Letter to the Editor: Trump’s UCLA demands are ‘chilling violations of free speech and academic freedom’

On September 17, 2025, the Los Angeles Times published this Letter to the Editor from Jeff Seymour, co-founder of the California Coalition for Public Higher Education:

California knows fault lines. They run beneath us, unseen until pressure builds and rupture comes. Today, UCLA finds itself on one — facing a political earthquake that could shake the state.

The federal government has frozen more than half a billion dollars in UCLA research funding, conditioning its release on a $1.2-billion settlement, restrictions on admitting foreign-born students and forced release of private student and faculty data (“Here are the details of Trump’s $1.2-billion call to remake UCLA in a conservative image,” Sept. 15). These demands aren’t just largely unenforceable — they’re also chilling violations of free speech and academic freedom.

By tying funding to terms no public university could accept, Washington puts lives at risk. It’s not theoretical; progress on cancer treatments, Alzheimer’s care and more will stall, with patients across California bearing consequences.

Like a fault line rupture that destabilizes an entire region, this ultimatum risks shaking the cornerstones of California’s public health and universities.

The tremors have begun. Now, we must protect our foundations — or wait for collapse.

Jeff Seymour is the co-founder of the California Coalition for Public Higher Education.