More Union News

From KQED: The University of California is confronting a large unionization effort among employees who have historically stayed outside of unions: doctors. At Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Thursday, doctors and physicians announced their plans to form a union with SEIU Doctors United — a partnership between Doctors Council, Service Employees International Union and Committee of Interns and Residents that represents more than 45,000 doctors nationwide. The move points to a marked shift in the healthcare industry, where in the past, it has been somewhat rare for generally highly paid doctors to form unions. 

...Attending physicians at UC, who make clinical decisions and often supervise residents and medical students, said they are stretched thin with unsustainable patient loads, understaffing and less decision-making power — concerns often echoed by nurses and other patient care workers with higher union participation rates... UC declined to comment on the attending physicians’ organizing campaign. About $24 billion, nearly 40% of the university’s total revenue last year, came from its six academic health centers, serving 2.5 million Californians. UC is the state’s second largest employer...

Full story at https://www.kqed.org/news/12092485/uc-doctors-seek-to-unionize-10000-colleagues-in-massive-campaign.

Straws in the Wind - Part 415

From Reuters: The U.S. Department of ​Education said on Wednesday it launched new probes into five medical schools over their ‌admissions practices, marking the latest attempt by President Donald Trump's administration to crack down on diversity initiatives. The Education Department's office for civil rights launched probes against the Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, ​St. Louis University School of Medicine, Western University of Health Sciences, and William Carey ​University College of Osteopathic Medicine, the department said in a statement.

The statement ⁠said the probes were linked to alleged racial discrimination in admissions but it did not elaborate ​further, opens new tab or provide evidence for those allegations. It noted Trump's broader crackdown on diversity, equity ​and inclusion practices. East Carolina University told local media it complied with state and federal law as well as court rulings and that it would respond accordingly to the Education Department. Dartmouth College also said it ​remained confident in its admissions practices...

Full story at https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-education-department-probes-five-medical-schools-over-admissions-practices-2026-07-23/.

Breach

 

This data breach appears to be confined the UCLA Health, unless it wasn't. 

DOJ on UCSD Med School

Press release 

Justice Department Finds University of California San Diego Medical School Discriminates Based on Race in Admissions

Monday, July 20, 2026  https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-university-california-san-diego-medical-school-discriminates-based

The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced today a finding that the University of California San Diego School of Medicine (San Diego Med) used race in its admissions process in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), which banned race discrimination in higher education.

"Rather than rely on MCAT scores or GPA, San Diego Med’s shadow application process unlawfully judged applicants for admission based on their race,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “San Diego Med’s blatant efforts to prioritize race are illegal, and we will end these practices.”

The Department’s investigation found that San Diego Med manipulated applicant data to achieve greater racial diversity in student admissions. San Diego Med’s documents show that admissions staff used purportedly “race-neutral” subjective criteria to deliberately increase admission of so-called “underrepresented minorities in medicine” (URM), which includes black and Hispanic applicants. In fact, San Diego Med used racial proxies, which, under SFFA, are banned by Title VI.

One example includes San Diego Med’s admissions staff using answers to “hardship” application questions — which allow applicants to address how they “overcame” certain disadvantages — to help determine which students were URM applicants. Thereafter, the admissions staff sorted applicants into six categories: Groups A-C — from highest to lowest MCAT scores and GPA, with “hardship” subgroups for each group. Each group and its subgroup were combined (e.g., “Group A” plus “Group A with hardship”), further sorted into “batches” of 30, and then rated for the interview stage. By giving reviewers access to the applicant’s race during this stage for certain admissions cycles post-SFFA, San Diego Med ensured that more URM applicants would be invited to interview. Thus, San Diego Med deliberately used the “hardship” categorization to skirt SFFA, by putting more URMs into the subgroups, which ensured that more URMs received interviews.

The result of San Diego Med’s manipulation: white and Asian applicants were denied admission in favor of lower-credentialed black and Hispanic applicants.

Medical schools receive substantial federal financial assistance and are subject to federal non-discrimination laws. The Department will continue to monitor and ensure their compliance with Title VI and SFFA’s prohibition on race-conscious admissions. Where a violation has been found, the Department is engaging in settlement negotiations to ensure the school’s admissions practices are brought into compliance. If those efforts fail, the Department will file suit.

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DOJ detailed findings at https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1453201/dl.

