Letter to the Honorable Gavin Newsom

September 2025 

The Honorable Gavin Newsom

Governor of California

1021 O Street, Suite 9000

Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Request for Emergency Funding and Legal Action to Protect the UC System

Dear Governor Newsom,

We are writing as concerned Californians and allies — faculty, lecturers, researchers, staff, students, alumni, and community members who work in and out of the University of California system — to urgently request your leadership in protecting UC from unprecedented federal attacks.

The Trump administration has already suspended and canceled vital UC research funding. While $84 million has been reinstated, approximately $500 million remains suspended and inaccessible to researchers, and by our estimate, as much as $700 million is currently needed to cover canceled and suspended grants. Given ongoing DOJ investigations of UCSF and UC Berkeley, the total could rise to $1 billion as early as this Fall.

Without immediate intervention, these suspensions and cancellations will devastate California’s research ecosystem, undermine teaching and public service, and weaken one of the greatest public goods our state has built. The UC system generates extraordinary returns for California: for every $1 invested, UC yields $21 in economic output. Beyond economics, UC is a cornerstone of equity, innovation, and global leadership.

We respectfully ask that you:

1. Provide emergency state funding of up to $1 billion to stabilize UC programs and personnel that have had federal funds cut or suspended. There are a number of sources of emergency funding that could be made available, including unallocated funds from the Mental Health Services Act that Prop 1 directed to be held by the State.

2. Meet with us at your earliest availability to discuss both immediate and long-term solutions, including the California Futures Fund, a multi-billion-dollar pooled state fund to safeguard UC against federal disinvestment.

3. Work with the UC Regents to pursue legal action that will challenge and reverse these targeted federal attacks and to resist negotiating with an administration whose actions represent undue federal interference in UC’s mission and operations.
   
   

Governor, the University of California is not only a public good — it is an economic and cultural engine for the entire state. We cannot allow political extortion to dismantle it. California, the world's 4th largest economy, has both the responsibility and the means to act now.

We look forward to your urgent response and to the opportunity to meet with you to protect the future of UC. 

Sincerely,

All Signatories Below

On behalf of Concerned Californians & the Save Our Science Initiative