SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Courtroom has let stand a lower-court ruling that the College of California’s coverage barring college students with out authorized standing within the US from campus jobs is discriminatory and have to be reconsidered.
Officers with the college system say the choice places them in a precarious place as they negotiate with the Trump administration after the withdrawal of federal analysis funds.
A 2024 lawsuit argued that UC’s ban defied state regulation. In August, the First District Courtroom of Appeals dominated that UC had not supplied adequate proof to justify its “discriminatory policy” of not hiring college students who’re within the nation with out authorized permission.
That ruling stopped in need of overturning the hiring protocol, however the judges ordered UC to rethink it utilizing correct authorized standards. As a substitute, UC took the case to the state’s excessive court docket, which final week declined to listen to the problem.
Rachel Zaentz, a UC spokesperson, stated in an announcement Tuesday that the college system is “assessing its options” and that the court docket’s resolution to not evaluation the case “creates serious legal risks for the University and all other state employers in California.”
RELATED: How UC Berkeley is getting ready for Turning Level’s ultimate tour cease after Charlie Kirk’s loss of life
Underneath Trump, UC has contended with federal grant suspensions and a White Home demand that it pay a $1 billion high-quality over allegations together with antisemitism and the unlawful use of race in admission on the Los Angeles campus.
A plaintiff within the case, former UC lecturer Iliana Perez, urged the college system to take the most recent court docket resolution as a chance to revise its hiring coverage.
“The California Supreme Court’s decision not only reaffirms that discriminating against undocumented immigrants from accessing on-campus employment cannot continue to be tolerated,” Perez stated in an announcement Monday to the Los Angeles Occasions. “But it also gives UC the clarity to finally unlock life-changing opportunities for the thousands of immigrant students who contribute to its campuses, and to the state’s economy and workforce.”
The lawsuit stated that with out the power to work, college students with out authorized standing wrestle to lift the cash wanted to afford the total price of their training, together with housing. Whereas these college students are eligible for state grants and tuition waivers, they’re barred from accessing federal grants and loans. That pushes many college students to seek out jobs beneath the desk or in unsafe circumstances, advocates have stated.
UC argued that hiring college students with out authorized standing might expose campus employers to civil or prison litigation and put in danger the billions of {dollars} in federal contracts the system receives.