Union News: Deal with Docs

From the news section of the UC website:

UC and CIR-SEIU Reach Tentative Contract Agreement

July 16, 2026

The University of California and the Committee of Interns and Residents, a local affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, reached a tentative agreement [last] Wednesday night on a new systemwide contract covering approximately 6,400 interns, residents and fellows. 

The agreement follows negotiations that began in August 2025 to replace eight separate location-based contracts with one systemwide agreement. 

“We appreciate the work of both bargaining teams to reach this tentative agreement,” said Missy Matella, associate vice president for Systemwide Employee and Labor Relations at the University of California. “It supports UC’s continued commitment to these valuable employees and to medical education, clinical training and high-quality patient care.” 

Interns, residents and fellows provide critical care across UC hospitals, medical centers and affiliated clinical sites while completing advanced medical training. 

The tentative agreement is subject to ratification by CIR-SEIU members. More information will be available after the ratification process is complete.

Source: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/index%2ephp/press-room/uc-and-cir-seiu-reach-tentative-contract-agreement.

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From the union website:

UC Resident Doctors Win Historic Statewide Contract after Year-Long Fight

July 17, 2026

Over 6,400 UC Resident and Fellow Physicians Secure Crucial Support for Fair Wages, Benefit Protections, and Workplace Safety with a Focus on Improved Patient Care 

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California — After a year of tough negotiations, coordinated collective actions, and increasing political support, the resident physicians and fellows at the University of California (UC) reached a tentative agreement on their first statewide contract with UC Health this past Wednesday. Represented by the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU), the doctors say that the deal – which includes 18% salary increase, preservation of fertility benefits, improved access to radiation exposure equipment, immigrant protections for patients, and critical improvements to address emergency room capacity, among others – will directly impact their wellbeing and their ability to provide the best patient care for the 2.5 million Californians they serve across the state in the largest public healthcare system in the country.     

“We are very happy with what we were able to negotiate for our futures, including the wage increases, better access to properly fitting lead, and enshrining our fertility benefits in this contract. However, we’re also really proud that we were able to win language for our patients, especially for the immigrant communities we serve so that they can receive care with less fear, and for all our patients who have had to contend with issues related to emergency room capacity. This is a great starting point and we look forward to ratifying this contract and to continuing to advocate for all of our patients at the UC’s from San Diego up to Sacramento,” said Dr. Diana Dayal, UCLA Emergency Medicine Resident. 

This victory for UC residents and fellows comes after a 12 month long contract fight, marked by UC executive representatives’ attempts to claw back existing benefits and protections while also submitting to pressures from the Trump administration around DEI and ICE. However, over the course of negotiations, the UC residents and fellows participated in a series of escalating collective actions that culminated most publicly in June in a series of eighteen unity breaks at multiple UC sites in Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno, Riverside, Los Angeles, Irvine, and San Diego, and neighboring hospitals where the UC residents and fellows work. In these actions, the UC physicians called for a fair contract that addressed rising cost of living, keeping their fertility benefits intact, and demanding that UC administration address emergency room capacity so that patients can receive timely care with diginity when they are at their most vulnerable. 

Now that the UC resident bargaining team has reached a deal with UC executives, they look forward to providing the best healthcare possible while also continuing to transform residency for future generations of doctors, all with an eye on patient care. “Resident working conditions are patient care conditions,” said Dr. Gloria Tavera, UCSF Gastroenterology Fellow. She continued, “With a contract that covers all residents and fellows at the UC’s, we are more united than ever in ensuring that we keep the pressure on administration to ensure that the contract language is enforced – for our futures, for the futures of those coming up behind us, and for our patients’ futures.” 

The CIR UC bargaining team will be presenting the tentative agreement (TA) to the full membership with a ratification vote to occur in the coming weeks across California. Once the TA is approved by the CIR UC resident and fellow doctors, then the contract will take effect.

Source: https://www.cirseiu.org/uc-resident-doctors-win-historic-statewide-contract-after-year-long-fight/.

Watch the Regents Meetings of July 14, 2026

We are catching up with the Regents meetings of last week. We have already noted the ambitious plan set out in the meeting of July 14th by Chair Anguiano that seems to go beyond the immediate SAT issue, so we won't repeat that material here.

There were many public comments on the SAT issue, mainly, but not exclusively, urging reinstatement of the test. Other topics included use of license plate readers, hiring of UC of undocumented students, remote work for staff at UC, Muslim student issues, the Hawaii telescope project (TMT), anti-Israel, and the maintenance of a nature reserve. 

