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  • As University of California searches for new president, Trump’s policies make the position more difficult

    As University of California searches for new president, Trump’s policies make the position more difficult


    University of California presidents since 2008.

    The presidency of the University of California has long been considered one of the more challenging positions in American higher education. It requires overseeing nearly 300,000 students, 10 campuses, $8 billion a year of premier research, six medical centers and three federally funded national energy laboratories.

    Now, UC’s board of regents is looking for the next person to fill the role and replace President Michael V. Drake, who plans to step down at the end of the academic year. But in the months since the search began, the job has only grown more complicated and pressured as a result of Donald Trump’s election and his policies affecting funding, racial diversity, student protests and many other aspects of higher education.

    “I think the university is dealing with more significant challenges all at the same time than they probably have in the last 50 years, 60 years,” said John Pérez, the former state Assembly speaker who served on the university’s board of regents for a decade, including a stint as chair, before stepping down last year. “My friends on the regents have a difficult task to find the person to lead through this moment.”

    The U.S. Department of Justice is currently investigating, among other things, allegations of discriminatory admissions practices and complaints of antisemitism at several UC campuses.

    The federal threats are on top of issues that existed even before Trump took office, such as the likelihood of a nearly $400 million cut or 8% to UC’s state funding this year. Even with that probable budget reduction, the next president will be expected to increase graduation rates — especially among Black and Latino students — and to keep enrolling more California residents.

    And there are the perennial questions of how to deal with the many and sometimes conflicting constituencies within the state and university, including the state’s governor and legislators, faculty, alumni, student leaders, labor unions, political activists and parents.

    “We need a UC president that can be ready to advocate and fight back on any reduction of potential federal funds, and then also be ready to figure out what to do in case we do incur those losses,” said Assemblymember Mike Fong, D-Alhambra, who is chair of the Assembly’s Higher Education Committee. He said some legislators have floated the idea of another tuition hike for out-of-state students.

    University presidential searches often raise the questions of whether to get someone from inside the university or someone with fresh, outside experience, and whether to hire someone with experience in academia or from another background, such as in business, government or philanthropy. UC has tried different routes in its most recent presidential hirings. 

    It’s unlikely that the next president will have every desirable skill and experience, said Hironao Okahana, a vice president at the American Council on Education, a national organization that lobbies on behalf of universities. 

    What’s most important, he said, is that the president be prepared for a constantly evolving job. He noted that in the past five years, college leaders have had to navigate a pandemic, a racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd and now the many federal threats. “Higher education leadership is never static, especially for a place like the University of California,” he said.

    The search for the next president was launched last summer after Drake announced he would step down. Drake, who earns a base salary of $1.3 million after getting a raise last year, entered the job in 2020 and had to deal with many of the issues arising from the pandemic, including a temporary switch to online classes.

    The university’s website for the search says the regents are seeking “an individual who is an outstanding leader and a respected scholar who has successfully demonstrated these abilities in a major complex organization.”

    At the most recent regents meeting last month, board chair Janet Reilly said the special regents committee in charge of finding the next president “has been working diligently” but did not say when the search would finish. The committee’s work is being tightly held: It has met only in closed session and has not released the names of any potential finalists. 

    UC also hosted three town hall meetings in January to gather public feedback. Assisting with the process is SP&A Executive Search, a national search firm specializing in higher education and nonprofit sectors.

    Drake’s final months on the job have been marked by policies and actions responding to the Trump administration, a reality with no end in sight.

    Last month, his office announced UC would no longer require faculty job applicants to submit statements about how they would promote diversity. That move came after the Trump administration threatened to withhold funding from universities with programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. Earlier that same day, Drake announced a systemwide hiring freeze in anticipation of those potential funding cuts. 

    In February, UC also filed a declaration of support when California and 21 other states sued the Trump administration over billions in proposed National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding cuts. The judge in the case has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from making those reductions. 

    UC gets about $6 billion annually in federal funds for research and other program supports, with NIH being the top source. Cuts to that funding would be felt across the immense system, which comprises nine undergraduate campuses and one graduate-only campus, UC San Francisco. All 10 campuses have R1 status from the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, the highest tier for research universities.

    Also potentially at risk if the White House and Congress decide to pursue deeper, broader cuts is the $8 billion in Medicare and Medicaid that UC receives for patient care at the medical centers at its Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego and San Francisco campuses. So far, Trump says he will not reduce those.

    UC’s next president could be squeezed from two sides: trying to preserve federal funds while also facing pressure from students and faculty not to succumb to any potential demands from Trump. Last month, Columbia University agreed to change its protest policies, security practices and Middle Eastern studies department to keep $400 million that the Trump administration threatened to cut.

    Students are “extremely concerned” that a similar scenario could play out at UC, said Aditi Hariharan, a fourth-year student at UC Davis and president of the systemwide UC Student Association. The U.S. Department of Education is investigating UC’s Berkeley, Davis, San Diego and Santa Barbara campuses for possible Title VI violations “relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.” Separately, the Department of Justice is investigating Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine for potentially considering race in admissions, which UC has denied doing. 

    Hariharan said she was disappointed to see UC stop requiring diversity statements, which she viewed as a concession to Trump. 

    “I’m hoping to see the next UC president push back stronger,” she said. 

    To navigate the many federal complications, UC might consider hiring someone with government experience this time, said Adrianna Kezar, director of the University of Southern California’s Pullias Center of Higher Education. 

    She pointed to Janet Napolitano, who was UC’s president from 2013 to 2020 and took the job after stints as the U.S. secretary of homeland security and governor of Arizona.

    “Someone like that will understand how to navigate all the executive orders, how to navigate shifts in the agencies,” Kezar said. “Over the next four years, this is going to be a landscape where, if you lack that kind of experience, I think it’s going to be really challenging.”

    It would also help if the next president has philanthropic acumen, Kezar added. If UC loses significant federal dollars, the university will need to look for new funding sources, she said. 

    Napolitano was succeeded by Drake, who had a much more traditional academic background. He served as president of Ohio State University and, before that, was UC’s vice president for health affairs and later chancellor of UC Irvine. Napolitano’s predecessor, Mark Yudof, also had an academic background. Before serving as UC’s president from 2008 to 2013, he was the dean of the University of Texas at Austin’s law school, president of the University of Minnesota and chancellor of the University of Texas system. 

    Pérez, the former regent who chaired the board when Drake was hired, said he’d prefer UC to hire another president who has headed a large public research university, especially if they have experience overseeing academic medical centers. 

    Despite the many threats and challenges UC faces, Pérez added that he’s confident “in the strength of the institution to weather these storms.”

    “But having the right leader means that we will weather the storms more easily and that folks will have confidence that we won’t lose sight of all that’s essential in the university,” he said.





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  • LAUSD denies entry to federal officials, affirms support for immigrants 

    LAUSD denies entry to federal officials, affirms support for immigrants 


    LAUSD Superintendent Albert Carvalho during a school board meeting on August 30, 2022.

    Credit: Julie Leopo/EdSource

    Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto Carvalho confirmed Thursday morning that the district denied campus entry earlier this week to Department of Homeland Security officials seeking information about five students in first through sixth grades. 

    On Monday morning, federal officials arrived at two district elementary schools, Lillian Street Elementary and Russell Elementary in South Los Angeles, Carvalho said, adding that Monday’s interactions marked the first effort by federal authorities to enter Los Angeles public schools since the Trump administration announced efforts to boost immigration enforcement and speed up deportations.

    At a news conference Thursday morning, he said that the visit by the federal officials was “a sad day across Los Angeles — not just for our school system, but for our entire community.”

    “As a school system, we have a professional responsibility to protect, to educate, to inspire young people,” Carvalho added. “I also have, beyond my professional responsibility, a moral responsibility to protect these students.”

    The authorities were dressed casually and only presented identification when asked by the principals of the schools, Carvalho told reporters. He also claimed the officials quickly hid their credentials when the principals attempted to write down their information. 

    According to Carvalho, the agents said they wanted access “to the students to determine their well-being” because they had come to the United States as unaccompanied minors. 

