The Northwestern Deal

Yesterday, in our "Straws in the Wind" posting, we noted that a deal between the feds and Northwestern was reportedly near. Now it is official.

From the NY Times: Northwestern agreed to pay $75 million to the federal government in a deal reached on Friday with the Trump administration that restores hundreds of millions in research funding and closes multiple investigations into antisemitism on campus. The deal was the sixth agreement that the Trump administration had reached with an elite university...

Henry S. Bienen, Northwestern’s interim president, said... “We understand how difficult the past seven months have been since our federal research funding was frozen, and that many of you have felt the impacts deeply and personally...”  in a letter to the Northwestern community. 

...Northwestern’s payments will be made to the U.S. Treasury over the next three years, according to the deal. The government agreed to close three federal investigations — by the Education, Health and Human Services and Justice Departments — without any acknowledgment of wrongdoing by the university.

...The Northwestern agreement also requires the university to revise all policies, protocols and public-facing materials on hormonal interventions and transgender surgeries for children at its Feinberg School of Medicine, and “ensure compliance with federal laws.” ...

The deal with the government also requires the university to revoke the so-called Deering Meadow agreement, which it signed in 2024 to end campus encampments in protest of Israel and the war in Gaza. Under the agreement, the university vowed to reverse all policies implemented under the 2024 accord. In the Deering Meadow agreement, named after a large green space on campus where encampments were set up, the university promised to increase transparency into its financial holdings and to provide support for Palestinians, including in the form of two slots for visiting faculty members and full scholarships for five undergraduate students. Some Jewish leaders, including officials from the American Jewish Committee, objected to the terms. The new deal requires Northwestern to survey the school body, asking whether students feel welcome and they feel safe reporting antisemitism, among other questions...

...In April, the Trump administration froze at least $790 million in federal research funding planned for Northwestern. In July, the university announced plans to eliminate about 425 jobs, about half of which were vacant...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/us/politics/northwestern-deal-trump-administration.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 177

From Inside Higher Ed: The Texas State University Board of Regents signed off on the decision to fire a tenured professor for his comments at a socialist conference... Texas State University president Kelly Damphousse accused professor Thomas Alter of inciting violence when he fired Alter and revoked his tenure in September. Alter sued and was reinstated while the university reviewed his case using the standard faculty investigatory process. The university upheld Damphousse’s decision in October... Alter, an associate professor of history, spoke at the Revolutionary Socialism Conference in part about how “insurrectionary anarchism” had gained ground recently.

“Many insurrectionary anarchists are serving jail time, lost jobs and face expulsion from school,” he said. “They have truly put their bodies on the line. While their actions are laudable, it should be asked, what purpose do they serve? As anarchists, these insurrectionists explicitly reject the formation of a revolutionary party capable of leading the working class to power. Without organization, how can anyone expect to overthrow the most bloodthirsty, profit-driven mad organization in the history of the world—that of the U.S. government.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/11/24/texas-state-board-upholds-firing-professor.

Watch the Afternoon Regents Meeting of Nov. 19, 2025

The main event of the November Regents meetings was renewal and approval of the "tuition stability plan" by the full board. The essence of the plan was that tuition goes up automatically by cohort. But once a student enters, the tuition is constant in nominal dollars thereafter. Each cohort pays more, but then the rate is fixed. As several speakers noted, the plan does not deal with non-tuition costs (living expenses, textbooks, etc.), which can be a significant element in the total cost. 

Given current fiscal stringencies and federal uncertainties, the proposed plan was less generous than the previous with a 5% cap on inflation but with "banking" of inflation above 5% that would be applied in lower-inflation years, a drop in the diversion of revenue to student aid dropping from 45% of incremental revenue down to 40%, and a 1% surcharge above inflation for capital needs (said to be student-oriented buildings, whatever that exactly means). There were several disruptions at the beginning of the presentation that led to the room being cleared.

Two changes in the proposal were eventually adopted. One set a 7-year deadline for revisiting the plan instead of no specific deadline. Another allowed campuses to use the 1% surcharge for whatever needs they had, rather than just capital.

The plan passed with a handful of negative votes.

At a meeting of the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee, a long-range plan for the UC-Santa Barbara campus was approved, but with a call for the campus to lower the proposed costs. Reports on capital spending and finances were passed. An operating budget for UC was passed. But Regents raised the question of whether there is really a "compact" with the state, given the propensity of the governor and legislature to "defer" compact obligation to the future when the budget outlook is constrained. It was noted that the outyear of the compact extends to the period when a new governor will be in place. Finally, it was noted that given the recent boom in the stock market, the pension is now funded at 90% on a market basis.

At Academic and Student Affairs, there was a report on the UCAD-Plus committee that is dealing with "disruptions" in state and federal payments to UC and their impact on research, the academic advancement on junior faculty (who must demonstrate research capability), and related issues. The new committee is composed of both administration and Academic Senate members. It is to deliver a report in January 2027. (Meanwhile, the Regents are negotiating behind closed doors with the feds so it is unclear how what UCAD-Plus will be doing relates to these negotiations.)

One hint of what's to come came in the form of references to cross-campus programs for low enrollment programs such as languages. Presumably, cross-campus means online education. 

Finally, there was a presentation on UCLA's program dealing with the aftermath of the Palisades and Altadena fires.

At the Investments Committee, everyone was cheerful because of recent gains in the stock market. The above-mentioned 90% funding ratio for the UC pension came up. There was vague discussion about the proposed investment in the Big Ten athletic conference - which has yet to happen. CIO Bachhar was upbeat about the prospect and no one seemed in a mood to challenge him. Basically, UC is 64% invested in public equity, 19% in private assets (which are harder to value - the word "opaque" came up -and create liquidity risks), 15% in fixed income, and 2% in cash.

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As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings indefinitely since the Regents have no fixed policy on retention and the recording are on YouTube with unlisted addresses which cannot be searched.

