See below our letter to UC San Diego leadership, also copied to UC leadership systemwide:

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September 16, 2025

Office of the Chancellor
University of California San Diego
9500 Gilman Dr  #0005
La Jolla, CA 92093

Dear Chancellor Khosla and Campus Counsel Park,

Recently, it was reported that the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) provided the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) with documents containing the personally identifiable information (PII) of 160 UC Berkeley faculty, students, and staff and that the UC Berkeley Chancellor elected to notify those individuals. While unconfirmed by UCOP, several sources also indicated that PII of faculty, students, and staff from other UC campuses, including UC San Diego, were also transmitted to UCOP and OCR and that these individuals have not been notified of these disclosures.

The release of UCSD faculty, student, or staff names to OCR directly contravenes the UCSD Academic Senate resolution appended below that was passed on April 15, 2025.  The “Resolution to refrain from sharing the personal information of UC San Diego students, faculty and staff unless compelled by warrant or subpoena,” specifically requested that our Chancellor:

1. i) “refuse to comply with any demand from the federal government, that is not a federal warrant or subpoena, to provide student, faculty or staff identifying information or physical location, that is motivated by their visa or immigration status or on-campus activities” AND
2. ii) “inform the campus community in a timely manner if UC San Diego receives a demand from the federal government for student, faculty or staff identifying information or physical location, that is motivated by their visa or immigration status or on-campus activities, and to consult with the Academic Senate before responding.”

An OCR investigation is not intended to determine whether individual students, faculty, or staff have violated any civil rights laws, but whether the university itself is in compliance with Title VI’s nondiscrimination mandate. Release of PII about individuals associated with discrimination complaints is irrelevant to a legitimate investigation into an institution’s management of such complaints and creates substantial risk of harm to those individuals. Such a disclosure is likely to cause UC San Diego faculty, students, and staff significant harm, including the infringement of first amendment rights to free speech and assembly, the violation of faculty rights to academic freedom and, among non-citizens, potential visa termination, detention, and deportation.

On behalf of the UC San Diego community, we respectfully request the following actions from your office:

1. Disclosure of whether the UCSD administration complied with any request to provide OCR with the PII of any UCSD faculty, students, or staff (including through release of names to UCOP)
2. Immediate notification of any UCSD faculty, student, or staff whose PII has been released to UCOP and/or OCR including information concerning the allegations against them
3. Disclosure of any additional federal requests for faculty, staff, or student PII, as well as an indication of whether any PII has been provided in response to the request and, if so, whether those individuals whose PII was shared were notified

In addition, we request the following commitments from your office:

1. That any future decisions about sharing PII will be made in consultation with faculty, students, and staff (or the unions/associations that represent them) under principles of shared governance (as detailed in the appended Divisional Senate resolution),
2. That the campus administration will make it clear to UCOP that UC San Diego will not comply with any more requests from the federal government for PII of faculty, students and staff unless compelled by a court order,
3. That the campus administration will resist and reject federal government interference into any and all personnel decisions (including discipline and termination of faculty, students and staff) that may arise as a result of PII release, and
4. That the campus administration will protect faculty, students, and staff who face retaliatory immigration detention as a result of PII release by designating “safe” or “private” spaces on campus that would require a judicial warrant to enter and by providing free immigration counsel, as needed.
5. That the campus administration will protect faculty, students, and staff who face other forms of retaliation by providing campus resources in consultation with those negatively impacted by this release of information.

We urge your administration to protect the UC San Diego community from government threats and investigations that are wielded as tools to force us into compliance with a political agenda. To maintain our excellence as a top-tier public university, we must follow long-standing laws and principles that are protective of the rights of all the members of our community.

Sincerely,

The San Diego Faculty Association

 

cc:
Chair Rebecca Jo Plant, San Diego Division Academic Senate
Vice-Chair Akos Rona-Tas, San Diego Division Academic Senate
Chair Ahmet Palazoglu, UC Systemwide Academic Senate
UC Board of Regents
President James B. Milliken
Chancellor Richard Lyons, UC Berkeley
Chancellor Gary S. May, UC Davis
Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine
Chancellor Julio Frenk, UCLA
Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz, UC Merced
Chancellor S. Jack Hu, UC Riverside
Chancellor Sam Hawgood, UCSF
Chancellor Dennis Assanis, UC Santa Barbara
Chancellor Cynthia Larive, UC Santa Cruz

 

UCSD Senate resolution (“Resolution to refrain from sharing the personal information of UC San Diego students, faculty and staff unless compelled by warrant or subpoena”)