Reports of impending budget cuts and layoffs rocked the UC system throughout the spring 2025 quarter. Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to lower California’s deficit called for an 8% cut to the universities’ budget.
On May 14, 2025, after extensive lobbying and public outcry, the governor reduced his planned cut to only 3%. In May and June, the University Council – American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT), a union representing UC faculty, claimed that the UC system continued to prepare austerity measures for the 2025-26 academic year.
A leaked screenshot circulated amongst UCI faculty members and purported to show the planned cuts to each of UCI’s schools for the 2025-26 academic year. The most extreme of these cuts alleged that UCI’s School of Law faced an over $9 million cut, representing 35% of the school’s budget.
At the June 4th Save the Humanities rally, a protest against the extensive cuts and layoffs imposed on the School of Humanities, the leaked budget sheet became the centered discussion alongside stories of humanities faculty members getting laid off.
One of the rally’s speakers referenced a one-third cut to the School of Law as a notable talking point. The one-third claim also appears in a publication by UC-AFT on May 30th, which attacked the cuts and included the report that “the [UCI] School of Law will receive a 30% cut next year.”
New University’s coverage of the rally reported further on the leak, discussing the cuts to the Humanities, and also the leak’s claimed $9 million cut to the School of Law.
At the time, figures in the Division of Finance & Administration declined to comment on the budget sheet.
“There’s no uncertainty about our program,” Dean Austen Parrish of the School of Law wrote to New University. “We are not facing a 35% cut.”
Parrish was unfamiliar with any sources that would indicate such a large cut.
“We are facing some budget constraints consistent with what’s being faced throughout higher education, and right now we’re expecting a 1.5% budget cut from campus,” Parrish wrote of the 2025-26 budget. “The budget adjustments are not expected to impact the quality of our programs nor the opportunities available to students.”
Parrish placed importance on the variety of programs maintained by the law school, as well as the contributions made by students and faculty to the local community. He considered the past academic year a success for the law school, citing various accomplishments.
“We welcomed new faculty, brought the Korematsu Law Center to Irvine, and saw programs with our centers, initiatives, and clinics thrive. You may have seen our annual Supreme Court Term in Review event that occurred just last week, [on July 8th],” Parrish wrote.
UCI Law Assistant Dean of Communications Colleen Tariconi was unavailable for direct comment on how the School of Law plans to navigate the minor 1.5% cut expected for the 2025-26 year.
Senior Director of Communications & Media Relations Tom Vasich shared the UCI Budget Office’s Financial Stability Plan as the ultimate guide to the administration’s plan.
Last updated June 2nd, just two days before the Save the Humanities rally, the plan confirms that UCI is in a “Structural Deficit,” or “a recurring gap that requires long-term solutions.”
The Budget Office projects a $70 million deficit by next summer, which they describe as “manageable” but “unsustainable.”
The plan insists that the campus is dedicated to a transparent, predictable, sustainable solution to this structural deficit — a difficulty repeatedly cited is the uncertainty surrounding continued federal and state funding.
John Trytten is a Features Intern for the 2025 summer quarter. He can be reached at tryttenj@uci.edu.
Edited by Alyssa Villagonzalo and Joshua Gonzales