The general address for the afternoon sessions of Nov. 19 are at:

https://archive.org/details/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025

The board and Finance and Capital Strategies sessions are at:

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/28/items/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025/2-Regents%20Board%2C%20Finance%20and%20Capital%20Strategies%20Committee%2011-19-2025.mp4

Academic and Student Affairs is at:

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/28/items/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025/3-Regents%20Academic%20and%20Student%20Affairs%20Committee%2011-19-2025.mp4

Investments is at:

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/28/items/2-regents-board-finance-and-capital-strategies-committee-11-19-2025/4-Regents%20Investments%20Committee%2011-19-2025.mp4

Straws in the Wind - Part 176

From WFIU: Before creating new degrees, Indiana’s public colleges and universities will have to explain to the state how they will promote American values. The new degree proposal form issued by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education asks: “How does the proposed program cultivate civic responsibility and commitment to the core values of American society? For example, how does the curriculum include components that emphasize civic engagement and the duties of citizenship in a free society?”

...It is especially important because the government recently eliminated hundreds of degrees with low numbers of graduates, forcing the creation of many new consolidated programs that will need the Commission’s approval. This announcement also follows President Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which says universities that sign a compact agreeing to certain policy priorities will get preferential treatment for federal funding. The administration has not sent the compact to any Indiana schools...

Full story at https://www.ipm.org/news/2025-11-21/universities-must-explain-how-new-degrees-promote-american-values.

From the NY Times: Northwestern University and the White House are finalizing a deal that would end the Trump administration’s monthslong pressure campaign against the school, restore hundreds of millions in federal funding and close a potentially onerous federal antisemitism investigation, according to three people briefed on the matter. The terms of the deal have not been publicly announced. But two of the people briefed on the talks said that Northwestern would be assessed a $75 million fine to the federal government as part of the deal. That would be the second highest amount a school facing a pressure campaign from the administration had agreed to pay.

...Northwestern has endured months of pressure from the White House and fellow Republicans in Congress. In the face of that pressure, the university’s president, Michael H. Schill, abruptly announced on Sept. 4 that he would resign after three years in office. Republicans have accused Northwestern of not doing enough to address antisemitism during campus protests over the war in Gaza, and Mr. Schill faced a difficult hearing on Capitol Hill last year over whether the school had adequately protected Jewish students. In April, the Trump administration froze at least $790 million in federal research funding planned for Northwestern. In July, the university announced plans to eliminate about 425 jobs. University officials said nearly half of those jobs were vacant and described the layoffs as “a drastic step” and “the most painful measure we have had to take.”

Mr. Schill was replaced on an interim basis by Henry Bienen, who served in the role from 1995-2009. In October, Mr. Bienen told faculty members that he wanted to strike a deal to restore research funding but would not sign an agreement that “hinders the autonomy of the university.” ...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/us/politics/northwestern-university-trump-deal.html.

Funding Squeeze

From the Daily Bruin: Samantha Talbot said exploring humanities research felt daunting when she came to UCLA. Talbot added that because academia is a predominantly white field, she felt out of place as a student of color. But the First Year Scholars Program, which offers academic guidance to first-year humanities and social sciences students, provided her guest speaker opportunities to guide her through her research journey, making the process less intimidating. FYSP also provides first-year students with academic advising and peer mentorship.

...However, the UCLA Center for Academic Advising in the College – which runs FYSP – paused the program for the 2025-26 academic year, citing denied funding over the past several years as the reason for the pause, according to its website. The Center for Academic Advising temporarily paused the program to avoid a permanent shutdown, according to a March email sent to FYSP scholars. The program is seeking out external funding sources in an attempt to restart operations in the 2026-27 or 2027-28 academic year, according to FYSP’s website.

...UCLA Media Relations declined to answer specific questions about FYSP’s hiatus and denied funding requests, instead referring the Daily Bruin to a Bruin Post about Chancellor Julio Frenk’s new leadership coalition to manage the university’s ongoing budgetary constraints...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2025/11/21/ucla-first-year-scholars-program-goes-on-hiatus-after-years-of-denied-funding.

Straws in the Wind - Part 175

From the Wall St. Journal: While still taking core classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he wrote a paper on artificial intelligence’s workplace impact so rapidly influential it was cited in Congress. He appeared in the pages of The Wall Street Journal in December as the very picture of a wunderkind, in faded jeans with tousled hair, in between two of his mentors, including Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu. Toner-Rodgers’s work offered a surprising and even hopeful revelation about our high-tech future. He concluded that AI increased worker productivity and spurred innovation. Also, people didn’t like using it very much.

Within weeks, those mentors were asking an unthinkable question: Had Toner-Rodgers made it all up? By the spring, Toner-Rodgers was no longer enrolled at MIT. The university disavowed his paper. Questions multiplied, but one seemed more elusive than the rest: How did a baby-faced novice from small-town California dupe some of academia’s brightest minds? 

...Toner-Rodgers’s illusory success seems in part thanks to the dynamics he has now upset: an academic culture at MIT where high levels of trust, integrity and rigor are all—for better or worse—assumed. He focused on AI, a field where peer-reviewed research is still in its infancy and the hunger for data is insatiable. What has stunned his former colleagues and mentors is the sheer breadth of his apparent deception. He didn’t just tweak a few variables. It appears he invented the entire study. 

In the aftermath, MIT economics professors have been discussing ways to raise standards for graduate students’ research papers, including scrutinizing raw data, and students are going out of their way to show their work isn’t counterfeit, according to people at the school...

Full story at https://www.wsj.com/articles/aidan-toner-rodgers-mit-ai-research-78753243.

Happy Thanksgiving: Then and Now

Then

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Now

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Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YapYFYeb0g.

Straws in the Wind - Part 174

From the Brown Daily Herald: Brown will face a 4% tax rate on its endowment in the coming year, an increase from its current 1.4% endowment tax rate, according to the University’s annual financial report for fiscal year 2025 released early Thursday morning. The larger tax rate results from a growth in the endowment that has pushed the University’s endowment past the $750,000 per student threshold required to trigger a 4% endowment tax — a new limit established under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed by Congress in July...

In April, the White House announced plans to freeze $510 million of Brown’s federal funding,  pausing reimbursements on existing grants from the National Institutes of Health and halting the awarding of new grants or routine grant renewals... Existing grants from the NIH comprised more than 70% of the University’s federal research funding, and totaled over $50 million in overdue payments by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. Brown is around 10 percentage points more reliant on federal funding than peer institutions, according to the report. Sponsored research is the largest source of research funding for Brown, encompassing grants and contracts from federal agencies, foundations and corporations and accounting for 20.5% of the University’s revenue...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/11/brown-to-face-increased-4-endowment-tax-next-fiscal-year.

Bugged - Part 3

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Education is reviewing potential violations of the Clery Act at the University of California, Berkeley following violence at a campus protest. Fights broke out and four people were arrested at a Nov. 10 protest against an event for Turning Point USA, the conservative student group founded by Charlie Kirk, Cal Matters reported. The organization has received newfound attention after Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University in September, exactly two months before the event at UC Berkeley. 

...ED also accused the university of having “a history of violating the Clery Act” in a news release announcing the investigation, citing a $2.4 million fine and settlement agreement in 2020 for UC Berkeley’s failure to properly classify 1,125 crimes on campus and insufficient record keeping... UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof told Inside Higher Ed by email that the university “has an unwavering commitment to abide by the laws, rules and policies that are applicable to the university” and “will continue to cooperate with governmental inquires and investigations.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/11/26/ed-investigates-berkeley-over-protest-violence.

Previous blog posts: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/bugged-part-2.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/bugged.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/coming-soon-to-berkeley.html.

Watch the Morning Regents Meeting of Nov. 19, 2025

The morning session (open component) of the Regents meeting of November 19 consisted solely of a full board meeting beginning with public comments. Several comments dealt with the proposed tuition stability plan which escalates the rate for each new cohort of undergraduate students and then freezes it for their career at UC. Complaints revolved around the impact on low income students, the impact on international students, or just the general idea of tuition increases. 

Other comments dealt with support for undocumented students, support from SB 98 (notification of ICE agents on campus), complaints by the Carpenters union about inadequate medical coverage by a UCLA contractor, support for disabled students, loss of funding for employment of low income students, support for Latino post-docs, a complaint of anti-Israel indoctrination in a class, a UCFW dispute with an employer, anti-Israel divestment, and the high cost of textbooks.

There were then statements by Regent chair Reilly (who referenced the need for "fiscal prudence" in connection with the tuition stability plan) and by UC president Milliken (who spoke about the conflict with the feds, problems related to the state budget, a hiring freeze, and layoffs). Milliken advocated for full payment by the state under the "compact." These remarks suggested that the tuition stability plan was likely to be adopted in the afternoon session, maybe with small modifications. (There was a brief disturbance during Milliken's remarks.)  

Faculty representative Palazeglu said the Academic Senate opposed any deal with the feds that conflicted with academic freedom. He noted the move from UCAD to UCAD-Plus.*

There was a special presentation by Regent Makarechian - which we noted in an earlier blog post** - dealing with his treatment for paralysis at UC-San Francisco as an illustration of the value of UC research.

Afterwards, there was a program devoted to the achievements of UC Nobel prize winners:

• Laureate and UCLA Professor Andrea Ghez, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize for Physics
• Laureate and UCSF Professor David Julius, winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
• Laureate and UCSB Professor John Martinis, winner of the 2025 Nobel Prize for physics
• Laureate and UC Berkeley Professor Randy Schekman, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

The Regents then went into closed session and discussed the conflict with the feds - which would have been very interesting to watch had it been open. 

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As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention. You can find the Nov. 19th morning session at:

https://archive.org/details/1-regents-board-8-30-am-11-19-2025_202511 or

https://ia801700.us.archive.org/1/items/1-regents-board-8-30-am-11-19-2025_202511/1-Regents%20Board%208_30%20AM%2011-19-2025.mp4.

==

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/08/ucad.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/09/ucad-part-2.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/10/successor-to-ucad.html.

**https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/makarechian-on-value-of-uc-and-of.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 173

From the Brown Daily Herald: Less than two years after its formation, the [Brown University] Third World Labor Organization is disbanding due to “systematically poor turnout,” the union’s leaders wrote in [an] email to members... The labor union represents about 50 student workers at the Brown Center for Students of Color who announced plans to unionize in February 2024. At the time, TWLO organizers cited a desire to “protect the center from censorship,” defend freedom of expression, “ensure Brown values the work of students of color” and “uphold the political legacy of the Third World Center,” the BCSC’s predecessor. But in recent months, low member participation and stalled bargaining with the University left few paths forward for the University’s smallest student labor union, according to organizers... 

Following an “emergency meeting” in early October, members “agreed that we needed to communicate, complete responsibilities and attend meetings,” organizers wrote in the email. But, they added, “This never meaningfully improved.” In early November, organizers told union members that at least 10 members needed to attend the next two union meetings, but this request similarly went unmet, union leaders noted in their email. The lack of attendance “makes this union not member-led and thus not sustainable,” organizers wrote. “The union only runs if we make it run.” ...

“The difficulty came with just being able to find workers who were ready to consistently step up and bargain this contract,” Local 6516 Executive Director Michael Ziegler GS told The Herald. The union was one of five bargaining units at the University represented by the Graduate Labor Organization-led RIFT-AFT Local 6516...

Full story at https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025/11/bcsc-student-worker-labor-union-dissolves-citing-systemically-poor-turnout.

(Possible) Strike News

From the Bruin: UCLA representatives of United Auto Workers’ academic and non-academic units threatened to strike at a... rally [last Thursday] in Bruin Plaza if the University’s allegedly unfair labor practices continue. About 200 UAW-represented employees attended the rally amid ongoing rainfall – including those from UAW Local 4811 – which represents academic student employees [ASEs], graduate students and postdoctoral researchers – as well as its student service and advising professionals, and research and public service professionals [SSAPs and RPSPs] units.

