UC Workers United

1 week ago

UCLA disciplined a pro-Palestinian protester behind closed doors. Now he’s suing
www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-31/ucla-pro-palestinian-protest-discipline-lawsuit
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the UCLA campus on May 1, 2024.
Pro-Palestinian protesters at the UCLA campus on May 1, 2024. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Jaweed Kaleem staff headshot at LA Times Photo Studio in El Segundo, CA on Thursday, July 24, 2025.
By Jaweed Kaleem
Staff Writer

Aug. 31, 2026 3 AM PT

A UCLA student is suing the UC system after a nearly two-year disciplinary process over pro-Palestinian protests in which he was suspended and his degree was withheld.
Nearly all his conduct charges were dismissed, the suit says, even as the student faced a lengthy campus ban.
The lawsuit offers a rare window into campus discipline at UCLA.
In a prolonged case that offers a rare look into the fiercely private student discipline process, a UCLA computer science doctoral student is suing the University of California, asking a judge to reverse his two-quarter suspension and release a master’s degree withheld for more than 600 days.

The case centers on one of the most volatile chapters in UCLA history — the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests that racked the university, culminating in a violent spring attack at a campus encampment. The demonstrations helped fuel a relentless Trump administration campaign against UCLA and other elite universities over their handling of antisemitism allegations.

The campus turmoil divided UCLA and the nation. Protesters demanded UC divest from companies tied to the Israeli military’s war in Gaza. Some Jewish students and faculty called the demonstrations antisemitic, though others joined them.

Dylan Kupsh, 27, emerged as a vocal UCLA protester and an outlier in the campus movement. He did not mask his identity at rallies and has gone public about the discipline against him, while hundreds of others in similar proceedings have stayed anonymous.

He filed the civil lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court against the UC Board of Regents, two UCLA student conduct administrators and a UCLA police captain. Los Angeles-area civil rights lawyers and attorneys from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee represent him.

The suit alleges viewpoint discrimination and due process violations, including a lack of meaningful notice of cases against him.

A UCLA spokesperson said the university “will respond to this lawsuit as appropriate in court.”

The university, like campuses nationwide, is barred by federal privacy law from discussing individual discipline cases or internal deliberations, even when a student goes public.

A person poses in front of a brick building.
Dylan Kupsh, 27, is suing the University of California over a student conduct discipline process at UCLA. He is shown at Royce Hall on campus. (Gary Coronado / For The Times)
How the case unfolded
Kupsh’s case grew out of the protests that followed UCLA’s spring 2024 encampment — which some pro-Israel Jewish students alleged blocked them from part of the campus. That claim was cited in a civil rights case that cost UC $6.45 million in a settlement and set the stage for a Justice Department lawsuit. Kupsh’s charges stem not from the encampment itself but from a year of smaller protests that came after it.

He originally faced 14 campus citations — issued between August 2024 and June 2025 — for blocking pathways, disrupting campus and defying orders at five demonstrations from June 2024 to May 2025, the suit said. The charges were later amended twice, most recently in April 2026.

The allegations are university conduct violations, not crimes. Kupsh was arrested at a June 2024 demonstration but never criminally charged. Campus police still urged the university to act, the suit said.

In a May 2025 email, UCLA police Capt. Jeff Chobanian told Steve Lurie, UCLA’s chief safety officer, that Kupsh was “a known organizer and public face” of the suspended Students for Justice in Palestine, and urged “firm and immediate action,” the suit said. Within half an hour, Lurie forwarded the email to two student conduct administrators, saying, “perhaps Jeff’s narrative can help us make a determination on an interim suspension.”

Chobanian and Lurie declined to comment about the suit to The Times. Bryan Murotake, a defendant and former UCLA assistant dean of students who signed charging notices against Kupsh, did not respond to a request for comment.

The university issued an interim suspension in June 2025, barring Kupsh from campus for 291 days as the disciplinary process proceeded, the lawsuit said. The ban lifted in March 2026.

The lawsuit alleges Kupsh was not told what evidence the university had against him before it imposed interim suspension. Under university policy, a student can be barred from campus once a conduct case is open, without any finding that the student broke the rules.

On the day the interim suspension took effect, UCLA filed new citations from a May 2025 protest alleging obstruction, disorderly conduct and failure to follow orders, the suit said. Kupsh, who taught a class online, was allowed on campus Monday afternoons for lab meetings.

“I felt like half my life was basically ripped off,” Kupsh told The Times. “I was not even able to visit my next-door neighbor, who lives on university property.”

Student conduct proceedings unfold behind closed doors, and college campuses typically decide cases on a “more likely than not” standard — a far lower bar than criminal proceedings. Three-member UCLA panels of faculty, staff and students heard Kupsh’s cases.

Over five hearings between June 2025 and May 2026, panels dismissed all but two of the citations, the suit said. UCLA had shown Kupsh was present at most of the demonstrations, they ruled, but not that he organized them, gave orders or blocked access.

The university did find him responsible for violations at two separate protests, one for not showing his student ID to authorities and another for failing to move out of a walking student’s path. An appeal of a June finding was denied July 31.

In the lawsuit, Kupsh acknowledges attending most of the demonstrations but denies being a ringleader, blocking anyone from campus walkways or refusing orders.

