When the UC Regents and administration failed to stand up to the demands of the Trump administration, faculty and workers stepped up to join the fight.  In this episode, Zoé Hamstead (Associate Professor of City and Regional Planning, UCB, co-chair of Berkeley Faculty Association, CUCFA Chair of Legal Affairs), Annie McClanahan, (Associate Professor of English, UCI, Co-President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations), and Anna Markowitz (Associate Professor of Education, UCLA, President of the executive board of the UCLA  Faculty Association) join The Lower Frequencies to discuss the role of faculty and the faculty associations (in partnership with UC unions, the AAUP, and other organizations) in waging a successful series of legal challenges that forced the Regents to disclose the federal demand letter and won a preliminary injunction against the Trump administration.  

Links:

CUCFA amicus brief in AAUP v. Rubio

UC Researcher Grant Terminations Class Actions

Faculty Lawsuit Demands Public Access to Trump Administration’s Settlement Demands on University of California

Trump demand letter to UCLA

Order granting preliminary injunction against Trump demands  

Episode 4:  UC Move Your Money!

In this episode of The Lower Frequencies, we speak with UCLA Associate Professor of Anthropology Hannah Appel (who is also Associate Faculty Director of the Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy and co-founder and organizer with the Debt Collective), about a new systemwide UC campaign that empowers faculty to begin the process of divesting from war and genocide.  We walk through the three-step UC Move Your Money campaign and how it offers faculty a chance to take action today while building power for more ambitious efforts down the road.  

Links:

UC Move Your Money website and Instagram

Unmasking the UC

A brief primer on the difference between defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) plans.

In this third installment of The Lower Frequencies we host educators, lawyers, and activists who share practical advice and inspiration for teachers to defend the presentation of vital topics in K-12 schools. In response to the intensification of attacks to censor the teaching of genocide and queer and trans lives, for example,  Lupe Carrasco Cardona, Mark Kleiman, Tracie Noriego and Liz Jackson discuss how building community, knowing legal, employee, and union safeguards and responsibilities all protect our right to teach truth and defend student’s rights to a full and liberatory education.

Visit our Instagram for resources for teachers.

Episode 2:  The People v. the UC: Thomas Harvey and Mark Kleiman

In the first of a series on “The People v. The UC,” The Lower Frequencies welcomes movement lawyers Thomas Harvey and Mark Kleiman to discuss their tireless work defending the students, staff, and faculty of the University of California from repression.  Mark and Thomas discuss what brought them to movement law, their work in defending ethnic studies from Zionist attacks, and their battles with the UC, including a successful court action against Regent Jay Sures and an ongoing lawsuit on behalf of those in the UCLA encampment who were brutalized by Zionist counter-protesters and police.  If you are interested in supporting their work, you can donate at the link to the UCLA lawsuit below or email Thomas Harvey at [email protected].

Links:

The People for a Free Palestine v. UCLA (please donate to support this case if you can)

Liberated Ethnic Studies Lawsuit Dismissed

The Lower Frequencies,  Episode 1

Policing Ethnic Studies:  The Legislative Jewish Caucus and AB 1468

The inaugural episode of The Lower Frequencies features guest Marcy Winograd and members of the UC Ethnic Studies Council discussing AB 1468, a bill authored and introduced by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, without any consultation of ethnic studies experts, that would impose a massive and costly set of rules policing the ways in which ethnic studies can be taught by K-12 teachers in the state.   

Relevant Links:

Nadia Rahman, “AB 1468: The California Jewish Legislative Caucus Introduces an Ethnic Studies Bill to Censor Public Education on Israel and Palestine,” February 24, 2025.

Marcy Winograd, “California Israel Lobby Aims to Police Ethnic Studies - Why?”  LA Progressive, March 4, 2025.  

Marianne Dhenin, “California Ethnic Studies Bill Aims to Censor Palestine-Related Education,” Truthout, April 2, 2025.

CAIR SF:  Tell Your Representatives to Vote No on AB 1468