UAW Local 4811’s contract – including that of the ASEs – with the UC will expire Jan. 1, 2026, and the union is currently bargaining for a new contract. SSAPs and RPSPs are currently negotiating for their first contract as separate units. The unions – which represent over 48,000 UC workers – held simultaneous rallies at 10 other UC campus locations to demand better wages, job security and protections for international workers...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2025/11/21/uaw-units-rally-threaten-strike-for-fair-wage-job-protections-in-new-uc-contract.

Straws in the Wind - Part 172

From the Daily Princetonian: A University Advancement database containing information about alumni, donors, students, parents, some faculty, and other members of the University community was compromised on Nov. 10, putting their data at risk of access by outside actors. According to [an] announcement from the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the breach occurred after outside actors targeted a University employee with access to the database through a phone-based phishing attempt. The incident began on Nov. 10 and was blocked within 24 hours.

The database compromised included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, and home and business addresses, along with information about University fundraising and donations. It “generally” did not include sensitive information like Social Security numbers, passwords, or credit card and bank account numbers...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025/11/princeton-news-adpol-university-data-compromised-after-cybersecurity-incident.

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: The leading organization for music scholars is facing an uproar from hundreds of its members, who are threatening a boycott unless it meets a chorus of demands. Researchers are accusing the administrative arm of the American Musicological Society of mismanaging the association by, among other things, paying back-office staff disproportionately high salaries and corrupting the peer-review process of its annual conference, which was held in Minneapolis earlier this month, according to a petition that started circulating soon after...

The discord comes at a fraught time for musicology and the broader humanities. Many campuses are eyeing cuts to low-enrollment humanities programs, and shifting federal priorities have also left a mark on the discipline. In April, all four of the AMS’s grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, totaling more than $363,000, were terminated...

In social-media posts collected on a newly formed website, several... members have written that they recently resigned from their roles on various committees over alleged disagreements or miscommunications with the administration...

Full story at https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-a-musicology-societys-members-are-in-revolt.

Tower

From the LA Times: UCLA, which has been on a campaign to vastly expand student housing around its Westwood campus, is planning a new 19-story tower that 1,150 students can call home... The latest new housing complex, recently revealed in a draft environmental study, calls for a 19-story student housing building for UCLA undergraduate students at 901 Levering Ave., adjacent to the school campus.* ...

Five existing university-owned apartment buildings with a total of 52 beds would be demolished to make way for the new building. Work could begin as early as next year and be completed by 2030... The 901 Levering Terrace tower would be the latest in a string of large student housing projects built by UCLA in recent years, including the 10-story Levering Place apartments next door and a 17-story tower across the street, real estate website Urbanize said. The university is working on another apartment building for 500 students on Gayley Avenue, set to be completed next September for $108 million...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-11-20/ucla-is-building-19-story-tower-for-students-near-westwood-campus.

===

*https://www.capitalprograms.ucla.edu/EnvironmentalReview/ProjectsUnderEnvironmentalReview.

Straws in the Wind - Part 171

From Inside Higher Ed: One week after President Donald Trump contradicted his own policies by stressing how important international students are to sustaining university finances, there’s new evidence that his administration’s crackdown on visas and immigration is hurting international student enrollment and the American economy.

While overall international student enrollment has declined only 1 percent since fall 2024, new enrollment has declined 17 percent, according to fall 2025 snapshot data in the annual Open Doors report, published Monday by the Institute for International Education. The 825 U.S.-based higher learning institutions that responded to the fall snapshot survey host more than half of all international students in the country...

The Open Doors data also confirms earlier projections from NAFSA: Association of International Educators and recent analyses from The New York Times and Inside Higher Ed about the Trump administration’s immigration policies leading to falling international student enrollment, as well as hardship for university budgets and the broader national economy.

According to the report, international students accounted for 6 percent of the total population enrolled in a higher education institution last academic year and contributed nearly $55 billion to the U.S. economy in 2024...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/international-students-us/2025/11/17/fewer-international-students-came-us-fall.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 94

From the Harvard Crimson: Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers will immediately leave his role as an instructor at Harvard while the University investigates his ties to child sex trafficker Jeffrey E. Epstein... Summers will also immediately go on leave from his role as the director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has led the center, which focuses on studying policy issues in the public and private sector, since 2011.

“Mr. Summers has decided it’s in the best interest of the Center for him to go on leave from his role as Director as Harvard undertakes its review,” the spokesperson wrote in a ... statement [last Wednesday]. The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Summers is planning on returning to the center in the future.

[Last] Monday, Summers — who served as United States Treasury Secretary under the Clinton administration — said he would step back from all public commitments, while continuing to teach undergraduate and graduate students and leading the Mossavar-Rahmani center, according to a spokesperson. But by Wednesday night — just one day after Harvard announced that it would probe his ties to Epstein — he had changed his mind amid mounting pressure...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/20/summers-leaves-teaching-at-harvard/.

News of Ratification

From the LA Times: Registered nurses who work at 19 University of California facilities have ratified a new contract after voting concluded Saturday. The contract will cover some 25,000 registered nurses and includes protections to improve patient safety and nurse retention through Jan. 31, 2029, according to the California Nurses Assn. The pact includes a minimum 18.5% increase in pay, caps on healthcare increases, restrictions on UC floating RNs between facilities, improvements to meal and rest breaks and workplace violence-prevention policies, the association said...

Under the contract, RNs were guaranteed a central role in selecting, designing and validating new technology, including AI systems, the CNA stated.

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-11-23/uc-registered-nurses-ratify-contract-that-guarantees-minimum-18-5-increase-in-pay.

Straws in the Wind - Part 170

From the NY Times: The former president of the University of Virginia, in his most expansive statement since he resigned in June, described in a letter to the faculty on Friday the immense pressure the Justice Department had directed at him and the school in his final days in the position and said that his ouster had been publicly mischaracterized. In an extraordinary 12-page letter, the former president, James E. Ryan, said the school’s board had been unwilling to take on the Trump administration and had essentially traded his resignation for a deal to spare the school investigations and fines.