“He was disciplined for what he believes, not what he did,” Thomas B. Harvey, one of the lawyers representing Kupsh, alleged in an interview with The Times.

The two-quarter suspension runs through Dec. 11, 2026, barring him from classes, teaching duties and pay, the suit said. His master’s degree in computer science, submitted for conferral in December 2024, remains unawarded.

Under UCLA policy, he cannot resume his doctorate when the suspension lifts. Kupsh must apply for readmission.

The suit alleges his punishment threatens a doctorate seven years in the making and two quarters from completion. It values his lost pay at more than $17,000. He is seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages against two administrators and the police captain, and attorney fees.

Campus discipline by the numbers
Last year, city and county prosecutors declined to charge all but two of the nearly 350 people arrested at UCLA and USC pro-Palestinian protests. UC reported more than 400 protest-related internal discipline cases from spring 2024 alone.

A May 2025 UC systemwide review of hundreds of spring 2024 cases found those reaching a hearing took 225 days on average — three times as long as those settled without one. The longest, at UCLA, ran 361 days.

Overall, UC campuses issued 14,231 sanctions in 2023-24 — most unrelated to protests. Suspensions accounted for 3%. They were reserved, the review said, for the most serious cases such as violence and repeated drug offenses. Interim suspensions, imposed before any hearing, numbered 131 systemwide.

Most students received milder penalties — warnings, probation or requirements to attend counseling or workshops, which together made up 93% of sanctions.

Two years later, the demonstrations have largely disappeared from UC amid strict enforcement of campus protest rules.

UCLA has faced some of the Trump administration’s toughest sanctions on any university: a $584-million funding freeze a federal judge later lifted, a $1.2-billion settlement demand the university refused and multiple Justice Departmentantisemitism investigations and lawsuits growing out of the protests.

Some faculty have praised the university for not settling. Others say it has cracked down on free speech to fend off further federal action.

Several Jewish community or faculty groups say UCLA has not gone far enough to discourage anti-Israel protests. The AMCHA Initiative argues that UC campuses, including UCLA, have been too lenient with pro-Palestinian activists. The nonprofit tracks anti-Jewish bias on college campuses. Kupsh and pro-Palestinian activists have rejected the antisemitism charge.

The UCLA Jewish Faculty Resilience Group has complained that the university has unevenly enforced rules, such as those against masking and blocking walkways, and must “hold those that break them accountable.”

Members of the UCLA Task Force on Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Muslim and Anti-Arab Racism and Faculty for Justice in Palestine accuse leaders of using the discipline process to quash pro-Palestinian voices. This year, 148 Jewish faculty signed an open letter critical of “insinuation and misdirection” that painted student activists as antisemitic. The professors expressed fear of UC responding to government actions over protests with “draconian limits on academic freedom and free speech.”

Kupsh said he sued because he had run out of options.

“I do want to attain a PhD, and UCLA is trying to take that away from me,” he said. … See MoreSee Less

UCLA disciplined a pro-Palestinian protester behind closed doors. Now he's suing

www.latimes.com

UCLA PhD student Dylan Kupsh, who was a pro-Palestinian campus protester, is suing UC over its student discipline process. The lawsuit alleges viewpoint discrimination and due process violations. UCLA…

UC Workers United

3 weeks ago

There used to be UPTE Health and Safety committees which the UPTE members would be a part of in the Systemwide Stewards councils reporting back from each local health and safety committee and local executive committee.
After new leadership changed the UPTE constitution which made Locals into Chapters with loss of each locals Executive Committees, these systemwide Health & Safety Committees disappeared, as did the Peace & Socisl Justice Committee. … See MoreSee Less

UPTE demands safety and transparency — UPTE – University Professional & Technical Employees

upte.org

UC Workers United

1 month ago

UC faculty council calls for regent’s resignation over failure to condemn Islamaphobic remarks

www.dailycal.org/news/uc/uc-faculty-council-calls-for-regent-s-resignation-over-failure-to-condem…

Padma Balaji | Staff Sep 10, 2026 Comments
sures_Regents of the University of California_courtesy.jpg

The UC Ethnic Studies Council criticized UC Regent Jay Sures for staying silent at event where a speaker made Islamophobic remarks.
Courtesy | Regents of the University of
The UC Ethnic Studies Council is calling for UC Regent Jay Sures’ resignation after he spoke at an event where another speaker made Islamophobic remarks.

At the Jewish American Summit on Aug. 30, Mosab Hassan Yousef, an author and former Israeli spy, made a number of comments attacking Muslim Americans, including telling them to “get the f— out of the United States. Go back to the s—holes where you came from.”

In a social media statement released Monday, the UC Ethnic Studies Council — which represents almost 700 ethnic studies faculty across the UC system — criticized Sures for staying silent about Yousef’s remarks.

Other prominent politicians like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff have condemned Yousef’s remarks on social media.

The council said Sures’ silence on the remarks was “not an isolated concern.”

