Students and faculty who are part of UCLA’s radical Activist-in-Residence program are being urged to “unsell and unsettle Mama Earth” and to envision “an uprising against the propertied-policed order of ‘racial capitalism,’” according to nearly 100 pages of records obtained by the Goldwater Institute as part of a legal settlement with the university.
The settlement ends Goldwater’s months-long public-records fight with UCLA that began last year when the California university’s leaders refused to turn over records about the Activist-in-Residence program. Goldwater sued UCLA in March under the California Public Records Act and the California Constitution.
The Activist-in-Residence program uses taxpayer dollars to “turn the university inside out” by bringing ideological activists to campus to develop programming. One of those activists, Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, a self-described “revolutionary journalist,” has called homelessness a “white man’s scam” and referred to Israel as a “kolonizer” guilty of genocide.
To better understand what students are being exposed to, Goldwater submitted a public records request to UCLA in October for Gray-Garcia’s contract and course information, as well as the program’s 2024 orientation materials.
Although UCLA publicly promotes the program, it took months for university leaders to produce responsive records and they initially provided only some of the documents, despite California law requiring timely disclosure of public records. After five months of delay, Goldwater sued with the help of attorney Brad Benbrook, who represented Goldwater as part of its American Freedom Network of pro bono lawyers.
As part of the settlement, UCLA produced 92 pages of additional records, including a detailed agenda for the Activist-in-Residence orientation.
In one session, the instructors envisioned “an uprising against the propertied-policed order of ‘racial capitalism.’” Another discussion on “Organizing the Abolition University,” characterized the university as “not only a locus of power but also a critical site of struggle” and called for “freeing the university from its current formation.”
A session led by Gray-Garcia, titled “Mama Earth is NOT for Sale,” focuses on “poverty scholarship” and “PeopleSkools.” It included calls to “unsell and unsettle Mama Earth” within what it describes as a settler-colonial system structured by “commodification and poLicing of Mama earth and poor mamas.”
“We’re pleased UCLA ultimately produced the requested records and worked with us to resolve the case,” Benbrook said. “Public institutions like the University of California exist to serve the public, and it is unfortunate that legal action is sometimes required to achieve compliance with transparency laws.”
As part of the settlement, UCLA has also agreed to pay $20,000 in Goldwater’s attorney fees. This is important because government agencies often attempt to delay turning over public records in hope that the requesters will simply abandon their efforts instead of engaging in litigation. The availability of attorney fees helps deter that practice by ensuring agencies face consequences when they fail to comply with the law.
Taxpayers have the right to know what kinds of programs public universities are developing and promoting. The Goldwater Institute’s victory reinforces that public universities like UCLA must comply with public records laws and provide access to records that reflect how taxpayer-funded institutions operate.
Goldwater’s American Freedom Network is composed of 1,000 attorneys nationwide who volunteer their legal services in defense of liberty. Through the Network, Goldwater will continue enforcing transparency laws to ensure that taxpayers can see how government institutions spend their money and utilize their resources.
For more information about joining the American Freedom Network, click here.