The Justice Department has said it never told the school to oust Mr. Ryan. The school’s board, however, has said that the department wanted him to step aside. Mr. Ryan said in the letter that on June 26, a member of the board and two lawyers for the university told him that, following a call with a top Justice Department official, he had four hours to resign, or severe punitive measures would be leveled against the school by the Trump administration. “The call for my resignation, right until the end, seemed so outlandish as not to be entirely believable,” Mr. Ryan said. “It also felt like a hostage situation, where the kidnapper threatens harm if you do not keep information about the demands confidential. I was repeatedly told to keep this threat confidential and scolded for sharing the information with some close colleagues to help me think through the best path.” ...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/us/politics/uva-james-ryan-trump.html.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 93

From the Harvard Crimson: The State Department opened an inquiry into the Harvard Cognitive Aesthetics Media Lab, after a former employee filed a whistleblower complaint alleging that the lab mishandled the admissions process for its visiting scholars program. CAMLab, led and co-founded by History of Art and Architecture professor Eugene Y. Wang, supports multimedia art that explores “human consciousness” and hosts roughly two dozen visiting scholars annually, according to its website. When the lab was created in 2018, it was known as the Chinese Arts Media Lab and aimed to display interactive tributes to Buddhist artwork in China. The lab has since rebranded its Harvard website to refer to itself as the Cognitive Aesthetics Media Lab.

Yiyi Liang, a former fellow at CAMLab, filed her complaint with the State Department in May, the same month the lab opted against renewing her contract. Liang said in her complaint that some visiting scholars had used CAMLab’s program to receive a U.S. visa, even though they spent considerable time off campus. Her complaint also alleged that the lab charged unreasonable fees of $16,000 for visiting scholars, she said...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/camlab-china-open-inquiry/.

From the Harvard Crimson: Education Secretary Linda E. McMahon said Thursday that the Trump administration was close to finalizing a settlement with Harvard, renewing claims by the White House that Harvard is making progress toward a deal that would resolve a series of ongoing federal investigations. “They’re ongoing negotiations and I feel very comfortable that we are getting close to having those negotiations finalized,” McMahon said at a White House press briefing. “It’s been an open-door conversation all along.”

McMahon’s remarks Thursday aren’t the first time the Trump administration has said it is close to a settlement with Harvard. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that the White House was on the verge of finalizing a deal with Harvard. When he first announced in June that talks had resumed, he predicted that an agreement would be reached “in the next week or so.” More than four months later, no deal has been announced.

...A University spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/22/mcmahon-harvard-deal-close/.

Lawsuit Targets UC, Others

From the NY Times: The Justice Department sued California in federal court on Thursday, claiming that providing in-state college tuition to unauthorized students is illegal and discriminates against Americans from out of state who pay higher rates. 

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, is the latest action by the Trump administration against California... The complaint refers to California’s exemption from out-of-state rates for applicants, including undocumented students, who have graduated from the state’s high schools or meet education requirements at other institutions in the state. It asks the court to declare this rule unconstitutional and invalid, and to bar the defendants from enforcing it.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California; Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general; the University of California system; and California Community Colleges are listed among the defendants. Rachel Zaentz, a University of California spokeswoman, said it followed state and federal laws regarding eligibility for in-state tuition, financial aid and scholarships...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/us/politics/ucla-undocumented-students-tuition-doj-lawsuit-california.html.

Watch the Regents Health Services Committee Meeting of 11-18-2025

The first day of the November 18-20 Regents meetings consisted of only the Health Services Committee. The meeting was divided into three segments: public comments, a closed-door session, and a very short open session. 

At the last, a financial report for the various med centers was presented by VP David Rubin. However, he simply referred to the written report and noted "growth" in the UC health program. The student observer referred to a lack of integration between student health clinics and the UC health centers. it was all over in less than 9 minutes.

The middle segment would undoubtedly have been the most interesting had it not been closed. The obvious topics were the settlement of contracts with the Nurses and UPTE and the remaining contract with AFSCME that had led to a two-day strike which overlapped with the meeting. Also on the closed agenda - one would guess - was the current status of the ongoing dispute with the feds that led to disruption of research funding and recent related litigation.

The opening public comments segment had an inadvertent lesson for those who wish to speak at Regents meetings. There is an obvious constraint on what can be said, given the 1-minute limit. But here is some (unsolicited) advice from yours truly. Yes, you have to be organized and speak quickly. But if you do so, you still need to be understood. Several speakers used as an acronym that sounded like PTSD, but that was surely not what it was, for a program that might have had something to do with disabled students, based on the comments (???).* The speakers thanked President Milliken for approving the program's funding. However, they condemned VP Newman for doing something that wasn't clear, but that had violated shared governance in their view. Now maybe the Regents were very familiar with the issue and knew exactly what the complaint was about. But if they weren't, they - like me - would have had no idea what the issue was, or even what the program being referenced was.

Other comments involved urging the Regents not to make a deal with the Trump administration, support for undocumented students (including alternatives to CalFresh), current bargaining with medical residents through an SEIU local, rejection of the proposed extension and modification of the cohort tuition plan, basic needs of staff, lack of consultation with faculty and staff about the conflict with the Trump administration, and mental/medical health of LGTBQ teens. There were complaints of anti-Israel indoctrination in the UCLA med school, the continued use of department political statements as a violation of university neutrality, and an anti-Zionist program sponsored by various units at UCLA. Finally, there were speakers from AFSCME - which as noted above was on strike at the time - and complaints that some students who supported the strike had been arrested in a demonstration related to the strike.

