Chancellor Julio Frenk shared this message with the Bruin community.
Dear Bruin Community:
We are at a consequential moment — not just for UCLA, but for higher education across the country. Like many of our peers, we are navigating structural budget deficits, federal and state funding uncertainties, and rising costs that challenge how we sustain our academic mission. These pressures make it clear that we need to take a thoughtful and strategic perspective on how we plan, allocate and manage resources across our campus, so we can strengthen the ways in which we do so.
A key part of this effort will be to improve our budgeting process so it is guided by clear principles, while at the same time becoming more agile to adapt to a dynamic and uncertain environment. This will require rethinking how we conduct our work, consolidating duplicative services, aligning operations and ensuring that every dollar invested supports UCLA’s long-term strength and academic excellence. This is not only a financial imperative but a mission-driven one: our ability to educate, innovate and serve society depends on it.
To meet these challenges and ensure careful, principled stewardship of our resources, I am establishing an Executive Budget Action Group, which I will chair, to provide institutional leadership and coordination around the financial principles and budgetary decisions that will shape UCLA’s path forward. Managing through constrained resources demands clarity of purpose, shared accountability and an unwavering focus on our education, research and service mission.
The action group will:
- Establish strategic direction and financial principles for campus budget decisions.
- Identify key areas for adjustment and investment that will allow UCLA to adapt responsibly while sustaining our academic excellence.
- Promote transparent and accountable decision-making, grounded in shared governance and institutional integrity.
Now more than ever, continued success depends on our ability to integrate excellence across every dimension of our mission. Our aim is not only to preserve what makes us a leading, comprehensive research university, but to strengthen it, ensuring that our scholarly and creative work continues to generate knowledge and innovation that benefit society.
Our North Star is to ensure that the resources entrusted to us add maximum value back to society while protecting the academic core that defines UCLA’s strength.
Throughout this process, I commit to:
Doubling Down on Shared Governance
The Academic Senate will be involved every step of the way. Professor Megan McEvoy, chair of the Academic Senate, will serve as a member of the Executive Budget Action Group and will represent faculty voices. As Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt wrote recently, we will further enhance consultation with the Academic Senate while improving the timeliness and transparency of our communications.
Increasing Staff Engagement
We will continue to work with the Staff Assembly and the Human Resources Advisory Group (HRAG) to ensure their voices are heard in major decisions.
Drawing on Our Expertise
We will engage UCLA faculty who are national leaders in organizational culture, change management and public finance to help guide our path forward.
Staying in Constant Communication
You will hear directly from me and other campus leaders on budget realities, decisions and progress. We will consistently hold town halls for the campus community. A web page on my site will connect you to information and resources from across UCLA — including the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, Digital & Technology Solutions, Finance and Campus Human Resources — regarding our budget, institutional effectiveness, strategic direction and more.
Hosting Campus Community Conversations
Faculty, staff and students will be invited to join facilitated forums and informal “brown bag” discussions, both in person and online, to share perspectives and explore solutions together.
I am inviting the Bruin community — faculty, staff and students — to join in this collective effort. This is a moment that calls for internal unity in the face of unprecedented external pressures. I urge you to visit the website above, participate in the events we will host and send your feedback to Chancellor@ucla.edu.
The path ahead will require difficult decisions. But in times of pressure and uncertainty, our response must be guided by thoughtfulness, vision, collaboration and purpose — so that UCLA stays strong and poised to serve society well into the future.
We are One UCLA.
Julio Frenk
Chancellor