“We contextualize Sures’s failure to speak out against Mosab Hassan Yousef’s call to ethnically cleanse Muslims from the United States within Sures’s long history of targeting students and faculty who have stood up for the Palestinian right to life and his strategic silence, which amounts to sanctioning violence when it comes to structural discrimination and state violence against Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians,” said Christine Hong, a professor of critical race and ethnic studies at UC Santa Cruz and member of the UC Ethnic Studies Council, in an email.

Hong alleges Sures violated UC Regents Policy 4400, which affirms the UC’s commitment to diversity, inclusion and serving “all parts of the community equitably.”

The Council previously called for Sures’ resignation in 2023 after controversy between the faculty group and Sures over the UC system’s response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.

Additionally, after a pro-Palestinian protest in front of Sures’ home last year, he unsuccessfully filed a restraining order against a UCLA graduate student. Sures was later ordered to pay the student’s legal fees.

Sures also rebuked Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine for hosting a pro-Palestinian activist previously convicted in an Israeli car bombing.

“It just really shows that he’s not just comfortable being around people making these bigoted remarks, he’s actively doing the bigotry himself, right? He’s an active proponent of this bigotry against Muslim students, against pro-Palestinian students,” said a member of Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. “That’s not somebody that should be in any position of power when clearly they hold such bigotry in their hearts.”

Hong says the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council is planning to release a petition calling for Sures to resign.

The UC Office of the President did not respond to a request for comment. … See MoreSee Less

UC faculty council calls for regent’s resignation over failure to condemn Islamaphobic remarks

www.dailycal.org

The UC Ethnic Studies Council is calling for UC Regent Jay Sures’ resignation after he spoke at an event where another speaker made Islamophobic remarks.

UC Workers United

1 month ago

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine activism

mondoweiss.net/2026/09/the-u-s-government-is-going-after-a-michigan-labor-union-over-its-palestin…

The U.S. government is going after a Michigan labor union over its Palestine activism
The U.S. government is criminalizing a campus labor union at the University of Michigan for supporting Palestine. We are calling on fellow labor organizers to resist this dangerous act of repression
BY ADI SALEEM AND YARDEN AZOULAY KATZ SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 1
FACEBOOKXBLUESKYWHATSAPPREDDITLINKEDINMASTODONEMAILPRINT
mw-google-prefered-add.png

“The Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Michigan, which was violently disbanded by UM police in May 2024. Photo by TAHRIR Coalition.”
“THE GAZA SOLIDARITY ENCAMPMENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, WHICH WAS VIOLENTLY DISBANDED BY UM POLICE IN MAY 2024. PHOTO BY TAHRIR COALITION.”
On June 10, 2026, the FBI raided the homes of activists involved in Palestine solidarity activism at the University of Michigan (UM), who are now known as the “Michigan 8.” In a show of force, federal agents in military gear broke through the door of a home in Ypsilanti, MI, to arrest a couple of individuals. That day, the FBI also arrested individuals connected to UM Palestine activism in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Justice Department indicted these activists on wildly exaggerated “conspiracy” charges. They could face decades in prison.

The government is now targeting a pro-Palestinian campus labor union involved in defending the Michigan 8.

Last month, August 2026, the Graduate Employees’ Organization (GEO), which represents over 4,000 UM graduate student workers, was served a subpoena signed by the Justice Department’s attorney on the Michigan 8 case. This came shortly after UM and a local prosecutor tried – but failed – to bring down GEO’s President using baseless “embezzlement” charges. The August subpoena requests extensive information about GEO, including a list of current and former members, meeting minutes, and financial records, dating back to 2023.

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This is a clear criminalization of ordinary labor organizing. It’s also a “fishing expedition” that is meant to help the government’s case against Palestine solidarity activists.

The developments in Michigan closely follow those in Minnesota, where certain anti-ICE organizers (the “Minnesota 15”) were also indicted on “conspiracy” charges in June 2026, and where federal agents had spied on unions and used a subpoena to obtain union financial records.

The federal government understands that our struggles are connected. It’s time all labor unions realize it too, and refuse to separate Palestine solidarity or migrant justice organizing from labor organizing.

Criminalizing a pro-Palestinian labor union by targeting its president

The University of Michigan has been working with the local and federal governments to attack GEO. In recent years, GEO, which is Local 3550 of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has won concessions. In April 2023, it went on the longest strike in the University’s history, which resulted in better pay and health care for graduate workers. And while big labor unions have historically been on the side of U.S. imperialism (AFT’s current President Randi Weingarten is a staunch Zionist), some union locals, such as GEO, have embraced Palestine solidarity.

Recognizing this emerging alliance between labor and Palestine solidarity organizing, the University turned to the legal system to criminalize the union. This past summer, they went after GEO’s President, Hiab Teshome, an MD-PhD student at UM.