As always, yours truly preserves the recordings of Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on retention. You can find the recordings of the November 18th meeting at the links below:

Public Comments: https://ia801408.us.archive.org/22/items/regents-health-services-committee-11-18-2025/Regents%20Health%20Services%20Committee%202.30%20PM%2011-18-2025.mp4

Short open meeting: https://ia601408.us.archive.org/22/items/regents-health-services-committee-11-18-2025/Regents%20Health%20Services%20Committee%204.00%20PM%2011-18-2025.mp4

General website: https://archive.org/details/regents-health-services-committee-11-18-2025

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*The answer to the riddle of what they were talking about is at:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/letter-from-prez.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 169

From Inside Higher Ed: Courses that “advocate race or gender ideology, sexual orientation, or gender identity” now require presidential approval at Texas A&M system campuses, the system Board of Regents decided... Faculty members and external advocacy groups say the new rules violate academic freedom, and for many professors, questions remain about how the policies will be implemented and enforced. Approved in a unanimous vote after a lengthy public comment period, the policy changes fit a pattern of censorship at Texas A&M that escalated after a video of a student challenging an instructor about a lesson on gender identity went viral, leading to the instructor’s firing and the resignation of then-president Mark Welsh...

The board approved the new rules as revisions to existing system policies. A policy on “Civil Rights Protections and Compliance” will be amended to state that “no system academic course will advocate race or gender ideology, sexual orientation, or gender identity unless the course is approved by the member CEO.” It will also define “gender ideology” as “a concept of self-assessed gender identity replacing, and disconnected from, the biological category of sex.” Similarly, “race ideology” is defined as “a concept that attempts to shame a particular race or ethnicity, accuse them of being oppressors in a racial hierarchy or conspiracy, ascribe to them less value as contributors to society and public discourse because of their race or ethnicity, or assign them intrinsic guilt based on the actions of their presumed ancestors or relatives in other areas of the world. This also includes course content that promotes activism on issues related to race or ethnicity, rather than academic instruction.”

A previous version of the revision proposed that no system academic course will “teach” race or gender ideology, but the verb was changed to “advocate” before the policies were presented formally to the full board. It’s unclear how the system will differentiate between advocacy and regular instruction on these topics... 

Also..., the board discussed a detailed, systemwide review of all courses using an artificial intelligence–driven process. The system has already piloted the review process at its Tarleton State University campus, where most of the courses that were flagged are housed in the College of Education, which includes the sociology and psychology departments.... Board members said they intend to complete the course review regularly, as often as once per semester... The system will also use EthicsPoint, an online system that will allow students to report inaccurate, misleading or inappropriate course content that diverges from the course descriptions*...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/11/13/texas-am-requires-approval-courses-advocate-certain.

===

*If you search for EthicsPoint online, it is primarily a whistleblowing system used by a number of universities and other organizations. Example:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PqNyatmA78.

Letter from the Prez

November 18, 2025

Dear Chancellors:

I'm writing with regard to the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the program's associated faculty hiring incentive.

As you know, for more than 40 years, PPFP has provided postdoctoral research fellowships, professional development, and faculty mentoring to scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service advance the academic and research missions of the University of California.

Since 2003, UC campuses that hire current and former PPFP fellows into ladder-rank positions have been eligible for a hiring incentive funded by the University that provides support for newly hired fellows for five years. Since the creation of the incentive, more than $162 million has been invested by the University to support PPFP faculty hires. This commitment has enabled our campuses to successfully recruit and retain outstanding faculty across a range of disciplines.

Given the myriad challenges currently facing UC - including disruptions to billions of dollars in annual federal support, as well as uncertainty around the state budget- reasonable questions were raised in recent months about whether the University could maintain the commitment to current levels of incentive funding. After considering a recommendation to sunset the incentive program due to these significant fiscal constraints, I consulted with all of you as well as faculty and campus academic administrators and systemwide Academic Senate leadership.

After learning more about the history and success of the program and weighing the thoughtful perspectives that have been shared, I have concluded that barring extraordinary financial setbacks, the PPFP faculty hiring incentive program will continue while the University continues to assess the program's structure as well as its long-term financial sustainability. As a result of our continuing consultation and review, there may be consideration of some changes to elements of the program including the total number of incentives supported, a number that has fluctuated significantly over the years, and how the awards are distributed among campuses. In the meantime, the University will continue to fund the PPFP faculty hiring incentive program and campuses may continue to take advantage of these incentives. We will have an opportunity to discuss any potential changes prior to adoption.

As we look to the future, I will continue to engage with faculty leaders, program stakeholders, and UC community members about this important program. I especially appreciate the thoughtful perspectives shared in recent weeks by Academic Council Chair Palazoglu and Vice Chair Scott, the Council of Graduate Deans, UC faculty members, and you as our campus leaders.

Sincerely,

James B. Milliken

President

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/miriamposner.com/post/3m5wsdcrco22v.

====

*NOTE: PPFP is apparently the program that - in public comments - sounded like PTSD. See our cautionary remarks about speaking in public comment sessions at:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/watch-regents-health-services-committee.html.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 92

From the Harvard Crimson: The Faculty of Arts and Sciences announced Wednesday that it would reduce the number of Ph.D. admissions slots for the Science division by 50 percent this year, walking back plans for even steeper cuts after faculty responded with frustration to the reductions. The FAS announced in October that Ph.D seats in the Science division would be reduced by 75 percent as part of drastic cuts to Ph.D. admissions across divisions in response to growing financial pressures. But the move prompted backlash among some professors, who said the change would have severe consequences for their teaching and research.

In an email announcing the change, FAS Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra cited the October return of federal funding to Harvard and concerns from Science departments as catalysts for her decision to reverse course...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/19/fas-science-phds/.

Romance?

From the LA Times: More than a decade ago, Tinder became the hottest dating app, transforming modern romance by making it possible for singles to swipe through people’s profiles, match and meet up. Now, Tinder is fighting to keep the flame alive. Sometimes in unexpected ways.

Last month, it convinced UCLA students to meet in a big group in the real world. They danced together as 26-year-old DJ Disco Lines played a set at the Fowler Museum on campus. Instead of spending time swiping, students swayed on the dance floor under disco balls, holding up their smartphones as they listened to Disco Lines’ hot remix of Tinashe’s song “No Broke Boys”* — a track about setting high standards in romantic relationships**...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2025-11-14/people-are-dumping-tinder-the-dating-app-wants-to-reignite-its-spark-with-gen-z. 