A new student regent-delegate was appointed after public comments. Chair Anguiano made her above-mentioned statement. President Milliken noted that Provost Newman would be stepping down. The faculty representative, Senate Chair Palazoglu, indicated that the Senate review of the SAT issue would be "deliberative."

There was then a presentation of the "UC Inspires" campaign emphasizing accomplishments of UC Health and its cooperation with the VA, scientific innovation and entrepreneurship, contributions to agricultural research, and "access" to UC.

At the Health Services Committee, an executive pay matter was approved. The rest of the Committee meeting was devoted to the statistical dashboard of various quality measures. Regent Park took note of some measures that indicated quality concerns and asked about responses. One issue noted was the "boarding" problem, i.e., patients who needed to be transferred or discharged but who were stuck in hospitals for various reasons.

The Compliance and Audit Committee approved audit and compliance plans. Note was taken in the presentation about cybersecurity issues.

As always, we preserve recordings of Regents meetings since the Regents have no policy on duration of retention. The general link for recordings of the July 14th meetings is:

https://archive.org/details/regents-7-14-2026.

The opening full Board session is at:

https://ia800703.us.archive.org/14/items/regents-7-14-2026/Regents-Board%207-14-2026.mp4.

Health Services and Compliance and Audit sessions are at:

https://ia600703.us.archive.org/14/items/regents-7-14-2026/Regents-Health%20Services%20Committee%2C%20Compliance%20and%20Audit%207-14-2026.mp4.

Note that the recordings at that link can be easily downloaded. The same is true for prior Regents meetings we have preserved. Go the "Download Options" at that link.

Dubinett & Hawgood Testimony

Steve Dubinett - dean of the UCLA med school - and Sam Hawgood - chancellor of UC-San Francisco - testified yesterday at the House Committee on Education & Workforce. The topic was DEI in medical education. Both defended their institutions, but both acknowledged problems that had arisen in particular courses at their campuses. Both indicated the courses referenced had been replaced and that the new versions were in compliance with appropriate standards, would be given only by campus faculty, and would comply with university rules limiting use of courses for unrelated purposes.

You can see their opening statements to the Committee at the link below:

https://ia902809.us.archive.org/1/items/newsom-7-1-2026-savings-accounts-for-kids/Dubinett-Hawgood%20testimony%20on%20DEI%20in%20med%20schools%207-14-2026.mp4.

The full hearing is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4EeaPsxa2s.

Removed

Sometimes, items that appear on the preliminary Regents agenda are removed before the actual meeting.

Item F5 - an action item that was on the agenda for tomorrow - has been removed from the agenda of the Finance and Capital Strategies Committee. The item:

UCLA West Valley Medical Center Replacement Hospital and Parking Structure, UCLA Health, Los Angeles Campus: Preliminary Plans Funding and External Financing

Apparently, somebody decided it was not yet ready for prime time.

Straws in the Wind - Part 399

From the Yale Daily News: A report that Yale is seeking to settle with the federal government has drawn an array of calls, including from a Connecticut senator, for the University to resist the most direct political pressure it has yet received during President Donald Trump’s second term. The New York Times reported... that, according to anonymous sources, a Department of Justice investigation that deemed the Yale School of Medicine’s practices discriminatory against white and Asian applicants had expanded to probe undergraduate and law school admissions. The federal inquiry, which came in light of a 2023 Supreme Court decision banning race-conscious admissions, has prompted Yale to propose a settlement with the Trump administration and hire external counsel, according to the report...

Formed last spring, Stand Up For Yale emerged as Yale and its peer institutions navigated increased scrutiny under the second Trump administration. The group encouraged alumni to advocate against the endowment tax hike that ultimately passed last July and which will subject Yale’s endowment returns to an 8 percent tax rate beginning on Wednesday. The hike is estimated to cost the University around $300 million per year. The DOJ investigation marks the most intense individualized pressure that Yale has received amid the second Trump administration’s sweeping pressure campaign against elite institutions. The University has thus far been spared from the targeted funding freezes that have pushed many of its peer institutions to cut deals with the government...

Full story at https://yaledailynews.com/articles/blumenthal-among-alumni-urging-yale-to-resist-amid-reported-trump-talks.

Good Health to You

From the Daily Bruin: UCLA will offer a minor in health humanities starting this fall. The minor, housed under the comparative literature department, is an interdisciplinary program that examines how health and medicine are shaped by literature, culture, history and social experience, according to the department’s website.

