James B. Milicken is the University of Texas prime minister who led the nation’s largest higher education system and navigated GOP politics, and has been appointed the next president of the University of California.
His appointment was announced by the UC Regent Committee on Friday afternoon, and is coming at a tense time for the state’s proud system and elite universities across the country. This attacks to sweep up higher education, which has debated President Trump’s “awakening” and “Marxist” ideology, while also cutting back federal support for research and scientific research that is critical to the university’s mission.
Milliken’s choice will lead to a six-month search on behalf of UC President Michael V. Drake, who will play his role from 2020 and resign from July 31st.
UC is “universally regarded as the world’s outstanding public research university and is extremely honored to have the opportunity to join many talented faculty, staff and campus leaders in important work,” says Miliken, who goes on “JB.” “It’s more important than ever to expand education, research, healthcare and public services that have been highly praised and benefit so many Californians.”
Miliken, 68, has led the massive public university system for over 25 years, heading towards the top role of deep red and blue states. He will leave a 256,000-person student university system on 14 campuses, including seven medical schools, and a Republican state near Trump.
“Prime Minister Milicken embodies the qualities and leadership experiences that the needs of the University of California community at this time,” Regent Chair Janet Reilly said in a statement. “He understands how important UC’s contribution to the state and nation is, and has decades of experience leading public institutions in an era of unprecedented change in higher education. Prime Minister Milicken is the right person for UC at the right time.”
In a statement, Drake said Miliken would “have depth of wisdom and experience to address the challenges and opportunities of the presidency” and would be committed to “the enduring values of the university.”
Throughout his career, Miliken consistently described his belief in opening access to higher education to low-income and first-generation students, spoke about the importance of immigrant students and diversity in enrollment, and promoted the success of employment students. In interviews in Texas, Miliken often talked about “talents are distributed universally and there are no opportunities.”
Before acquiring Texas status in 2018, he spent four years as prime minister at City University, 25 campuses in New York. The Nebraska native served as president of the University of Nebraska’s four campus universities for nearly 10 years and served as vice president of the six campus university of North Carolina for six years. He began his studies in Nebraska. There, he worked as a secretary to the board of directors at the university’s foreign affairs committee, teaching law and public duties. Before entering academia, he was a Wall Street lawyer.
In August, Miliken will acquire UC Helm, the most prominent public university system in the United States. It is a $53 billion company with 299,000 students, 26,000 faculty members, 192,000 staff members, six academic health systems and three affiliated national laboratories.
He will soon face the threat of research and funding from the Trump administration, which can fundamentally restructure UC’s research, admissions practices, free speech policies and diversity initiatives, but Sacramento has also proposed massive budget cuts.
Miliken, who will move from the Dallas area to the Bay Area this summer, will receive a $1,475,000 salary compared to Drake’s $10 million.
UC is on fire
The UC campus plays an oversized role among Trump’s targets for higher education. The UC system is currently investigating the federal government’s allegations of anti-Semitism against employees stemming from widespread pro-Palestinian protests and accusations against the camp last spring, including violent brawls at UCLA’s camp. UCLA and UC Berkeley face additional anti-Semitism probes, and UC Berkeley is investigating the use of foreign donations.
The diversity, equity and comprehensive programs of the system face surveillance as the president widely declares such efforts to be illegal race discrimination. Federal lawyers are investigating the selective UC admission process and claim they are illegally considering the race that is illegally hospitalized.
California is also one of the democratically-led states that sued administration with the support of UC and California State University, cutting higher education funding, including billions of dollars cuts in National Institutes of Health grants.
The UC System, which has lost $300 million in federal awards since January, has enacted a job freeze in hopes of further cuts that could dramatically reduce campus ambitions. About $1 billion, or about 10% of UCLA’s budget, comes from Washington. This is a number that leaders say if they are lost, they cannot be compensated with donations or other funds.
Teachers, students and staff have criticised the university system for not defending it more strongly against Trump’s attacks.