Hiab Teshome, President of GEO and an MD-PhD student at the University of Michigan. (Photo courtesy of GEO Communications Team)
HIAB TESHOME, PRESIDENT OF GEO AND AN MD-PHD STUDENT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GEO COMMUNICATIONS TEAM)
On June 15, 2026, just five days after the FBI raids on the Michigan 8, Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department called Teshome on her personal phone to say there was a warrant for her arrest and that she would soon be charged with “embezzlement” and “false pretenses.” According to Teshome, he said he wanted to talk about the logistics of her turning herself in to the police. Cavanaugh is well-known to the campus Palestine solidarity movement: he has pepper-sprayed some protesters in the past, allegedly tackled others, and also attended the September 9, 2026, court hearing for the Michigan 8, where we saw him speaking with the U.S. government attorneys. Organizers, including Teshome, also report that Cavanaugh has a history of harassing them. In February and April of 2026, Cavanaugh had called Teshome to tell her she was being investigated for “embezzlement,” but without giving specifics. Teshome says she referred Cavanaugh to her lawyer, but he failed to respond to her lawyer’s calls. Instead, he continued to call, text, and email Teshome directly, and even visited her former residence, believing it was her current home.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department being honored as “Veteran of the Game” in a Michigan basketball game, November 2019. Cavanaugh, who receives a salary of $103,334, is described in University reports as a “Master Trainer in Threat Assessment and Management,” a certificate given by the Department of Homeland Security. He served in the US Army for 23 years, including in Egypt, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Cuba. (Photo: University of Michigan Division of Public Safety & Security)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT BEING HONORED AS “VETERAN OF THE GAME” IN A MICHIGAN BASKETBALL GAME, NOVEMBER 2019. CAVANAUGH, WHO RECEIVES A SALARY OF $103,334, IS DESCRIBED IN UNIVERSITY REPORTS AS A “MASTER TRAINER IN THREAT ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT,” A CERTIFICATE GIVEN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY. HE SERVED IN THE US ARMY FOR 23 YEARS, INCLUDING IN EGYPT, GUATEMALA, EL SALVADOR, AND CUBA. (PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DIVISION OF PUBLIC SAFETY & SECURITY)
It turned out that the “embezzlement” charges concerned purchases made by a student group in which Teshome was the designated co-signer. UM claimed the purchases weren’t properly accounted for – yet Teshome did not make these purchases herself and was no longer involved in the group. She was implicated simply by being a co-signer, on paper.

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Rather than try to resolve this bureaucratic matter internally with its own students, UM took the unprecedented step of turning to the local county prosecutor, Eli Savit (who calls himself a “progressive prosecutor” and is currently running for Michigan Attorney General). Using the narrative and information provided by Cavanaugh, Savit then pressed felony charges against Teshome for embezzlement and false pretenses.

Detective Sergeant Ryan Cavanaugh of the University of Michigan Police Department (on left) pepper spraying the crowd outside the UM Museum of Art on May 3, 2024. The crowd had gathered to call on the UM Regents, some of whom were inside the museum for an event, to divest from Israel. Four protestors were detained, arrested, and given trespass warnings in that protest. (Photo: TAHRIR Coalition)
DETECTIVE SERGEANT RYAN CAVANAUGH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT (ON LEFT) PEPPER-SPRAYING THE CROWD OUTSIDE THE UM MUSEUM OF ART ON MAY 3, 2024. THE CROWD HAD GATHERED TO CALL ON THE UM REGENTS, SOME OF WHOM WERE INSIDE THE MUSEUM FOR AN EVENT, TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL. FOUR PROTESTORS WERE DETAINED, ARRESTED, AND GIVEN TRESPASS WARNINGS DURING THAT PROTEST. (PHOTO: TAHRIR COALITION)
At Teshome’s arraignment on June 26, 2026, an Ann Arbor judge noted that the University had requested that Teshome be banned from campus as part of the bond conditions. Such a ban would have prevented Teshome from participating in the union’s bargaining with the University. The judge refused that request, but instead banned Teshome from the University’s administration building and specifically noted she must stay away from the UM Regents. The Regents, who set the University’s major policies, have been targeted by campus activists with calls to divest from Israel. This bond condition shows that the attack on Teshome was also meant to stifle such divestment campaigns.

In response, many showed solidarity with Teshome. An open letter in support of Teshome was signed by hundreds of individuals and several organizations, including the Harvard Graduate Students Union (HGSU-UAW Local 5118) and the Huron Valley DSA. Yet conspicuously absent from the signatories was Michigan’s labor union establishment, which did not seem to grasp the political significance of the attack on a union president. This is the same labor establishment that had failed to heed a call by Palestinian trade unions, following October 7, 2023, to disrupt the entities enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Nonetheless, the grassroots prevailed. On August 6 2026, activists and community members packed the court for Teshome’s probable cause conference. The judge, Cedric Simpson, dismissed the charges within minutes. The court, Simpson said, “is certainly not getting involved in that.”

Criminalizing the whole union

After the effort to bring down Teshome failed, the next target became the union as a whole.

The federal government served a grand jury subpoena, dated August 6: the day that the charges against Teshome were dismissed by the court. The subpoena – signed by the Justice Department Attorney Maggie Smith from the Michigan 8 case and by Detroit office FBI agent Kara Phipps – asks for the following information, dating back to January 1, 2023:

“1. Collective bargaining agreements;
2. Constitution and By-laws;
3. All disbursement records and receipts journals pertaining to union officials;
4. All union employee personnel records, to include all payroll records, W-2 Forms, W-4 Forms, 1099’s, etc;
5. All associated membership agreements;
6. Listing of all active and former union members;
7. Complete listing of all officers and executive board members, to include position.
8. All minutes of membership meetings and Executive Board meetings” [emphasis added].
“The University of Michigan and the federal government are attacking our union and the broader labor and Palestine solidarity movement because we are powerful and because we are challenging the University’s material investments in genocide,” said GEO President Hiab Teshome. GEO’s lawyers are currently attempting to get the subpoena quashed on the grounds that it is too broad in scope and violates the union members’ rights to free speech.