    The agents said they were authorized by the students’ caretakers to go to the campuses, but the district has since confirmed the assertion to be false by speaking with the caretakers, Carvalho said.

    “Across the country, different agencies have been deputized and deployed to collaborate with ICE,” Carvalho said Thursday, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “So, if a federal agent presents themselves to our schools, regardless of agency, asking for direct access to our students, that is suspect behavior that we’re not going to tolerate.” 

    He also praised the schools’ administrators and staff for their response, saying they are trained to handle these situations, including demanding officials’ credentials and examining any warrants or subpoenas. 

    If proper documentation isn’t presented, Carvalho said the officials will be asked to leave, and LAUSD’s operations department, legal department and school board police department are notified. 

    “We will protect our kids. We will educate our kids. We will inspire our kids. We will not allow abuse, intimidation of our children or our workforce,” he said. “Schools are places for learning. Schools are places for understanding. Schools are places for instruction. Schools are not places of fear.” 

    LAUSD’s actions, Carvalho maintained, are in keeping with the law. And in November, Los Angeles Unified affirmed its commitment to being a sanctuary district. 

    Carvalho, a native of Portugal, said he arrived in the U.S. as a youth without authorization. “If I am to represent who I am and what I became in this country, I have to do it in a way that honors the humanity and dignity of those who are currently in the same exact condition decades after I was in that predicament,” Carvalho said. “So, I would put my job on the line in the protection of our students and our workforce.”





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  • Ice cream socials, fights and vomit: Why Cal State resident assistants want to unionize

    Ice cream socials, fights and vomit: Why Cal State resident assistants want to unionize


    Lynn Chan-Nguyen and Faith Ballesteros, two resident assistants at Sacramento State, at the Public Employment Relations Board office in Sacramento. They back unionization for about 1,400 RAs at CSU campuses.

    Credit: Courtesy of the California State University Employees Union

    Takeaways:
    • The union wants to absorb 1,400 or more resident assistants, who do everything from organizing karaoke nights to navigating health crises. They want more guidance about responsibilities.
    • Cal State opposes the bid, claiming it “would have detrimental effects for students.”
    • Student RAs typically don’t get paid, but receive benefits like free or reduced-cost housing.

    To be a resident assistant (RA) in a college dorm is to be many things at once. The person who hosts university-approved events — and cleans up after nonsanctioned revelry. The person who builds community among students — and mediates between feuding roommates. The designated friend — and emergency first responder to a freshman spiraling into a mental health crisis.

    That’s why the students behind the current push to unionize an estimated 1,400 resident assistants in the 23-campus California State University system argue they deserve better workplace protections and stronger guidelines defining their positions. If their bid succeeds, RAs would add to the more than 17,000 other student workers who joined the CSU Employees Union last year.

    But CSU is opposing the move. In a letter to state labor authorities, a CSU representative said allowing RAs to join a union would “would have detrimental effects for students” and argued RAs should be considered “live-in student leaders,” not employees.

    An RA’s role can include everything from organizing karaoke nights to making sure students know how to apply for food stamps. At CSU, they help manage dorms that encompass more than 67,000 beds. RAs receive no salary but get benefits like free housing or access to a campus meal plan. 

    “Sometimes we are (students’) therapists, and we’re essentially sitting there and connecting with students, one on one, and we’re talking them through really difficult times,” said Yasamean Zaidi-Dozandeh, an RA at CSU Dominguez Hills. “Sometimes we’re their doctors. We’re sitting there calling 911 for them.”

    And it’s a position that can vary widely depending on the dorm’s size and the students it serves. An RA in one building might sleep peacefully while another is jolted awake by middle-of-the-night calls. 

    The union points out other reasons resident assistants could benefit from labor protections. Because RAs live in dorms, they risk losing their housing if dismissed unfairly, it says. Students interviewed for this story said RAs would be more willing to voice concerns to housing administrators, too, with union backing.

    A successful union drive would put Cal State students in the company of RAs who have already organized at Boston University, Wesleyan University, Grinnell College and Georgetown University, among others. Though some colleges have voluntarily recognized such bids, others have resisted. The American Council on Education similarly argued against resident assistant unions in a 2016 amicus brief in a case before the National Labor Relations Board involving RAs at George Washington University. 