...Whitney Arnold, an assistant professor in the Department of Comparative Literature, said the department created the minor in response to students’ interest in narrative medicine. The minor requires students to take seven courses, Arnold said, including three electives. There are 78 available electives across about 45 departments... Students must take either Comparative Literature 1H: “Introduction to Health Humanities,” or Cluster 73: “All in Your Head? Brain, Bodymind, and Society,” before formally declaring the minor... The minor will also include a research capstone, which will allow students to work with faculty experts to study broader topics in comparative literature or health humanities...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2026/06/25/ucla-comparative-literature-department-to-offer-health-humanities-minor-in-fall.

Note: The minor was originally announced as an option for students in March. See: https://humanities.ucla.edu/news/health-humanities-minor-human-stories/.

Yale Deal - Part 2

From the NY Times: The dean of Yale Law School and some members of its faculty are trying to stop a settlement between the university and the Trump administration, warning that an agreement could jeopardize Yale’s independence, according to two people familiar with the deliberations. The dean, Cristina M. Rodríguez, and a group of law school faculty members have quietly lobbied top Yale leaders in recent days, arguing that the Trump administration cannot be trusted and that settling would threaten the rule of law and the university’s reputation. They have even explored whether the law school could be excluded from any settlement with the federal government.

So far, Yale’s leaders have continued to move forward with negotiations with the administration, according to one of the people. Yale’s leaders have privately contended that they may need to strike a deal to ensure the university continues to receive federal funding, the person said. The Justice Department has been conducting an inquiry into Yale’s admissions practices for undergraduate programs, its medical school and the law school, expanding the Trump administration’s efforts to remake American higher education. The Justice Department has already accused Yale of illegal discrimination in medical school admissions. But the investigation into the law school has not been completed. Some at the school are recoiling over the prospect of settling before the government has accused Yale of wrongdoing — and before Yale has had a chance to contest any findings...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/07/us/yale-law-school-dean-trump-deal.html.

It might be noted that the law school is likely to be much less dependent on federal funding than the med school or other science-oriented departments at Yale. Prior blog coverage on this matter is at:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/07/yale-deal.html.

Yale deal?

As blog readers will know, the Trump administration has challenged med school admissions at UCLA and UC-San Diego.* It appears that Yale - the subject of a similar challenge - is seeking a deal. From the NY Times: 

The Trump administration is conducting a far-reaching investigation into whether Yale University’s admissions practices violate anti-discrimination laws, prompting one of the country’s most elite schools to pursue settlement talks with the government, according to three people briefed on the matter. The Justice Department... accused Yale’s medical school of giving illegal preferential treatment to Black and Hispanic applicants. But the department’s review is reaching beyond the medical school, the people said, encompassing undergraduate and law school admissions as well.

...Yale’s quick moves to try to reach an agreement with the government suggest it does not want a high-profile, drawn-out fight similar to the one involving Harvard University. The status of a potential agreement was unclear on Friday, but Yale recently offered a proposal to the government, according to the three people briefed on the matter. The people, who have ties to the Trump administration or to Yale, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks. On Friday, Yale referred to a statement it issued last month that said its medical school was “confident in the rigorous admissions process” and admitted students showed “exceptional academic achievement and personal commitment.” The Justice Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment...

...Yale has turned to McGuireWoods, a law firm that the University of Virginia used last year to negotiate a settlement with the Justice Department that included no financial penalties.

...At least in public, Yale has been something of an outlier among elite institutions in its relationship with the second Trump administration. It did not attract the type of research funding cuts that the administration used to pressure Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern and the University of Pennsylvania into settlements last year...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/26/us/politics/yale-trump-administration-admissions-race.html.

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*https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-26/trump-doj-investigation-alleged-racial-discrimination-admissions-uc-san-diego-stanford-medical-schools.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 174

From the Harvard Crimson: A federal judge allowed most of a whistleblower lawsuit against Harvard to proceed..., letting two claims advance in a case accusing the University and a Harvard Catalyst principal investigator of misusing National Institutes of Health grant funding. The suit, filed by David S. Zielinski, the former executive director of Harvard Catalyst — formally the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center — alleges that the University and the center’s founder, Lee M. Nadler, collected $275 million in NIH grants while abandoning or repurposing promised research work in violation of the False Claims Act. The lawsuit was filed in March 2024 and remained under seal while the Department of Justice reviewed the allegations until November 2025.