GRAND JURY SUBPOENA SERVED TO THE GRADUATE EMPLOYEES’ ORGANIZATION (GEO), AFT LOCAL 3550, MARKED AUGUST 6, 2026. THE SUBPOENA WAS SIGNED BY MARGARET (“MAGGIE”) SMITH, ONE OF THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT’S ATTORNEYS ON THE MICHIGAN 8 CASE, AND DETROIT OFFICE FBI AGENT KARA PHIPPS. THE GOVERNMENT BOTCHED THE DELIVERY OF THE SUBPOENA, INITIALLY SENDING IT VIA FEDEX RATHER THAN SERVING IT IN PERSON. IT WAS THEN SERVED ON AUGUST 26, 2026.
The attacks on this Michigan labor union closely parallel the federal government’s tactics against the anti-ICE movement in Minnesota, following the January 2026 murders of Alex Pretti and Renée Good by ICE agents. As part of their investigation into “domestic terrorist financing,” federal agents used subpoenas to obtain several years’ worth of wire transfers made by the Service Employees International Union, which largely represents health care workers. The individuals who so far have been singled out by the government, the Minnesota 15, may now face decades in prison, just like the Michigan 8.

“What is happening to our labor union and other unions across the country is extreme acts of workplace repression by our employer collaborating with the state and the federal government to weaken labor organizing and violate our right to collective action,” Teshome noted.

The major labor unions can no longer keep pretending like workers’ struggles can be separated from Palestine solidarity or from the struggle against ICE and policing. No one should stay neutral on this moving train.

Ways to support the Michigan 8 and Minnesota 15

Donate to the Michigan 8 legal fund and visit defendmichigan8.org
Donate to the Minnesota 15 legal fund and visit minnesota15.org … See MoreSee Less

We Defend the Minnesota 15 Defendants | Minnesota 15

minnesota15.org

On Tuesday, June 16, the federal government arrested fifteen of the tens of thousands of people who took a stand against ICE terror in Minnesota.

UC Workers United

2 months ago

Campus protest rules bill barely clears the Legislature. What was the debate?
www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article317117089.html#storylink=cpy
By Tarini Mehta September 7, 2026 5:00 AM
\UC Davis law students speak to a crowd of about 70 students during a walkout near Mrak Hall on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, as one of the campus' Egghead sculptures appears to join the protest. The students wore masks to protect their identity in fear of retaliation. RENÉE C. BYER rbyer@sacbee.com A bill pushing for greater transparency around implementation of campus protest rules at California’s public universities divided Democratic lawmakers in the final days the legislative session. After spirited debate in both the Senate and Assembly, it made it through with just enough votes in its favor. Now, it heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk for final approval. Assembly Bill 2551, authored by Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, D-Los Angeles, would require the California State University and request the University of California systems to provide annual data on student code of conduct violations during protests disaggregated by race and gender. The reports would have to include descriptions of the disciplinary action imposed on those students. TOP VIDEOS The measure also asks that campuses host open forums before the end of 2027 to elicit student feedback on current time, place, and manner policies that restrict when, where and how protests are conducted on campuses. Elhawary said during a committee hearing TPM policies were “intended to prevent hostile campus environments” but had arguably increased hostility for students of color. “Students of color report experiencing violent arrests at peaceful protests, targeted disciplinary actions, and bureaucratic barriers that suppress their right to protest, leading many student organizers to fear severe repercussions and reprisal,” Elhawary said. “As a former student activist myself while I was at UCLA, I care deeply about empowering all students and protecting their abilities to organize and advocate. Through data collection and student hearings, this bill helps ensure the equitable and consistent enforcement of time, place and manner policy.” What prompted the bill? The bill is a direct response to what the author calls unintended consequences of legislation passed in 2024. At that time, following encampments and rallies protesting the ongoing war in Gaza that swept campuses statewide, the legislature required the UC and CSU systems to develop uniform protest policies. Jewish groups reported antisemitic incidents on campuses. The state passed a law asking the CSU and UC systems to enforce those protest restrictions and “prohibit violent, harassing, intimidating or discriminatory conduct” that creates a hostile environment on campus. The UC and CSU prohibited encampments, restricted masking to conceal identity when violating policies and put in place disciplinary actions to be utilized against those in violation. Meanwhile, hundreds of student and faculty who participated in pro-Palestinian protests had already been slapped with legal and academic repercussions amid a crackdown on the movement. In the time since, some students say the implementation of protest policies and the disciplinary actions meted out to violators didn’t just create a chilling effect on campus but also disproportionately targeted Muslim, Black and Brown students. In a 2025 report, the Council on American-Islamic Relations-California — a sponsor of AB 2551 — raised concerns over the newly strengthened campus protest restrictions, especially given what it called “targeted enforcement” of the existing policies. The report said several California universities used law enforcement disproportionately in response to pro-Palestinian protests when compared with other events that violated the same policies. The University of California Student Association, a coalition of student governments across the system, has voiced similar concerns. However, these allegations of inequitable implementation are so far only anecdotal; there is no data to substantiate them. That’s the gap Elhawary’s bill seeks to fill, by mandating that universities provide data on violations of campus protest policies, disciplinary actions taken, and the affected students disaggregated by race and gender. Despite major amendments, the UC and CSU systems remained opposed to the bill throughout, worrying it could create uncertainty around their current policies and compromise student privacy. At a committee hearing Aug. 30, a UC spokesperson said disaggregation of the data could enable easy identification of involved students, given the number of total violations is a small number. In a February report, the UC system recorded 71 violations over a one-year period. The CSU system reported 201 violations in the 2024-2025 academic year. The California Faculty Association, which represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches at the CSU, was a sponsor and strong voice in favor of the bill. Why were lawmakers divided? The bill required a simple majority to pass in both the state Senate and Assembly. It passed 23-12 in the Senate and 44-8 in the Assembly with 27 lawmakers who were either absent or abstained. While the California Legislative Jewish Caucus took no formal position on the bill, six of its members in the Senate and Assembly raised concerns, including that its eventual intent was to repeal the student safety provisions they had fought for in the 2024 legislation that mandated comprehensive campus protest restrictions. An earlier version of Elhawary’s bill did include a provision to sunset that 2024 law by 2029. Following strong opposition from Jewish California, an umbrella advocacy organization for Jewish groups statewide, the bill was watered down to leave the time, place and manner policies intact while pushing for greater transparency and conversation around their implementation. “It was very concerning to our caucus to see an effort without a conversation to repeal that (2024) bill,” Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, D-Encino, said on the Assembly floor. “I worry that the intent of this bill is to begin a process that will ultimately result in the repealing of civil rights protections.” Other critics, like Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, chided the bill’s “rushed” process and said it wasn’t well-thought-out. In June, the author decided to “gut-and-amend” a healthcare bill she had authored and the Assembly had already passed, and replace its contents entirely with a new proposed law to address the students concerns in the current legislative session. That process, critics said, made for inadequate discussion on what is a controversial topic. Supporters of the bill urged their colleagues to see AB 2551 at face value as a “data bill” that affords the opportunity to evaluate the consequences of past legislation, and not on the basis of its pre-amendment version. “My daughter sits on a CSU campus. She talked to me about having the feeling of having her voice stifled because of the policies of the university,” said Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Alameda. “As legislators, we have to create the space to examine the implementation and the impact of the policies that move forward, so that we don’t have any student feeling like they are risking being able to continue on with their education because an individual campus may or may not have gotten this right.” The bill now awaits Newsom’s signature. The governor has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills passed by lawmakers. … See MoreSee Less