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*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SenovvZlWIA.

**Or maybe not such "high standards": https://genius.com/Tinashe-no-broke-boys-lyrics.

Straws in the Wind - Part 168

From the Daily Pennsylvanian: Among the thousands of files leaked in an Oct. 31 cybersecurity attack on Penn were several memos that appear to have been internally circulated among employees with talking points about a range of controversial issues involving the University... One document outlined Penn’s policies on accepting financial donations from donor families with a child actively applying to the University.

“Given the important role that the college application process plays in the lives of so many of our donor families, we must take extra care to avoid the perception, on the part of any individual donor or our broader community, that philanthropy will influence an admissions decision,” the Jan. 20, 2023 document read.

The file added that “many alumni, parents and friends have established philanthropic relationships with Penn,” and that those connections — which include “annual gifts, payments or prior year pledges” — should not be prevented. The initial emails — sent by the alleged hackers — criticized the University’s policy on accepting legacy applicants and students of Penn donors. “We hire and admit morons because we love legacies, donors, and unqualified affirmative action admits,” the Oct. 31 email read...

Full story at https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/11/penn-cybersecurity-leaked-documents-biden-magill-palestine-writes.

State Budget Outlook

The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) customarily produces a budget outlook publication around this time of the year and has done so.*

In general terms, the LAO sees a gloomy outlook. It acknowledges the better-than-forecast revenue numbers but attributes them to a potential AI bubble. Were that bubble to burst, the added revenues would disappear along with others.

Revenues from sales tax and corporate tax suggest a weakness in the economy.

The LAO makes a projection of a workload budget, i.e., what would happen if there are no policy changes. Of course, there will be changes (and the underlying economy may also deviate from what is projected).

We show the LAO numbers below including the estimates for this year and last year and the workload projections for next year:

What you see is a deficit last year, an estimated deficit for this year, and a larger deficit next year absent policy adjustments. Thus, it looks like continued state budget pressures on UC.

===

*https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/5091/2026-27_Fiscal_Outlook_111925.pdf. Note: To calculate the BSA Surplus/Deficit for 2024-25, the BSA balance estimate that was needed for the end of 2023-24 was taken from historical data at:

https://ebudget.ca.gov/2025-26/pdf/Enacted/BudgetSummary/BS_SCH1.pdf.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 91

From the NY Times: Harvard has started a new review of ties that its former president, Lawrence H. Summers, and others at the institution had with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to the university. The school will examine a newly released batch of Mr. Epstein’s emails that include communications with Mr. Summers and others, The Boston Globe and The Harvard Crimson first reported... Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Summers declined to comment about the review. Harvard released a report in 2020 about Mr. Epstein’s ties to the university, and Mr. Summers’s relationship with him was previously known. But the emails released last week show that Mr. Summers had corresponded regularly with Mr. Epstein for years, suggesting a far more intimate relationship than was previously known.

The new batch of emails include exchanges in 2015 between Mr. Epstein and Summers’ wife, Elisa New, a Harvard literature professor emeritus, in which Ms. New expresses gratitude for a donation arranged by Mr. Epstein: “Finally, Jeffrey, you have been such a wonderful supporter of my Poetry in America project. The Leon Black gift changed everything for me last year.” She added, “The gift woke up the Deans to the importance of Harvard’s role in producing the highest quality humanities content for the WORLD.” In a statement on Wednesday, Ms. New wrote that she regretted accepting Mr. Epstein’s donation and staying in contact with him...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/us/harvard-summers-epstein-investigation.html.

Uncancelled - And then postponed

Earlier today, yours truly reported that he had received the message above by email indicating that the special mee(e)ting of the systemwide Assembly of the Academic Council had been "cancelled." But on a lark, he tried re-registering and lo and behold he received a Zoom link. And the meeting did occur. As noted, the meeting was focused on a resolution by petition expressing concerns about the sharing of names with the feds.

As it turned out, however, the original resolution had been modified by its drafters and, during the meeting, there were issues raised about the wording and proposed amendments.* Given the limited time, the assembly members voted to postpone discussion to the next regularly scheduled meeting on January 15, 2026. There was also some confusion about which episode of name sharing was being discussed. There was the Berkeley episode in which specific names were submitted and an earlier episode with redactions - names not given but general descriptions were provided.

The explanation I got for the cancellation notice was that maybe I was twice registered and that one registration was being cancelled. That seemed plausible except that since I re-registered, there would again be two and no second cancellation was received. ???? 

So we'll modify (amend?) Shakespeare and conclude that all's well that ends up being postponed.

====

*The modified version is at https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/assembly/amended-resolution-special-assembly-11-20-25.pdf.

Going Up

We'll provide our own review of the Regents meetings in due course, as we always do. And we are preserving the recordings, as we always do. But here is CalMatters on the tuition plan adopted yesterday:

The University of California has renewed its policy of annual tuition hikes [yesterday] after the UC Board of Regents voted 13 to 3 to approve the measure, despite fierce opposition from undergraduates. Broadly, what undergraduates will expect to pay for tuition doesn’t change once they enroll. The model regents approved still allows the system to increase undergraduate tuition and systemwide fees by as much as 5% annually, depending on inflation, and locks in that rate for students enrolling that year for up to six years. Each cohort of incoming students pays the same tuition, but what they pay is more than the previous year’s cohort, and less than what the next cohort will pay. This means that current undergraduate students would see no change to their tuition. Graduate students, however, would continue to see annual increases because they’re not on the cohort model. The revised plan begins in 2026-27.

This “stability” plan is a way to ensure UC can collect more revenue to finance the ever-increasing costs of educating students that signals consistency and predictability to students and their families, UC officials contend. The approach is a departure from a boom-and-bust cycle at UC in which tuition stays flat for several years until recessions and state cutbacks prompt double-digit tuition spikes in consecutive years. That happened during the 2007 Great Recession. After six years, tuition had doubled.

...Regent Michael Cohen, who helped to secure more financial aid for UC students when the board voted to launch the cohort plan in 2021, said he supported the model today because tuition stays flat for individual students for up to six years after they see a tuition hike once. To him, that means students get an increasing discount, as tuition stays flat while inflation rises... But Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis* vehemently opposed the continuation of the tuition increases. She said these decisions should be reviewed at least annually, not left alone for years at a time... 

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*Note: Kounalakis is running for state treasurer in 2026.

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The original plan proposed today would have led to endless ongoing tuition increases. But students and some regents were critical of the cohort model continuing without end, so the board voted to revisit the model in seven years. Guided by UC Office of the President officials, the board also lowered from 45% to 40% the share of new tuition revenue that flows to undergraduate financial aid. When regents installed this tuition hike plan, the return-to-aid figure was 33%. Counterintuitively, this means that low- and moderate-income students got thousands more in financial aid to cover tuition and additional living costs under these tuition increases than they would have had the UC not increased tuition. On the other hand, higher-income students, those from families with incomes above $120,000, generally paid hundreds of dollars more for their cost of attendance because they get less financial aid, median data from UC show. UC projections show that those trends will continue through the end of the decade.

Still, some higher-income students receive UC grants from return-to-aid. For example, a quarter of students whose families make between $147,000 and $184,000 received a UC grant in 2023-24. Students receive financial aid based on a federal formula that takes into account household income, money in certain financial accounts and untaxed income, such as life insurance payouts and inheritances.

...The drop in return-to-aid is a way to route more funding to campuses that have been rocked by federal cutbacks tied up in legal battles and state support that is less than Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature had indicated the UC would receive in past years...

UC officials persuaded the regents to make other technical changes that increase the odds that tuition for the next cohort would rise more than it has so far, but tuition increases would still be capped at 5%. One allows UC to defer the financial impact if inflation exceeds 5%. In that case, the percent that is above 5% would be applied to a future year when the inflation rate is lower.  Had this plan been in place since 2022, tuition would have risen by 1.5% more than it did this year, UC finance staff said.

The UC Regents also agreed to include another one-percentage-point increase in cohort tuition that would be dedicated to building maintenance or another campus need. Still, tuition increases wouldn’t exceed 5%. The system regularly asks for hundreds of millions in money but often gets much less. The system is able to issue bonds for new construction, but the amount is limited...

Full story at https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2025/11/uc-tuition/.

Makarechian on value of UC and of immigrants

UC Regent Hadi Makarechian - who was partially paralyzed after a fall - describes treatment at UC-San Francisco as an illustration of the value of university research. He also speaks about the value of immigrants to the US.

UC Regents meeting: Nov. 19, 2025

Check out:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9i4GFHk8-4.

Cancelled

As blog readers will know, there was scheduled to be a special meeting (or "meeeting" as typed on the email message above) of the systemwide Assembly of the Academic Senate which was cancelled yesterday. The meeting was called by petition to discuss the sharing of names with the feds by UC.*

No explanation was given for the cancellation. No future date for the meeting was provided. Those who signed up for the Zoom - including yours truly - received the message above.

====

*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/special-systemwide-assembly-meeting-nov.html.

Economics 1 - Just saying...

From the Bruin: UCLA student daily parking permits will be “significantly limited” – and on some days may not be offered at all – starting Jan. 1, 2026. Student daily parking permits, which currently cost $7.28 per day, have been offered since April 2022 as a use for excess post-pandemic parking capacity, a UCLA Transportation spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Beginning in 2026, the availability of these short-term permits will no longer be guaranteed and will instead be determined on a day-to-day basis, the spokesperson added.

Parking spots currently available for student daily permits will be reallocated for long-term permits, such as quarterly permits, the spokesperson said in the statement. Quarterly permits cost $324 for commuter student parking. There are about 22,000 parking spaces serving almost 90,000 people on campus daily, the spokesperson said, adding that parking structures 2, 3, 4, 7 and 32 could be impacted by the change...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2025/11/16/daily-student-parking-permits-to-be-significantly-limited-beginning-january-2026.

NOTE: This policy discourages the use of public transit, presumably not the policy goal of UCLA. If you push students to buy quarterly permits, rather than buying a costly daily pass, the marginal cost to those permit holders of parking at UCLA becomes Zero. This is Economic 1. Just saying...

Straws in the Wind - Part 167

From the Daily Princetonian: In an interview with The Daily Princetonian this September, University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 was asked about a lobbying group he reportedly spearheaded to fight the Trump administration’s increases to the tax on university endowments. When pressed on which other universities were involved in the group, he declined to name them. The ‘Prince’ reached out to the 20 U.S. universities with the largest endowments that could be hit by the new endowment tax about whether they were part of the lobbying group. 19 did not respond to multiple requests for comment and one, Rice University, declined to comment...

“When we asked particular institutions to work with us, some of them want to be more open about that, some of them want to be less so,” Eisgruber said...

Full story at https://www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025/11/princeton-news-universities-eisgruber-endowment-lobbying-group.

Theater Revival

From the Santa Monica Patch: One of Los Angeles' most storied movie palaces is getting new life, with a group of roughly 30 filmmakers announcing the Westwood Village Theater will be operated and programmed by the American Cinematheque, with the renovated showplace set to reopen in 2027. "Last year, some of the greatest living directors rallied to save the most beautiful movie theater in Los Angeles, the Village Theater in Westwood," said director Jason Reitman, who spearheaded the purchase of the theater last year on behalf of a coalition known as the Village Directors Circle...

The VDC includes top Hollywood directors such as J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Alexander Payne, Jay Roach, Emma Thomas, Karyn Kusama, Hannah Fidell, Emma Seligman, Damien Chazelle, Judd Apatow, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Rian Johnson, Lulu Wang, Chloé Zhao and Denis Villeneuve. American Cinematheque is a nonprofit film preservation and support organization that operates the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica and helps to program the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Los Feliz 3 theater...

Full story at https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/js9ts/storied-la-movie-theater-to-get-a-new-lease-on-life.