's new chancellor.

Frenk brings experience as a university and health administrator as well as multinational experience after serving in the cabinet of Mexican President Vicente Fox in 2000. That background will be put to work against a growing to-do list.

On the one hand, UCLA is an economic engine in Southern California, one of the flagship campuses of the UC system. It conferred 15,000 degrees in 2024.

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On the other, it’s faced several high-profile problems over the past year, including a scathing audit of how it handled protests last spring related to the war in Gaza.

Internal problems

Some students say the university’s decision to call on police to clear an encampment last spring of people protesting the war in Gaza still looms over the campus.

“That caused a really huge rift in trust,” said fourth-year undergraduate Javier Nuñez-Verdugo, who says they’ve seen more police and security guards on campus since then.

“Especially a lot of non-white students, especially Black students, especially Indigenous students, do not feel safe with heightened police presence here on campus,” Nuñez-Verdugo said.

One of Frenk’s first tasks: input on who will fill the job of UCLA police chief.

Nuñez-Verdugo, who is external vice president for UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association, would like Frenk to hold regular, in-person town halls with students in order to hear first hand concerns about campus life.

External problems

Others say the new Trump administration may harm students at UCLA and other campuses.

“Chancellor Frenk's main priority should be protecting our undocumented students and our trans students from the coming attacks from the incoming Republican administration,” said UCLA political science professor Michael Chwe via email.

A UCLA spokesperson said Frenk was not available for comment on Monday. But in a video released online on Tuesday, Frenk said “We must renew our commitment to fostering a welcoming and inclusive academic environment that safeguards free expression."

Frenk said he’s been visiting the UCLA campus monthly since his appointment in order to meet with various members of UCLA communities.

The University of California Office of the President gives campus chancellors wide powers over the direction of each university. Frenk said he needs to meet with more UCLA constituencies to shape a plan.

“The insights I gather from each of you will be central to shaping a collective vision for UCLA’s future. I will share this vision at my inauguration in the spring,” Frenk said in the video.

Lost funding, new funding

This fiscal year’s state budget led to a $134 million net cut in funding for the University of California campuses. The system's chancellors are deciding how to carry out those and likely future cuts.

UCLA is also trying to be designated as a Hispanic-serving institution. The university’s Hispanic student population was just under 20% in the fall of 2023. It rose about 1% in each of the previous years.

The designation would allow UCLA to access new federal funds, but would also require administrators to offer Hispanic students more support, including financial aid.

A new labor contract

Labor negotiations are set for later this year for the union that represents nearly 50,000 UC academic workers. Frenk will have input.

“We're looking forward to working with Chancellor Frenk and to resetting the relationship between the administration and our members who do the bulk of teaching and research at UCLA,” said UCLA doctoral student Rafael Jaime, who’s also president of UAW Local 4811, the UC-wide union that represents nearly 50,000 academic workers at the 10 campuses.

His union went on strike in 2022 during the academic term and upended education for thousands of students.

High hopes in the Big Ten

Sports have recently become an even bigger part of UCLA’s budget and identity with UCLA's entry into the Big Ten sports conference. Now, can the university compete on that level and can it bring in the money that leaders expect?

UCLA football ended 14th out of 18 teams in its first season in the Big Ten. Frenk knows about college sports: In his last job as president of University of Miami, he managed high expectations of the legendary Hurricanes’ football program.

In some states that kind of record by a university football program could lead to pressure on a university’s president from as high up as the governor’s office.

“I don't see Gavin Newsom applying pressure on the chancellor at UCLA to get their athletic program to be more successful,” said Dennis Farrell, commissioner of the Big West Conference for 28 years until 2019.

But that doesn’t mean Frenk won’t step in to hold athletic administrators accountable, Farrell said, if UCLA football continues to have losing seasons like this inaugural one.

“The pressure upon a chancellor at a University of California system school probably comes from alumni and boosters. Certainly the media plays a factor in that as well,” Farrell said.