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The University of California announced a system-wide employment freeze on Wednesday in response to numerous executive orders and policy changes from the Trump administration that the UC system says is threatening their funds.
UC President Michael V. Drake has announced the decision to implement a freeze as an effort to manage costs and save money as schools face funding cuts at both the state and federal levels.
“Over the past few months, the new administration in Washington, D.C. has announced many executive orders and proposed policy changes, including those that threaten funding for life-saving research, patient care and education support. Furthermore, these actions will impact the 2025-26 California budget call to significantly reduce university budgets.
All UC locations, including the President’s Office, were asked to develop financial strategies and labor management plans ahead of potential fund deficits.
The UC president added that it has implemented “cost reduction measures” and directed all UC locations to delay certain costs. According to Drake, plans for these efforts vary from location to location.
The employment freeze comes just weeks after the Department of Justice began investigating the UC system.
“The study assesses whether UC is engaged in patterns or practices of discrimination based on race, religion, and national origins against race, religion, and other employees by allowing anti-Semitic hostile work environments to exist on campus,” the DOJ said in a press release.
The survey reflects the wider Trump administration crackdown on some of America’s most elite universities.
In January, President Trump signed an executive order outlined “additional measures to combat anti-Semitism.” On February 28, the federal task force fighting anti-Semitism said investigators would visit 10 schools, including USC and UCLA, to determine whether corrective action is guaranteed.
In a social media post on March 4, President Trump threatened to cut off federal funds to universities that allow what is known as “illegal protests,” and threatened to expel international students on a visa.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression accused the proposal of “deeply cold.”
“We know so well the fire from our work defending student and teacher rights under the Obama and Biden administrations that threatening schools that have lost federal funding will lead to legitimate speech crackdowns,” the Free Speech Group said.
More than 250,000 people work in the UC system, representing California’s third largest employer, according to the 2023 Accountability Report. Ten campuses are spread across Los Angeles, Riverside, Irvine, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, San Francisco, Davis and Mercedo.
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