Dear Faculty,

I write to update you about some of the actions we are taking to address the campus’s 2025-26 budget situation. I know that ongoing changes at the federal level have resulted in increased anxiety for many members of the UC Davis community. The University of California is tracking and sharing news regarding federal policy, and UC Davis’s Office of Research is providing updates and guidance on its website. I also want to reassure you that, no matter the scale and scope of challenges UC Davis may face, I remain committed to doing everything I can to protect our core mission of teaching, research, and service.

All of that said, I believe that in a moment of crisis, it is important that I share as much information with you as possible. As you likely know, Governor Newsom’s proposed budget defers the University of California’s multiyear compact and also cuts funding for the UC system. At UC Davis, this will result in a reduction of approximately $37 million. At the same time, the campus’s costs, including salaries and benefits, continue to rise.

We have worked diligently for many years to address our core funds structural deficit. We have made progress, but not without real costs for our community. People are tired of doing more with less. Morale has suffered. We are all frustrated. Unfortunately, if we take no further action, the 2025-26 state budget cuts, coupled with increasing costs for the campus, will more than double our remaining structural core funds deficit: from a projected $40.3 million at the close of fiscal year 2024-25 to approximately $90 million by the end of 2025-26. In addition, shifting federal policy, particularly around finance and administration rates on grants, will have a further impact on our campus’s budget.

In anticipation of worsening budget difficulties, campus units have engaged in an exercise that models cuts of 10 percent on Common Operating Funds and Student Service Fee Funds. For more details about the campus budget process, please see Budget and Institutional Analysis’s website, including a video that offers an explanation of key drivers of our structural deficit prior to the most recent changes at the state and federal levels.

I have already begun making painful budgetary decisions, including discontinuing important programming. On June 30, 2025, STEM Strategies and the Office of Public Scholarship and Engagement (PSE) will close. I offer my sincere thanks to Beth Broome and the STEM Strategies team and Michael Rios and his colleagues in PSE for their dedicated service. Additionally, the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START) will wrap up this summer. Nearly 200 faculty and staff have served on START’s task force, committees, and working groups, generating proposals that will have a transformative impact on UC Davis. If any of those proposals need to be completed after the summer, we will discuss the best approach for moving them forward. I am grateful to everyone who has invested time, energy, and creativity into START. UC Davis will be better for their efforts.

Over the coming months, we will rely on the campus’s annual budget process, including discussion with the Academic Senate, to assist us in identifying cost reductions designed to protect our core mission. Unfortunately, while it is the last thing we want to contemplate, the realities of our budget situation may necessitate more program closures or layoffs.

As a campus leader, it is my responsibility to help steward this extraordinary institution, which has, for more than a century, been a beacon of light to the people of California and the world beyond. When UC Davis has faced challenges in the past, members of this community have pulled together, made difficult choices, and supported one another. We will do the same in this unprecedented moment: work together, sacrifice together, and chart a course together to a sustainable future for UC Davis.

On behalf of our students, staff, alumni, and members of the broader community, I thank you for your extraordinary commitment to UC Davis. Please know that it is an honor to work alongside you. 

All the best,
Mary

Mary Croughan
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor