At the start of the semester, the University of California stopped funding a hiring initiative under the President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, or PPFP, citing severe budget constraints.
The program was established in 1984 and has paid $85,000 toward each fellow’s salaries for the first five years of their participation since 2003. The university has spent a total of $162 million to support PPFP faculty hires, according to UCOP spokesperson Stett Holbrook.
The funding cuts sparked outrage from faculty members across UC campuses who jointly authored a letter demanding that the program be restored.
“Targeting PPFP is an assault on the values of the University of California and a pre-emptive concession to the federal attack on our institution and higher education more broadly,” the letter reads.
The letter has no named signatories, instead being signed “concerned UC Faculty, administrators, staff, professorial colleagues, and constituents.” It demands that the university reaffirm its commitment to the UC’s stated core values – including excellence, integrity, equity, diversity and inclusion as stated in Regents Policy 4400.
The letter also demands that the university “respect shared governance” and consult the Senate before making such changes, as well as “uphold and protect” PPFP’s faculty hiring incentive and waiver of open recruitment.
“It is financially irresponsible to undermine an effective UC program that hires and retains top talent at the University of California,” the letter says.
The PPFP was initially founded to attract women and minority Ph.D. recipients to pursue academic careers at the UC system.Critics speculate that this defunding is the next in a series of UC capitulations to demands for anti-DEI actions from the federal administration.Last week, UC Berkeley cut their Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and opened a new Office of Culture and Inclusive Excellence. Campus also turned over 160 student and faculty’s information to the federal government back in September to comply with a federal antisemitism investigation.
Campus currently hosts six Ph.D. candidates under the PPFP that were awarded this year. Their research topics span a wide range of departments including ethnic studies, gender and women’s studies, education, chemistry and math.
Several candidates are conducting research in areas often condemned by the Trump administration. Chris E. Vargas is researching “Trans Futures in 101 Objects: Exploring Speculative Futures” and Beshara Kehdi is researching “Diasporic Dreaming: The Organization of Arab Students and Educating the Crisis.”
UC campuses will still be able to hire fellows through PPFP, but the university will no longer offer financial contributions through the programs. However, postdoctoral fellowships, networking and mentorship, and faculty research support will continue, according to Holbrook in the email.
“Despite these challenges, the University remains committed to hiring and retaining world-class faculty members whose teaching and research benefit the entire UC community,” Holbrook said in the email.
Campus declined to provide any comment on the topic, directing all questions to UCOP.