On February 20, 2025, UC Law SF Chancellor and Dean David Faigman announced the college would implement layoffs of at least 12 staff members in order to close a budget shortfall of $1.7 million. UCLSF intends to lay off valuable staff members, including at least one UC-AFT Librarian and five AFSCME employees in the Library or IT departments.

Layoffs do not close the alleged deficit; they harm the educational needs of our students.

Even assuming that there is a $1.7 million deficit, it is not caused by, nor will it be solved by, the relatively low salaries of AFT and AFSCME represented staff. Some Librarians and Library staff are paid so little that they qualify for low income housing in San Francisco. The Library has already had difficulty attracting and retaining qualified Librarians due to salaries that are well below market rates. A layoff will make recruiting and retention even harder for the Library.

One layoff would significantly reduce mission-critical Library instruction and services.

UCLSF Librarians provide essential instruction, support, and services to law students and faculty, including research and citation training, reference services, research consultations, and collection development. Eliminating one of seven Librarians would mean irreparable harm to the College and students. Among other reductions in services, Librarians will be far less available for in-class guest instruction, reference questions, and one-on-one research consultations.

In addition, the Library probably would have to eliminate one section of Advanced Legal Research each semester. This online, asynchronous, experiential course provides students with a method and the skills to thoroughly, efficiently, and correctly research any question, even if they have little familiarity with the area of law. These are critical skills in clerkships, internships, externships, other practical experiences, and throughout their years of practice. New associates spend between 40 and 60% of their time doing legal research, while firm managers note serious gaps in legal research skills among new hires.

The true reasons for any budget deficit are ballooning ranks and salaries in upper-level administration and unsustainable fiscal decisions.

A complete look at the financial picture shows clear deprioritization of excellent public legal education for law students in California. While the law school's ranking takes a nosedive, the administration continues to cut operational budgets, including budgets for research databases, and continues to lay off staff that provide educational and research services directly to students, faculty, and staff. At the same time, the administration continues to increase senior management salaries and upper- and middle-management staffing numbers. Spending on security operations, like Urban Alchemy, continues to rise. According to the budget, Executive Management and Support costs increased $3.76 million from 2019 to 2023. Projected increases to this budget rise to $8.77 million for 2025-2026. In 2022, Dean Faigman’s annual salary alone was $425,000, roughly the same as half of all Librarian salaries.

The Library cannot manage any more cuts to its already underfunded and understaffed operations and personnel. We, the undersigned Librarians, staff, students, alumni, and community members demand that the Board of Directors take action and reprioritize the College’s finances to prevent layoffs, allowing our libraries and Librarians to provide essential educational support and instruction at UC Law SF.