U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun rejected most of the University’s motion to dismiss in his 28-page order, tossing one count of “reverse false claims” while allowing two claims alleging false claims and false records to advance. At the motion-to-dismiss stage, Joun did not rule on the truth of Zielinski’s allegations, only that the surviving claims were sufficiently pleaded to proceed. Harvard has 14 days to answer the two surviving counts.

The NIH awards to the center are cooperative agreements, a funding mechanism under which NIH “expects to be substantially involved in carrying out the project.” The University had argued that the court should “be skeptical” that the NIH “somehow missed that two-thirds of the work contemplated was never done,” arguing NIH would have been able to make that determination by reviewing the annual reports and choosing whether to renew the grants.

Joun wrote that the University’s arguments did not make the allegations “implausible” and that “the very purpose of those statements is to keep NIH in the dark” from the truth. He added that it would be a “futile effort” for the court to immediately compare all the reports with the allegations, noting that Nadler allegedly “used crafty grantsmanship to obscure their true usage of the funds.” ...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/6/28/nadler-catalyst-whistleblower-suit-ruling/.

Denial

Blog readers will know a) over half of the Medicare-eligible population is now in privatized Medicare Advantage plans, and b) at one time UCOP pushed to have all folks under retiree health insurance in Medicare Advantage, but pulled back when there was resistance, c) Medicare Advantage premiums for retirees tend to be cheaper than traditional Medicare-plus-supplement arrangements.

Medicare Advantage plans often offer extras such as gym memberships to attract participants. But the issue is what happens when someone has a serious health issue and needs expensive care. Newsweek finds high denial rates in Medicare Advantage plans, but persistent appeals will often reverse the denial:

Private Medicare plans are denying requests for specialized medical care at widely varying rates. In some cases, denial rates were strikingly high, especially for some of the largest Medicare Advantage companies: CVS Health/Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealth Group, according to a new inspector general report.

Some of these insurers, while being some of the most prominent in the U.S., routinely reject requests for post-hospital care such as rehabilitation and long-term treatment

• Check plan rules carefully for post-hospital care
• Be prepared for prior authorization requirements
• Consider appealing any denial, as reversal rates can be high
• Compare plans not just on premiums—but on coverage rules and approval patterns...

Full story at https://www.newsweek.com/medicare-plans-compared-based-on-denial-rates-for-specialized-care-12075121.

What this story is saying is that when a health crunch occurs under a Medicare Advantage plan, you may get treatment denial - although after a hassle, the negative decision might be reversed. It would be worth tracking whether that has been the experience under the Medicare Advantage offerings of UC.

Definitely legit

As blog readers will know, some UC employees and retirees received information about a settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield that might entitle them to some money.

We posted that it might be legit, based on information at the time.*

Now we can report that at least one UC person received $60+ dollars.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2026/05/might-be-legit.html.

Might be Legit

Yours truly has been told that some UC employees and emeriti/retirees may be eligible for some funds due to an antitrust settlement with Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

Info at https://www.bcbssettlement.com/.

If you are eligible, you might get some kind of notice of such a settlement. 

Even though the settlement is real, there could be scams associated with it. If you get an email or text about claiming benefits, be cautious about clicking directly on the message or calling phone numbers directly on the message.

Graduation Speakers

We noticed two announcements of UCLA graduation ceremony speakers recently:

One of UCLA’s most iconic alumni is coming home to celebrate the next generation of Bruins. Six-time Olympic medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee will deliver the keynote address at the 2026 UCLA College commencement ceremonies on Friday, June 12, in Pauley Pavilion... 

“It is truly an honor to return to my alma mater, UCLA, and speak to such an extraordinary group of graduates,” Joyner-Kersee said. “UCLA helped shape not only my athletic journey but also the woman I have become. To stand before the students and share a message of perseverance, purpose and belief reminds me that greatness begins with faith in yourself. Always believe that your dreams are possible and then go out and make them a reality.” ...

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Dr. Julio Frenk will deliver the keynote address for the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health’s commencement ceremony on Friday, June 12, 2026. Frenk, chancellor of UCLA and a distinguished professor in the department of health policy and management at the Fielding School, is also a fourth-generation physician.

Prior to joining UCLA as chancellor in January 2025, Frenk served as president of the University of Miami, from 2015 to 2024, and was the dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2009 to 2015. In addition to Frenk’s leadership in higher education, he served as the federal secretary of health of Mexico, from 2000 to 2006, and was the founding director-general of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, one of the leading institutions of its kind in low- and middle-income countries... 