Campus protest rules bill barely clears the Legislature. What was the debate?

www.sacbee.com

The bill now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature. He has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto bills passed by lawmakers.

UC Workers United

2 months ago

Low-income patients at UCLA Health scramble to find new doctors as contract ends
www.latimes.com/business/story/2026-09-05/low-income-patients-at-ucla-health-scramble-to-find-new…
A sign outside Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Thousands of low-income patients are losing access to doctors at UCLA Health after a Medi-Cal contract expired June 30. (Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES, CA-SEPGTEMBER 25, 2014: Melody Petersen
By Melody Petersen
Staff Writer

Thousands of low-income patients, some seriously ill, are scrambling to find new doctors as they lose access to UCLA Health physicians after a longtime Medi-Cal contract was not renewed.

Under the contract that expired June 30, UCLA had been providing specialty care to 9,000 medically frail patients from Health Care LA, an association of nonprofit clinics that serve patients covered by Medi-Cal, the state program for the poor.

“Many of these patients have been waiting for months to be seen by UCLA specialty medicine providers and are now being told they cannot receive the care they desperately need,” Health Care LA said in a Thursday news release.

The patients had gone to UCLA for cancer and infectious-disease treatments, high-risk women’s services, major organ transplants and other specialty medicine care, the association said.

A Friday news conference that Health Care LA had scheduled to detail the problems patients faced in getting care was abruptly canceled when the two sides said they had reached a tentative agreement on how to transition the patients to other doctors over the next year.

“To help ensure a smooth transition for patients, both organizations have agreed that established UCLA Health patients, individuals with existing appointments, and patients requiring other agreed-upon services will continue to be cared for at UCLA Health facilities,” Phil Hampton, a university spokesman, said in a statement.

Although some patients will continue to be seen by UCLA doctors, he said, “accepting an unlimited number of new referrals presents challenges given existing capacity constraints and the need to preserve timely access for existing patients.”

Sabra Matovsky, chief executive of Health Care LA, said in an interview on Thursday that UCLA had declined to renegotiate the contract.

“They never even asked us for a raise,” she said, “They just want us out.”

Kaiser made $9.3 billion last year. Critics say it has strayed from its charitable mission

March 29, 2026
She said that university officials had pointed to “capacity issues” at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, including in the emergency room and dozens of specialty clinics.

“To solve this by pushing out Medi-Cal patients while you continue to expand and market and take on other patients is not a solution,” Matovsky said.

