September 16, 2026 at 9:30 AM
Video Link: Start at 42:50
OPENING
Good morning Regents. Firstly, I would like to thank you to all for the grace you have afforded my children. Let me be the first to say that they do not belong in this space. And I don’t say that for the sake of the adults, or for your meeting, but I say it rather for them. They deserve to be doing circle time, to be coloring, to be building their imaginations. Their job right now is to be learning, growing, and playing, not to be in grown-up spaces learning to be silent… But this is the decision Chancellor Frenk and EVC Hunt made for my family. So, here we are.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
At the last meeting, one of you asked why, when I have such limited time, do I keep talking about Indigenous rights and it is simple. I talk about the Toongva and the Ohlone (respectively depending on where we are) for two reasons: 1. It is deeply personal to me, as someone whose ancestors are native to the Americas, but whose family (and myself) have been treated as “alien,” “illegal,”and “sub-human.” . I don’t want to be any part of the sickness this country has been infected with. I recognize that by being in this space I am benefiting from the overtly capitalist, colonial, and destructive machine that destroys Indigeneity, so every time I speak in this room, I remind myself, and you all – that we, too, are culpable.
The second reason is less philosophical. There are certain standards by which this University must meet as a Public Trust University that has benefited greatly from dispossession and violence, additionally there are current laws by which the University is in violation, mainly NAGPRA. There are ways for the University to make amends and set forth on a path that can be mutually beneficial to both the institution and the Indigenous communities, however the University has sidestepped its responsibilities for its own financial benefit masked as knowledge, research, and public interest. So I remind you all, every time, that the Indigenous communities of these lands are still here, and they are not going away. I will stop giving my form of a land acknowledgement, when I feel it is no longer needed, however, I don’t think that will happen within my time at UCGPC, but I hope you all prove me wrong.
UCGPC ADVOCACY PRIORITIES
UCGPC has been working tirelessly through the summer to set up our structure for this academic year. In August, the UCGPC Board of Directors which is made up of ex officio members from each of the ten campuses met to vote on the five advocacy priorities that will guide our work throughout the year based on student data, testimonials, and the current political climate. We will be focusing on Basic Needs, International Student Protections, AI & Technology, Student Safety, and Student and Research Funding. I would love to give you more of an update on our ongoing work however there are a few very specific issues I must address today for their severity and critical timing.
LABOR ISSUES
Students are concerned about pay, many are not receiving the positions as promised within their offer letters. This means students are starting to look at other options- applying for additional loans, taking a leave of absence, or dropping out. Some departments want to replace all of the TAs with AI, some are hoping we find positions in other departments, and some just don’t follow through even when they offer. After a tumultuous year of unstable federal funding for research, students are understandably uneasy, but now as they try to find their footing, it has become clear that the University will not hold up to its word, to its offer letter, and more precisely to its contract.
BASIC NEEDS
I often hear as a response to any gripes students may have that the University is not universal, but the flaw in that logic is that the UC has made itself our educator, our employer, our healthcare provider, our landlord, our childcare provider, and so much more. You made yourselves our universe, and that comes with responsibilities.
As outlined in the March 2025 UC Basic Needs Annual Report, ““In 2024, historic Assembly Bill (AB) 2033 was passed, which specifies that “’[b]asic needs services and resources’ includes, but is not limited to, housing, food, clothing, feminine hygiene, diapers, technology, childcare, and mental health services and resources” for all three State public higher education segments. Previously, this did not apply to UC. This is an important step to ensuring that students’ needs are reflected in legislative language.”[1] The University and the State acknowledge the essential nature of these needs, yet we have significant numbers of homeless students in Santa Cruz, students across the system that must carry exorbitant costs for essential life-sustaining medications just because their campus is on UCSHIP, and now we have essential services for families being stripped. I obviously have a personal stake in this last issue, but my greater concern about childcare is that if UCLA takes away this service, then other campuses will start to do the same[7] . Once other campuses do, the CSUs and CCCs will follow. I don’t know if this is moral capitulation to the Trump Administration, or maybe the University’s mission really has changed so much that childcare for its faculty, staff, and students is no longer aligned.
The ECE website cites the budget and the lack of alignment with UCLA’s core mission;[2] however, an institution’s budget is the ultimate truth-teller of what its real priorities are. Budgets are made based upon the value of each line item as perceived by the deciders, in this case EVC Hunt and Chancellor Frenk, but are they being honest about what is affecting their perception of ECE’s value? The truth is, we don’t have transparency or respect. I didn’t even receive the email, I found out about the closure through the ECE parents whatsapp group, and the teachers were only notified about losing their jobs only half an hour before all the parents found out.
In 2022, the UCLA Child Care Strategy Committee was charged with investigating the child care needs of UCLA faculty, staff, and students with dependents 5 and younger. In their final report they explained that 96% reported needing quality childcare in the next two years, 82% reported needing it full-time. The cost for high-quality care in California is estimated at $37,000 for an infant and $22,000 for children ages 3-5. The report goes on to give suggestions for how to improve childcare including expanding the network of early child care providers, increasing availability of on-campus care for children 0-3, and subsidizing child care costs since nearly half of the UCLA survey respondents spend more than 3x the federal standard for child care costs.
This report gave notice to the University of the need to prepare for the upcoming changes and challenges associated with the State’s rollout of Transitional Kindergarten, but instead of creating a stable plan for support and after-care like other UC’s provide, UCLA first closed Fernald, now is closing Krieger and University Village, and is ending University Parent Nursery School’s lease thus leaving UCLA families without options.[3]
GROSS MISMANAGEMENT & ABUSE
ECE has been grossly mismanaged by the Education & Information Studies department, it has no business being under this umbrella. It has become clear to many of us that UCLA is worried about liability, though this is not spoken out loud[8] . It seems that families that have suffered greatly from Christopher Rodriguez and the mismanagement, neglect and abuse at ECE are now being scapegoated, almost as if closing ECE is a favor to all of the families[9] . Our two options should not be systematic sexual abuse of our children or no childcare at all. The families of UCLA are only asking for a safe and healthy environment where their children can thrive at the same time that their parents are studying, researching, working, and teaching.
I feel sick to my stomach when I think of the amount of children over the 25 years of abuse at ECE, for the children who were harmed and had their lives forever changed. I think of Dante, and I think of his little friends at ECE, and I just can’t imagine the weight all of the families involved must carry. The harm this community has endured is not resolved by closing the centers, the need for support is still there and the decision to close them is UCLA’s desperate grasp for exoneration. There is so much more to this, but I am obviously over time, so I invite you to read the letter written to you by Stacey Weinstein, Associate Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics here at UCLA.
Many members of the community moved to UCLA based on the explicit promise of ECE, myself included. In my case, a PhD is just not possible without childcare. Some of us have a state subsidy, but even for those who pay out of pocket for ECE, there is a significant childcare shortage on the Westside, and there aren’t enough spots available for the amount of children needing care. The thing is, childcare is a service, it is not meant to be a money-making venture,
CLOSING
So, this is a matter for upper administration, for OP, and for the Regents. You must decide what is truly included within the University’s mission, and if you don’t consider childcare to be a part of that – you will be dismissing essential members of the UC infrastructure including professors, researchers, doctors, pharmacists, staff members, students, and the smallest members of our community, our Baby Bruins.
Thank you for your time today.
[1] https://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/regmeet/mar25/b3attach.pdf
[3] https://dms.senate.ucla.edu/issues/document/?20332.Child.Care.Committee.Final.Report.1.27.22
Stephanie Valadez, M.M. 
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