You Are Choosing: UCGPC President’s Address to the Regents

Stephanie Valadez, UCLA
Mission Bay Conference Center
University of California, San Francisco
10:00 AM on September 17, 2025

Start video at 1:39:48

Piyalli and Good morning Regents, I want to begin by expressing my deep gratitude for the opportunity to share space with all of you today.  I am honored to be in this room among so many people whose presence, work, and word carry weight. As we come together commencing Day Two, I acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional and unceded land of the Ramaytush Ohlone people.  This land was stolen, displacing the Indigenous peoples; yet their knowledge, traditions, and ways of seeing the world continue to be resilient, resisting and defying the capitalistic colonial ways of this country.  As I speak today, I hold that truth close, with gratitude and with the reminder that being here is both a privilege and a responsibility.

I am proud to be a student of the University of California.  Every day, I see my colleagues shaping the future through their research and innovation.  I am constantly inspired by the brilliant work happening in the UC labs and research centers, work that keeps the state of California at the forefront of progress. My own UC journey began when I was just a little girl when my father, a UC Davis alum, would take me to Picnic Day every year to experience science demonstrations, sit in on lectures, and revel in extended community.  Through the years I saw two of my sisters attend UCs for undergrad, but I took a different path, attending a CSU, a community college, a private university and a conservatory, all here in California. It wasn’t until my fourth degree that I finally found myself at a UC.  Having studied at so many different institutions, I have had the opportunity to compare the different ontologies.  That is why I must tell you, in all the institutions I have attended, I have never witnessed such a high level of distrust between students and administration as I see here, and it saddens me.  

A University system ten campuses strong should be a model of unity, collaborative and productive growth, and shared purpose.  We should have strength in numbers.  With 299 thousand students, 266 thousand faculty and staff, and an alumni network of 2.5 million, together our community is made up of more than 3 million.  We have the capacity to stand strong against federal overreach, but only if it is employed by those in positions of leadership.[1]  So, I ask why are we divided?

We do not fault you for global crises, nor for federal policies beyond your control. But we do hold you accountable for the decisions made within this institution, decisions about housing, affordability, and student well-being that are squarely within your authority to change.  It has been 62 days since I first called on you to return to morality.  And, to my surprise, there was a change.  I don’t know if it was you, or if it was AVC Laura Arroyo, but it was genuinely heartening to see inclusion and diversity actively recognized on the Family Student Housing website at UC Santa Cruz through the change in eligibility rules. Though a small part of the asks I presented in July, during this dark moment in time, I appreciate being heard.  

I had pointed out a serious oversight, then someone addressed the issue.  This shows that it can work!  That we can work together.  I identified a problem, suggested a solution, and it was fixed.  So, why can’t we always listen to each other?  We may not always agree, but by tapping into some of the greatest minds and working collaboratively to problem solve, we will find better solutions together. Students need more. Your collective silence is deafening. You know your students are afraid. You know your students are struggling. And you know that most of us do not have the privileges that you do. Our basic needs– rent, food, healthcare, childcare– are increasingly unaffordable. Everyone in this room can do the arithmetic and see that the numbers don’t add up. And yet, we stay. We persevere. We hold on to a dream that has been presented to us as certain, as a path that will provide security, opportunity, and growth. That dream is now under threat. And with it goes not only our sense of security but also our sense of belonging and our perception of value within this University. We continue to work under the belief that the basic structures of the academy, scholarship, research, education are guaranteed, not conditional. Now, faced with uncertainty, we carry the weight of what was once assumed.

This was a win, for everyone involved, but that doesn’t mean we are back on course.  Someone listened 62 days ago, but unfortunately that hasn’t changed the modus operandi over the past several months. Students have made serious efforts to connect with and support the administration of the University of California.  On August 9th, the students across the UC system represented by UCGPC, UCSA, and the Council of Presidents sent a pleading letter asking for the administration to stand united against authoritarianism. [2]  It took eight days to receive a response, a brief dismissive response that failed to engage with the substance of our concerns.  Following this, the one-on-one meetings for both the UCSA president and me with President Milliken were reduced from 45-minutes monthly to just 30 minutes.  Similarly, the quarterly meetings with representatives from all ten campuses were shortened from one hour to 45 minutes, and the hybrid participation option was removed, limiting accessibility and transparency.

Meanwhile, the University is facing significant legal challenges that underscore a broader pattern of lacking institutional response to mounting concerns from students, faculty, and staff.  When UC Berkeley handed over names to federal investigators it shattered the trust in administration. [3]  According to the UC Berkeley faculty,

As you know, an [Office of Civil Rights] investigation is not intended to determine whether students, faculty, or staff have violated any civil rights laws, but whether the university itself is in compliance with Title VI’s nondiscrimination mandate. Personal information about individuals associated with discrimination complaints is irrelevant to a legitimate investigation into an institution’s management of such complaints.

In the eyes of the community, the University did NOT need to disclose those names.

How can we trust that the university will protect us? A new federal court ruling gave permission to profile based on language and skin color. [4] Many of us chose the University specifically because of its diversity and promotion of education across cultures.  The university has proven that it will give us up, so what is next?  For the StARs application for this meeting it asks if our preferred language is English or Spanish.  Does that mean that I will be going on a list somewhere, and someday when the administration asks who is a native Spanish speaker the University will give my name?  What about my children in the University daycare?  Are they going to be given up because I speak to them in their native tongue?

As a community we need action.  I call on all of you to steward us back to the moral high ground.  I acknowledge the difficulty of the position you are in and the need for more time, but time is something we just don’t have.  I urge you to collaborate with the actions already being taken and bring our community back together.  On Tuesday, a coalition of labor unions, faculty, students, and advocacy organizations filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration.  Though you are in a difficult predicament, you have the opportunity to stand on the right side of history.  I would like to remember the sage words of Judge Robert H. Jackson from the Nuremberg Trials, “The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.” [5] We are now here at the reiteration of which he so warned.  

This is not a demand. It is a follow-up. A reminder that your students are calling out. And whether through action or inaction, you are choosing how you will be remembered: as leaders who turned away, or as leaders who listened.

[1] https://ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/_files/uc-facts-at-a-glance.pdf

[2] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sMwwuaWLXM-2atDx-EyQn8E5Tun510EtViz_cJxUI38/edit?usp=sharing

[3] https://www.kqed.org/news/12055827/uc-berkeley-gives-trump-administration-160-names-in-antisemitism-investigation

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/09/supreme-court-immigration-los-angeles-reaction?

 [5] Opening statement, International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Nov. 21, 1945.

Want to read more?