Hampton said UCLA had offered to extend the contract, but Health Care LA rejected the offer.

The end of the Medi-Cal contract disappointed some UCLA medical professionals who have been urging the public university to provide care to more of L.A. County’s low-income residents.

“It feels like this is profits over patients,” said Dr. Patrick Samones, a fellow at UCLA Health, who trained at the university in family medicine.

“UCLA is one of L.A.’s most important healthcare institutions,” said Samones, who represents members of the Committee of Interns and Residents, which is part of Service Employees International Union. “We feel it has a duty to serve all Californians.”

In recent years, UCLA Health has been expanding fast and now has almost 300 locations throughout Southern California, including in wealthier places such as Montecito, Malibu and Westlake Village.

At the same time, it provides less care to Medi-Cal patients than its sister university health systems: UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco and UC Davis, according to university statistics.

Last year, about 15% of UCLA Health’s net patient service revenue came from Medi-Cal, according to the university health systems’ annual report. The four other UC health systems each received about 22% of that revenue from Medi-Cal.

About 40% of L.A. County residents are insured by Medi-Cal, according to a recent report by the California Health Care Foundation.

Los Angeles , CA – June 04, 2026 : Kaiser Permanente at 4867 Sunset Blvd as a growing group of Kaiser Permanente patients and their lawyers say the plan's mandatory arbitration system for malpractice claims is biased against patients and must be reformed on Thursday, June 4, 2026 in Los Angeles , CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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Hampton said the net patient service revenue data from the annual report doesn’t capture UCLA’s “extensive contributions to caring for Medi-Cal patients” and isn’t “a fair basis for comparing academic health systems.”

He added that with the university’s expansion of clinics, “we are providing substantial specialty care to Medi-Cal and Medicare patients” throughout L.A. County.

“Unlike county-owned hospitals, UCLA Health relies almost exclusively on patient care revenue to fund operations, expand access, recruit clinicians and invest in facilities and technology,” he said.

Hampton said UCLA has other contracts to serve Medi-Cal patients, which will continue. The health system also provides more than $270 million in unreimbursed care for low-income patients each year, he said, as well as primary and urgent care for people experiencing homelessness.

In addition, UCLA is spending $500 million to create a new neuropsychiatric hospital in Los Angeles’ Mid-Wilshire neighborhood, he said.

“We continue to fortify our region’s safety net despite growing access demands and challenges,” Hampton said.

In the most recent fiscal year, he said, Medi-Cal patients comprised 26% of 336,600 inpatient days and 34% of 156,000 emergency department visits.

“UCLA Health’s long-standing commitment to serving vulnerable populations in Southern California is well-established,” he said.

Hampton said the net patient service revenue data doesn’t reflect the complexity of care delivered by UCLA and is affected by Medi-Cal reimbursement rates and payment policies, which vary by region and health plan.

“Over time, Medi-Cal reimbursement has not kept pace with the cost of providing care, and UCLA Health has experienced increasing payment denials and delays,” he said.

UCLA specialists had been caring for Health Care LA’s seriously ill patients under the contract since 2009.

“They were the provider that did all the complicated care,” Matovsky said. “UCLA was our go-to.” … See MoreSee Less

Low-income patients at UCLA Health scramble to find new doctors as contract ends

www.latimes.com

Thousands of low-income patients, some desperately ill, are scrambling to find new doctors as they lose access to UCLA Health physicians after an eight-year Medi-Cal contract was not renewed.

UC Workers United

3 months ago

Workers meet with Oakland’s Mayor Lee over UCSF Benioff Children’s hospital funding
home.nuhw.org/2026/07/06/workers-meet-with-oaklands-mayor-lee-over-hospital-funding/
July 6, 2026

One year after UCSF initiated a hospital integration plan that forced more than 1,300 NUHW members at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland into other unions, the workers haven’t given up hope of returning to NUHW or given up fighting for their patients and East Bay communities.

On Saturday, June 27, about a dozen workers, who used to be NUHW stewards at Children’s Hospital Oakland before UCSF “integrated” it with its children’s hospital in San Francisco’s Mission Bay District, had a sit-down meeting with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee.

Lee listened as workers discussed how the integration has resulted in additional services being moved across the Bay to San Francisco, forcing Oakland families to travel farther for care. The reduction in services came as no surprise to workers who held a strike in June 2025 opposing the integration plan, which also effectively cancelled their NUHW contracts and forced them into other unions, whose contracts included higher healthcare costs and pension contributions.

A federal judge is considering NUHW’s objections to the “integration,” but Lee stated that she is committed to making sure that funds from the 2020 Measure C sales tax ballot measure are used in the best interest of Oakland kids and the people who serve them at Children’s Hospital.

NUHW members helped pass the Alameda County tax measure six years ago, which generates about $20 million a year for the hospital. However, the measure wasn’t clear about how the money should be distributed, which left NUHW members at Children’s Hospital teaming up with the local unions to have a say in how it’s spent.

“UCSF is not doing what was intended with Measure C dollars,” Griselda Chavez, an infant development specialist at the hospital, told Lee during the meeting. “They took money that came from the pockets of everyday people, money meant for helping children, and spent it on construction.”