Miliken faces the financial challenges before Trump. UC has recently met the growing demand for opening more seats for Californians, with plans to add thousands more each year. But perhaps they are facing hundreds of millions of state funding cuts that leaders say could encourage admission cuts. That led to forecasting a UC budget hole of around $5 billion last year, along with higher faculty and staff costs, greater retirement plans contributions and more expensive healthcare.
Texas Higher Education
In Texas, Miliken is not known for significantly challenging the state’s GOP initiative to rebuild Trump and the campus. In a recent interview, including one published by Gallup last summer during the presidential election, he sensitively handled questions about Trump and instead chose to promote his belief in the unified role of education.
Under his leadership, the Texas System, which has a budget of around $18 billion, has achieved record-breaking registrations, increased transfers from community colleges, and sets up a $300 million donation to cover full tuition fees for students in the state from families under $100,000.
The system has also launched a $16.5 million mental health initiative to address student needs and created a partnership that provides free professional certificates to students from Microsoft, Google and other major companies. Miliken also defended the launch of UT’s Educational Research Center in Laredo, an academic health research hub in South Texas.
In 2024, the year after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law to prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state universities, Milliken testified that he closed 21 DEI offices, removed 311 DEI-related jobs, and canceled more than 600 contracts related to diversity issues. The move allowed $25 million to move to other programs, he said.
“You may not like the law, but it’s the law,” Miliken said at the time.
At the same May 2024 hearing, UT Prime Minister also answered a question from a state senator who asked whether the pro-Palestinian protests were “by their nature.”
Miliken responded that there was a “element” of protests that were “pretty anti-Semitic and anti-Semitic,” but said that all protests were not anti-Semitic.
The system’s flagship, Austin Campus, is fighting accusations that it illegally considers competition among enrolled applicants. The university is being sued by students for fair admission, the same group that won a positive action case against Harvard in the Supreme Court in 2023.
In a statement, UC Regent Carmenchu, who chaired the Select Committee, nodded towards Miliken’s experience as he challenged political terrain.
“As the university evolves, it’s important that we engage leaders who are skilled in navigating change and positioning change for long-term success,” she said.
UC Teacher Academic Senate President Stephen W. Chan added in a statement that Milicken’s “we are entering an era of major change in higher education, so that his talent for building consensus can be useful to him.”
UC, Education and Immigration Views
Miliken is an attorney by training through the university, not through university qualifications, but by enhancing the reputation of skilled government relations and management teams, and working with competing constituencies such as students, parents, faculty, taxpayers, politicians and more.
Miliken, who spoke to Texas every month shortly after he began his role at the University of Texas in 2018, also spoke to his views on his new home when the interviewer asked, “What does the UT system need to do to keep up with UC?” The journalist cited the UC campus regularly appearing in the top rankings across the nation.
“I don’t see the world through the UC prism. In my view, it’s not about catching up to UC. There’s a lot going on in Texas that I like California,” Milicken said.
“We measure success by looking at what you want to achieve. Do you measure which elements of these highly rated California institutions make sense for Texas? Do we want to be more productive in our research? Do we want to strengthen our programs to attract the best academics and provide the best education? Yes, we certainly do.
In the same interview, the following prime minister addressed another subject familiar to California: the looming budget cuts. “I firmly believe that we need to provide public higher education in Texas. He described the university as “one of the best investments the nation can make. It’s an investment in their people’s future.”
During Trump’s first term, Miliken was in Kny. There, the diverse population included a significant number of immigrants, with or without legal documents.
Shortly before the president’s first inauguration, Milicken issued a statement urging Trump to a program that “maintains humanitarian and beneficial, postponed action on early childhood arrivals,” saying the university “will take steps available under the law to protect and support undocumented students.”
The theme of educating immigrants also rose during Miliken’s tenure in Nebraska. Writing a letter to state lawmakers in 2011, Miliken defended state laws that are under attack to inflict tuition fees within the state to undocumented students.
He also opposed the 2008 Nebraska Voting Initiative, gaining approval and banned positive actions in public education and employment.
“If students are prepared to succeed in the global economy, they should provide an educational environment that reflects global diversity,” Miliken said at the time.
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