    “RAs often are required to be available around the clock to attend to emergencies. If universities and colleges had to bargain about the ‘hours’ of RAs, it is entirely possible that any agreed-upon hours limits would conflict with real-life emergencies,” an attorney representing the council and other higher education organizations wrote. “Could an RA rely on a union contract’s hours limitation to refuse to assist a depressed student in the middle of the night?”

    The board ultimately gave George Washington’s resident assistants the go-ahead to form a union, though a union election planned for 2017 was later canceled.

    At CSU, the employee union wants to absorb RAs into its existing unit of student assistants, who include part-time workers at places like campus health centers and libraries. Early last month, the union filed papers arguing that resident assistants share a “community of interest” with student assistants, meaning they have similar working conditions and job duties. CSU is currently negotiating its first contract with student assistants. 

    In opposing the bid, CSU says the housing and meal credits RAs receive are effectively financial aid, not wages. It argues that converting RAs to employees will jeopardize “peer-to-peer relationships” with student residents. It warns that RAs would need to pay taxes on in-kind perks that can reach nearly $30,000 in value. And it says blending RAs into the existing student assistants unit would “overly complicate ongoing negotiations.”

    Finally, CSU argues that one of the reasons some RAs favor a union — a lack of consistency in their duties — is a better reason to reject the union’s claim that they share a community of interest with student assistants. “There are no set ‘duties’ or expectations nor set hours for RAs as a whole. In fact, the only uniform characteristic of RAs is that they live on campus alongside other students,” the letter says.

    CSU’s opposition means that RAs will likely have to wait for a few more steps to unfold before state labor officials make a decision on the petition. A union spokesperson said the union disagrees with CSU’s response and expects a hearing before state labor officials to be set.

    ‘No clear distinction in what our role is’

    Lynn Chan-Nguyen decided to work as a resident assistant for one reason: “I really could not afford to go to school without the job.”

    Chan-Nguyen, a third-year student at Sacramento State majoring in nutrition, grew up an hour’s drive south in Stockton. If not for the meal plan and housing she gets by being an RA, she probably would have stayed closer to home and taken classes at a local community college rather than enrolling at Sacramento State.

    But Chan-Nguyen has found noneconomic reasons to love being an RA, too. She enjoys hosting activities like ice cream socials, which help the upper-division, international and transfer students in the apartment-style housing where she works make new friends. 

    Still, parts of the position she could do without, like cleaning up vomit or trying to defuse physical altercations. “There’s just no clear distinction in what our role is,” she said. “And a lot of the times, when people do get hired, or when people are first starting off from the job, it is not defined what we’re going to be doing.”

    First-time resident assistants only start to grasp how emotionally taxing the role can be during a two-week training at the start of the school year, Chan-Nguyen said. 

    It’s then that RAs realize they might face a life-or-death test of their counseling skills if called on to help a resident experiencing suicidal ideations or a similar health crisis. A 2019 study found that RAs who encountered a resident engaging in self-harm experience higher levels of burnout than RAs who didn’t have those interactions.

    CSU Monterey Bay students move into campus dorms in August 2021.
    Credit: Monterey Bay/Flickr

    Resident assistant Zaidi-Dozandeh at Dominguez Hills, who supports the union drive, said her first-year on-campus housing experience prompted her to become an RA.

    The university’s housing department mishandled an escalating conflict among the students in her three-bedroom apartment, Zaidi-Dozandeh said. As an out-of-state student, however, she felt she had no choice but to return to university housing the following year. She shared her concerns with a staff member — who suggested she use that passion to become an RA. 

    Zaidi-Dozandeh, a fourth-year computer science major, enjoys connecting student-residents to resources like the school’s food pantry. But the work of an RA can also be vaguely defined, she said, creating miscommunication, inconsistencies, and, ultimately, a worse experience for students who live on campus — a problem as CSU campuses experience enrollment declines. 

    “The question really is, why are these students leaving housing,” she said, “when in some cases they really don’t have anywhere else to go?”





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