Defend UCSC's Core Mission: Education not Administration
Cynthia Larive
We are facing an urgent crisis at UC Santa Cruz, and we need collective action to stop the assault on education.
Recently, dozens of lecturers and 1 librarian at UCSC have been laid off or had their jobs significantly reduced for next year. We expect numerous others to receive similar news in the weeks ahead. These cuts are hitting UCSC disproportionately due to local budget mismanagement.
For example, the language programs have been hit especially hard: Arabic, Spanish, French, and Italian have faced severe cuts, while German and Farsi have been eliminated entirely.
We are a collective bargaining unit—if the administration can get away with gutting one department, they can and will do the same to others. That’s why we must stand together in solidarity and push back against this austerity budget.
If we don’t act now, more programs will be at risk, and additional cuts could be quietly implemented over the summer, when campus is empty and resistance is harder to organize.
In fact, many of us are still waiting on reappointment letters—due by June 1 under our contract. Departments, and top administrators, must be held accountable. If you haven’t received your reappointment or were not rehired, please contact evsinclair@gmail.com and jpurucker@ucaft.org.
How We Got Here:
Governor Newsom initially proposed an 8% cut to UC’s budget. That’s since been reduced to 3%—but UCSC is still enforcing harsh austerity measures: hiring freezes, class cuts, and layoffs.
UC administrators are choosing to cut instruction instead of trimming administrative bloat.
UCSC has been hit hardest: so far, nearly one-third of statewide UC-AFT job losses are here.
What We’re Demanding:
Reverse the cuts. Restore jobs, classes, and programs immediately.
Use the $6.5 billion Blue & Gold Fund—established for crises like this—to fill the budget gap.
Cut from the top. Between 2019–2024, UCSC administrative positions exploded:
Senate faculty ↑ 14%
Non-senate faculty ↑ 12.5%
Managers ↑ 28%
Senior professionals ↑ 55%
The budget prioritizes six-figure salaries for administrators and senior professionals—people students will never meet, let alone learn from—over faculty positions, courses, and essential student services.
How You Can Help:
Talk to your students about what’s happening. Help them understand who lecturers are and how these cuts will affect their education.
Use class time to share a simple student poll to help us gather real-time impact data for media outreach.
Sign and share the petition: [Link Petition here]
UCSC is cutting classes and student services while growing upper management. Students pay more, get less—and educators are losing their jobs. We must demand transparency, accountability, and a reinvestment in the core mission of the university: education.
This is a critical moment. Let’s stand together to protect public education at UCSC.
In solidarity,
UC-AFT Local 1474 Santa Cruz
Petition by
Sponsored by
To:
Cynthia Larive
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Chancellor Larive,
We, the undersigned, are asking you for a change of course at UCSC. UC Santa Cruz is slashing classes, student services, and academic programs—while pouring more money into bloated administration. Students are paying higher tuition and getting less for it. This is happening throughout the UC System, but UCSC has been disproportionately impacted, due to local budget mismanagement.
The administration is exploiting fears of an economic downturn to propose austerity cuts that reduce courses, eliminate jobs, and weaken student support, all while enriching themselves and growing reserves.
These cuts come even after Governor Gavin Newsom rolled back the UC systemwide budget cut from 8% to 3%. Despite this reduction in cuts from the state, UCSC is still planning cuts as though we are facing the higher number, and faculty and students are bearing the brunt of these decisions. This is a short sighted approach that will leave our programs--languages among them--struggling to recover for years.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that cost of attending UC has increased in by an average of 20% from 2019 to 2024, while the average cost of housing and meals rose by 27% over the same period. Meanwhile, the amount of FTE at UCSC for:
Senate faculty only increased by 14%
Non-senate faculty only increased by 12.5%
Managers increased by 28%
Senior professionals increased by 55%
Translation: Administrative positions and salaries are growing far faster than tuition, housing costs, and faculty hires—even as faculty face job losses and students face fewer course options.
What We Demand:
1. Reverse the Austerity Cuts
Restore all eliminated classes, programs, and student services immediately. Cuts to instruction and support hurt students the most.
2. Prioritize Education, Not Bureaucracy: Cut Administrative Excess—Not Classrooms
Faculty, staff, and librarians should not be the first to face cuts while administrative bloat remains untouched. Any remaining budget gaps should be closed by reducing administrative overhead, not by undermining the people who teach and support students.
3. Use the Blue & Gold Fund
This fund exists for moments like this. Use it to cover the shortfall and protect the university’s educational mission.
4. Hold Administrators Accountable
Remove the individuals responsible for the financial mismanagement that led to this harmful and dysfunctional budget.