Higher education workers, students, and allies across the country are mobilizing in the midst of myriad political attacks to save our institutions. Today, on February 19, UC-AFT teaching faculty and librarians are joining activists across the country who are collectively taking action to loudly proclaim:

Hands Off Higher Education!

In just a few weeks, the new presidential administration has made its intentions quite clear: to dismantle higher education as we know it. They have stripped away our civil rights, declared war on the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and threatened mass deportation of our students and colleagues. Their suspension of federal funding and grants threatens our research and our campus budgets. Should these and other proposed changes to the functions of the Department of Education be allowed to go through, the results would be catastrophic for everyone who works and studies at UC.

Enough is enough — we must stand together in defense of public higher education before it's too late. Take just a few moments to tell your elected representatives they must do more than express their "concern"; we need them to take concrete actions to defend us against attacks that threaten our livelihoods. Join your colleagues in sending emails now calling on your member of Congress to:

• Stop the cuts to federal grant agencies and student loan programs immediately;
• Prevent the UC from responding to any budgetary emergency that results from those federal cuts by laying off workers and raising student fees;
• Invest in the rebuilding of higher education across the State of California and the country by protecting the rights of higher education workers and the students and communities that they serve.  

This letter-writing action is just the beginning — stay tuned for more opportunities to fight back in the coming weeks.