This post was updated Nov. 13 at 9:20 p.m.
UCLA is launching a new leadership coalition to manage the university’s budgetary shortfall amid state and federal funding cuts, Chancellor Julio Frenk announced in a Wednesday campuswide email.
Frenk, who will chair the Executive Budget Action Group, said in the email that the group’s creation was prompted by “structural budget deficits, federal and state funding uncertainties, and rising costs,” which challenge the university’s academic mission.
The budget action group will create guidelines for future campus financial decisions, investigate specific areas for improvement in its investments and emphasize transparency in all of its budgetary decisions, Frenk said in the email.
“Our North Star is to ensure that the resources entrusted to us add maximum value back to society while protecting the academic core that defines UCLA’s strength,” he said.
The California State Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom reached a final state budget agreement June 24, which deferred a payment of about $130 million to the UC until July 1, 2026. UCLA instituted a 10% budget cut for administrative units, enacted a new hiring review process and restricted travel expenditures to reduce operational costs in March, two vice chancellors said in an Aug. 20 email sent to staff and faculty.
UCLA also plans to consolidate campus services – including human resources, finance, communications, marketing, event planning and academic personnel services – to cut costs, according to internal documents obtained by the Daily Bruin. The university announced part of the plan – “One IT,” which will centralize campus information technology services – in the Aug. 20 email.
[Related: UCLA pauses new faculty hiring, will consolidate IT teams following funding cuts]
The UC filed an emergency request to the state Friday requesting a nearly $130 million, zero-interest state loan to offset budget shortfalls, according to the Los Angeles Times. The monetary request matches the amount that California deferred to 2026 in its state budget agreement.
The federal government suspended $584 million in UCLA’s federal research grants in late July, alleging the university allowed antisemitism, affirmative action and “men to participate in women’s sports.”
[Related: Federal Funding Cuts to UCLA]
The Trump administration also demanded that UCLA, which is the first public university to experience such large-scale federal funding cuts, pay $1.2 billion to restore its research grants – the highest monetary amount demanded of any university thus far. The federal government requested no more than $221 million from the universities it has officially settled with – including Brown University, Columbia University and Cornell University.
The majority of the research grants have been temporarily restored following rulings by federal district court judge Rita F. Lin in a case brought by UC researchers. However, the decision will only hold while the case moves through the courts.
UCLA’s budget cuts have forced several student programs across campus to shrink their services and cut staff, including campus tour organizations, student-initiated outreach and retention programs and academic research journals.
[Related: Student tour guides voice concern over reduced operations, hiring amid budget cuts]
UCLA’s Department of Mathematics has also faced budget cuts, leading the department to reduce teaching assistants’ hours and cut paid graders altogether.
[Related: UCLA math department TA, grader cuts spark concern over student learning, support]
Frenk outlined commitments for himself as chair in the email, which included an emphasis on shared governance with faculty. Megan McEvoy, the chair of the UCLA Academic Senate, will serve as a faculty representative in the group, he said in the email.
McEvoy said in an emailed statement that Darnell Hunt, UCLA’s executive vice chancellor and provost, told the Academic Senate about the group and announced her role as chair at a meeting last week. She added that the Academic Senate was not involved in the group’s creation and hopes Frenk and Hunt will engage in “meaningful shared governance.”
“I don’t know my role or how the group will function yet,” McEvoy said in the statement. “The Senate has repeatedly advocated for meaningful shared governance where the Senate, as an institution, consults on budgetary matters primarily through the Council on Planning and Budget.”
Frenk added in the email that he hopes to improve staff engagement by working with the Staff Assembly and the Human Resources Advisory Group – channels which provide staff the opportunity to provide feedback on their work environment. He said he hopes to increase the administration’s communication through town halls, adding that he plans to host campus community “‘brown bag’ discussions” – informal meetings or trainings – both in-person and virtually.
Frenk also provided a link in the email to a page on his website that he said will contain consistent communication regarding budget updates.
“I am inviting the Bruin community – faculty, staff and students – to join in this collective effort,” Frenk said. “This is a moment that calls for internal unity in the face of unprecedented external pressures.”