Lee was receptive to Chavez and her coworkers, and pledged to talk to UCSF Health President Nicolas Holmes and county officials to make sure they follow through on a plan ensuring that 5 percent of the proceeds go towards programs that hospital workers identify as major problems, including lack of equipment and lack of staff, which leads to long waitlists for important pediatric services. The mayor is making good on her pledge and is convening a meeting with workers and Holmes on August 3.

“I was happy with the commitment we received from Mayor Lee,” Chavez said. “She listened, and I believe she will follow through, but I’m not optimistic that UCSF will honor any commitment. Over the past year of being under UCSF, I’ve seen them ignore rules and requirements that they don’t like.” … See MoreSee Less

Workers meet with Oakland’s Mayor Lee over hospital funding – NUHW

home.nuhw.org

Workers at UCSF Children’s Hospital Oakland had a sit down meeting with Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, who committed to making sure that hospital caregivers have a say in how UCSF spends a portion of fu…

UC Workers United

3 months ago

Nearly 10,000 UC doctors to unionize, advocate for better working conditions
www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article316630541.html
By Sofia Williams
Updated July 23, 2026 1:09 PM
Organizers with UC Doctors United will hold a press conference outside UC San Francisco’s medical center Thursday to announce their unionization efforts. Nearly 10,000 attending doctors are fighting for improved work conditions and patient protections through the new union. Steve Proehl Getty Images Key Takeaways AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom. Nearly 10,000 attending doctors in the University of California system have announced their effort to unionize at a Thursday news conference outside the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The campaign, UC Doctors United, is a joint effort between doctors in the UC system and Service Employees International Union Doctors United, a union that currently comprises 45,000 doctors and 1.2 million healthcare workers nationwide. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. UC Doctors United said in an announcement Monday it is organizing for improved working conditions, stronger patient care and safety, more comprehensive medical education and better protections for academic freedom and the peer review system. “Attending physicians across the country have been uniting together to take back their profession and the expert care patients need and deserve,” Doctors Council SEIU President Dr. Frances Quee said in a statement. “We’re overworked. We’re burnt out. We’re frustrated that decisions made about our work are based on the bottom line, not patient outcomes.” UC Health was not immediately able to provide comment. Erica Brode, a doctor of family medicine at UC San Francisco, said she has worked at UCSF’s Department of Family and Community Medicine for 19 years. For the majority of that time, Brode said she felt confident in UCSF’s values of “patient-centered care and evidence-based medicine.” Recently, she said, that has changed. “I really felt a distinct shift focused more on profits and expansion of UCSF over patient care and the people that work here,” Brode said. “That’s part of why I decided to join this (unionization) movement.” According to Brode, the hospital has shifted from value-based metrics to profit-based metrics as a means to evaluate primary care. Doctors are also asked to work more, Brode said, often arriving before clinical staff or working through lunch breaks to meet expectations. “I’ve seen quite a bit of turnover,” Brode said. “I think that’s why I feel like it’s critical to stand up at this moment. … The goal is to have a longitudinal, lifelong relationship with your patient panel, and if our providers are being overworked and deprioritized to the point that they leave, then that harms patients as well.” Brode said that she has thought about searching for another job, but considers the more than 700 patients she has treated at UCSF to be “family members.” Instead, she said, she decided to stay at UCSF and fight for UC Doctors United. UC Doctors United marks the largest unionization effort of attending doctors nationally. SEIU California endorsed the campaign alongside the California Nurses Association and United Auto Workers Local 4811, which represent UC nurses and early career researchers, respectively. The formation of UC Doctors United comes in the wake of UC resident physicians and fellows’ tentative contract agreement with UC Health. Represented by SEIU and the Council for Interns and Residents, the group negotiated a statewide deal that increases salaries by 18%, preserves fertility benefits, improves access to radiation exposure equipment, provides immigrant protections for patients and secures improvements to emergency room capacity. “We are very happy with what we were able to negotiate for our futures, including the wage increases, better access to properly fitting lead, and enshrining our fertility benefits in this contract,” said UCLA emergency medicine resident Diana Dayal in a statement. “However, we’re also really proud that we were able to win language for our patients, especially for the immigrant communities we serve so that they can receive care with less fear, and for all our patients who have had to contend with issues related to emergency room capacity.” The tentative agreement followed a year of negotiations during which UC residents and fellows participated in a series of demonstrations. These actions culminated in June with a series of 18 “unity breaks” at a number of UC health campuses. The UC resident physicians and fellows’ bargaining team will present the contract to the union’s full membership for a ratification vote in the coming weeks. If more than half the members vote in favor of the contract, it will then take effect. “Doctors deserve a voice at every stage of their career,” said CIR/SEIU President Trina Van in a statement. “From interns, residents, and fellows to attending doctors, University of California doctors are getting spread thin from the increasingly corporatized structure that overloads doctors and limits patient time. Interns and residents have made incredible gains by standing together at their workplace.” … See MoreSee Less

Nearly 10,000 UC doctors to unionize, advocate for better working conditions

www.sacbee.com

UC Doctors United would represent nearly 10,000 attending doctors in the UC system and advocate for physician and patient well-being.