Full announcements at https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/jackie-joyner-kersee-speaker-2026-ucla-college-commencement; and https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/julio-frenk-2026-ucla-fielding-school-commencement-address.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 159

From the Harvard Crimson: A group of former Harvard athletes who are now physicians and scientists pitched the University’s sports medicine team last summer on disclosing the risk of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy to contact-sport athletes. Nearly a year later, the group says they have heard nothing back. At least seven former Harvard football players have been diagnosed with CTE, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head impacts that can only be confirmed via autopsy, according to Christopher J. Nowinski ’00, the co-founder and CEO of the Concussion & CTE Foundation. The most recent diagnosis, Jim Higgins ’70, came earlier this year.

The other publicly identified cases are James M. Peccerillo ’78, Toby Brundage III ’95, Mike T. Brooks ’01, Dick Clasby ’54, Hank Keohane ’60, and Christopher J. Eitzmann ’99, a former Harvard football captain who went on to play for the New England Patriots. The youngest of the seven died in his 30s. Nowinski, a former Harvard defensive lineman, said he first raised the issue with Harvard Athletics Director Erin McDermott at an Ivy League Football Association dinner in January 2025...

Nowinski said communication from Harvard Athletics stopped after the presentation. “We could not get emails returned,” he said, “so we suspect they did not go forward with our proposal to provide education on CTE to Harvard athletes.” ...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/5/6/cte-training-unanswered/.

Watch the Regents Meeting of May 5, 2026

We're catching up with the Regents' May 5 meeting, the first of two days. The meeting began with public comments. Topics included complaints about an ICE official who spoke at a UCLA law school program, a UC-Davis family center (??? speaker was unclear), anti-Israel, resident doctor negotiations, termination of the UC-Davis equestrian team, ICE notifications, divestment, divestment from Apollo, disabled student programs, names of protesters shared with federal government, revisiting UC hiring of undocumented students, AFSCME negotiations, and a proposal for a second student regent.

The Health Services Committee heard a report on the strategic plan for UC Health. It was noted that ERs are getting more patients due to federal cutbacks. 

At the full Board, Chair Riley noted that this would be her last meeting as chair and reflected on UC's contributions. She welcomed newly-appointed Regents. UC President Milliken took note of the significant legal expenses incurred as a result of the conflict with the federal government. He referenced public concerns about higher ed as described in the recent Yale report. Problems mentioned were complicated pricing, campus climate, and opaque admissions standards. He suggested a need for more transparency with regard to pricing and admissions. With regard to the latter, it's not clear what that would mean as long as subjective judgments are made. Faculty representative Palazoglu discussed the need for a new Master Plan and wanted the Academic Senate to be involved in developing such a Plan. There was then a tribute to selected UC and UCLA alumni. Finally, there was a celebration of UCLA women's basketball and a presentation by coach Cori Close followed by brief remarks by Chancellor Frenk.

The Governance Committee proposed the appointment of a new director for the Berkeley National Lab and the full Board reconvened to ratify the appointment.

The Investments Committee hear a brief report by CFO Bachhar covering the first 9 months of the fiscal year in which returns looked good thanks to the stock market. A disturbance at the meeting halted the session and the room was cleared. Bachhar cited the usual uncertainties: war, inflation, AI. It was noted during the discussion that the Blue and Gold Pool, which is a simple indexed fund, i.e., no stock picking, nothing but equities and fixed income, performed very well at very low administrative cost. It was suggested that maybe other funds managed by the CFO's office might be run that way.

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As always, we preserve recordings of the Regents sessions since the Regents have no policy on retention and their YouTube recordings are unlisted. The sessions described above are at:

https://archive.org/details/regents-may-5-2026.

Is AFSCME being pushed out of Kaiser?

We will cover the Regents meetings of May 5-6 in a separate posting. But an AFSCME strike is now impending and there were spokespersons from the union at the May 6 public comments session of the Regents.

Of course, we don't know what is happening behind closed doors at negotiations between UC and AFSCME. But one of the AFSCME commenters suggested that UC is trying to push the 70% of AFSCME workers that now choose Kaiser as their health provider into plans that utilize UC providers.

See an excerpt from his comment below:

Or direct to https://ia903202.us.archive.org/32/items/regents-finance-and-capital-strategies-academic-and-student-affairs-5-6-2026/Kaiser%20to%20UC%20providers%20AFSCME%205-6-2026.mp4.

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Note that if there is a UC push away from Kaiser regarding AFSCME-represented staff, the same might occur for other groups, actives and retired.