{"id":41041,"date":"2025-05-02T12:17:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=41041"},"modified":"2025-05-02T12:17:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T19:17:25","slug":"uc-berkeley-faculty-respond-to-trumps-first-100-days-with-fear-and-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/uc-berkeley-faculty-respond-to-trumps-first-100-days-with-fear-and-action\/","title":{"rendered":"UC Berkeley faculty respond to Trump\u2019s first 100 days with fear and action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Stephanie%20Wang\">Stephanie Wang | Staff<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>May 1, 2025 (DailyCal.org)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com\/dailycal.org\/content\/tncms\/assets\/v3\/editorial\/1\/14\/1140f2de-14bf-4f80-b7dd-c3e826dfc3e1\/680bd52a2dfa4.image.jpg?resize=400%2C258\" alt=\"investigation_Sam Clayton_Staff.jpg\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>UC Berkeley faculty have signed open letters and participated in campus protests to\u00a0push back against funding cuts, student visa revocations and investigations into\u00a0campus.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/users\/profile\/Sam%20Clayton\">Sam Clayton | Staff<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Following funding&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/everyone-is-on-edge-uc-research-funding-could-be-affected-by-new-nih-restrictions-on\/article_0acee346-5e38-42ae-ac31-fab074a9e498.html\">cuts<\/a>, international student status&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/academics\/all-23-uc-berkeley-students-legal-status-restored-as-hundreds-are-reinstated-nationwide\/article_7c7f23af-09b2-4cd4-bdc5-406408dbd69f.html\">revocations<\/a>&nbsp;and investigations into campus undertaken by the federal government in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump\u2019s term, UC Berkeley faculty are expressing dismay, concern&nbsp;and resoluteness when considering how federal developments have affected them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since Inauguration Day, some members of campus faculty have signed open&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/more-than-190-uc-berkeley-faculty-sign-letter-defending-free-expression-on-college-campuses\/article_8cc10621-5255-43e5-b23f-577c3056a7b3.html\">letters<\/a>&nbsp;and participated in campus&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/uc-berkeley-faculty-lead-protest-against-federal-threat-to-education\/article_7146cf42-de69-4961-a728-721e29a14650.html\">protests<\/a>&nbsp;to push back against measures enacted by the federal government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UC Berkeley School of Law professor and director of the Environmental Law Clinic Claudia Polsky is pursuinganother approach to respond to federal actions: assembling a class-action lawsuit on behalf of campus researchers whose federal grants have been terminated under the Trump administration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Polsky and Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky began preparing the lawsuit six weeks ago and expect to file it soon.Considering how other institutions have \u201chad trouble getting their bureaucratic apparatus to commit to a strategy quickly,\u201d Polsky emphasized the importance of taking rapid legal action against \u201cfast fascism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI wanted to be really sure that ideally before Trump ever issued a demand to UC Berkeley, (or) moments after, we would be ready with a lawsuit, and that\u2019s why I and now others on this team have been working at this breakneck pace \u2014 because we don\u2019t want to be in a reactive posture,\u201d Polsky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the lawsuit is limited to campus researchers due to timing urgency and challenges with coordinating across different groups,Polsky highlighted the symbolic importance of centering the case around UC Berkeley&nbsp;due to its historical significance within the Free Speech Movement and its prestige as a research university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Polsky hopes a court would find that the termination of federal grants \u201cbased on a variety of unconstitutional executive orders and through unlawful administrative procedures\u201d is illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She added that the court would ideally require the federal government to immediately reinstate the terminated grants. Further, it would bar the administration from terminating any existing grants involving congressionally-appropriated funds in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moreover, Polsky hopes that a lawsuit victory would allow other parties to file similar cases.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the lawsuit seeks to address funding losses faced by campus researchers, the preparation of the case comes at a time when the effects of the federal government\u2019s actions have resounded among campus faculty more broadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have never been more afraid or ashamed or saddened about my country than in the last 100 days,\u201d said Berkeley Law professor Christopher Kutz.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kutz helped assemble an open letter signed by more than 90 Berkeley Law faculty and recalled that some colleagues who did not sign expressed fear of retaliation, even though they agreed with its content.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe fears that people have, fears I have, range from alienation of donors \u2014 I think that\u2019s at the mild end of fear \u2014 to worries that you\u2019ll find yourself the target of an IRS audit \u2026 that you\u2019ll find yourself the target of an FBI investigation,\u201d Kutz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Additionally, Kutz said the high level of fear among faculty and objection to certain content led them to \u201cwater down\u201d the letter to garner more signatories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond contributing to an environment of \u201cextreme anxiety and concern\u201d for the well-being of campus community members, professor of philosophy R. Jay Wallace \u2014&nbsp;who co-authored an open&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailycal.org\/news\/campus\/more-than-190-uc-berkeley-faculty-sign-letter-defending-free-expression-on-college-campuses\/article_8cc10621-5255-43e5-b23f-577c3056a7b3.html\">letter<\/a>&nbsp;defending free expression at universities signed by more than 190 campus faculty&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;identified campus\u2019s \u201cability to maintain our academic programs and distinction\u201d as another source of unease.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hiring freezes implemented by the UC system and other U.S. universities will create a scarcity of academic positions and affect academics looking to advance in their careers \u2014 a development that would greatly impact the \u201cpipeline into higher education,\u201d according to Wallace.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that these cuts, paired with the placement of conditions on federal funding and the broader political climate, have also lessened the appeal of the university and other U.S. universities for students and faculty from abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn my own department, we were recruiting a very distinguished senior scholar from Canada, and I think the combination of the Trump election and the immediate attacks on Canada played a decisive role in her decision to remain at the University of Toronto,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cThe attraction of American universities like ours for foreign scholars and students has diminished significantly overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although all three professors shared their dismay at the adverse effects of federal actions over the course of Trump\u2019s first 100 days as president, each highlighted the importance of taking an active role to \u201cfight\u201d back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Polsky, in particular, expressed optimism in the forthcoming lawsuit, providing three words when asked to reflect upon how she felt about the case amid the current political situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWait and see,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following funding&nbsp;cuts, international student status&nbsp;revocations&nbsp;and investigations into campus undertaken by the federal government in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump\u2019s term, UC Berkeley faculty are expressing dismay, concern&nbsp;and resoluteness when considering how federal developments have affected them. Since Inauguration Day, some members of campus faculty have signed open&nbsp;letters&nbsp;and&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/uc-berkeley-faculty-respond-to-trumps-first-100-days-with-fear-and-action\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41042,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41041\/revisions\/41042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}