Judge Orders the University of California to Release Trump UCLA Settlement Offer at the Center of Private Negotiations
UCLA faculty succeed in their lawsuit demanding transparency.
A state court on Wednesday ordered the University of California to release the $1.2-billion UCLA settlement proposal from the Department of Justice, handing a victory to faculty members who are pushing UC for more transparency in its negotiations with the Trump administration.
The one-sentence decision signed by 1st Appellate District acting Presiding Justice Carin T. Fujisaki means that UC has until Friday to disclose a 28-page document that describes federal demands for vast policy changes at UCLA that are in line with President Trump’s vision for higher education.
Last month, the UCLA Faculty Assn. sued UC after the university rejected its public records requests. The association is an independent organization unaffiliated with the Academic Senate, the body that formally represents all UCLA faculty in relations with campus administrators.
UC had appealed an earlier lower-court ruling. The appeals court suggested it agreed with an Oct. 14 order from an Oakland-based judge giving UC until Oct. 24 to release the document. That judge, Rebekah Evenson, of the Superior Court of Alameda County, said the Public Records Act and public interest in deliberations over one of the nation’s top universities compels UC to disclose the more than 7,000-word proposal.
UC must publicly release Trump administration’s $1.2-billion settlement proposal. "UCLA must release the Trump administration document that outlines the terms of the $1.2 billion settlement proposal at the center of talks between the University of California and the federal government, the California Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The decision is a win for UCLA faculty who have pushed for more transparency in the negotiations over the future of the nation’s premier public university system. UC has until the end of the day to disclose the 28 pages of federal demands for far-reaching policy changes at UCLA that are in line with President Trump’s vision for higher education.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-10-24/uc-publicly-release-trump-ucla-1-2-billion-settlement-offer