UCLA professors express concern over new hiring review, limited student research

This post was updated Oct. 1 at 1:38 a.m.

Some UCLA professors expressed concern over the university’s new hiring review process, alleging that the policy has impacted their ability to hire new researchers.

UCLA will now require a hiring review at the administrative level to approve all department-level positions, two vice chancellors announced in an Aug. 20 email. The review has been in place since March 2025 to ensure “critical positions” remain prioritized amid a challenging budget environment, they added in the email.

The hiring review includes both Academic Senate and non-Senate roles, as well as positions in development or with pending offers, a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement. UCLA will continue to prioritize student employment opportunities, but student positions must undergo the same hiring review process, the spokesperson added in the statement.

The UCLA Community Programs Office, a basic needs organization, has temporarily shut down its operations due to hiring delays and pending staff extensions, according to signs posted in the Student Activities Center on Monday. CPO employees alleged that the delays have been caused by UCLA Student Affairs.

[Related: UCLA Community Programs Office spaces, services temporarily shut down]

The policy change came as part of UCLA’s strategic plan to make the university “more streamlined” and increase effectiveness, according to the email. One step of the university’s strategic plan, “One IT,” was announced late August and will consolidate university-wide IT systems starting September 2025 until October 2029.

UCLA plans to consolidate other campus services – including human resources, finance, communications, marketing, event planning and academic personnel services – to cut costs, according to internal documents obtained by the Daily Bruin.

[Related: UCLA plans to consolidate some campus services to cut costs, increase ‘efficiency’]

The university also paused new faculty hiring following the federal government’s suspension of about $584 million of UCLA’s research grants July 30 and 31, alleging that UCLA has allowed “antisemitism and bias,” illegal affirmative action practices and “men to participate in women’s sports.”

However, a federal district judge ordered the temporary reinstatement of UCLA’s suspended National Institutes of Health grants Sept. 22, alleging that the funding freeze violated her previous order filed in June that blocked the National Science Foundation from terminating grants across the UC. She also ordered the temporary restoration of UCLA’s suspended NSF grants in August.

The National Institutes of Health officially reinstated the grants, according to a Wednesday email from Roger Wakimoto, the vice chancellor for research and creative activities. Wakimoto also announced Aug. 13 that the NSF abided by the court’s ruling, reinstating about 300 grants.

[Related: Federal funding cuts to UCLA]

A political science professor – who was granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation from the hiring review – said he believes the new hiring review has hindered faculty members’ ability to provide research opportunities for students. He added that he initiated a summer hiring request for a student in July, but the request was not approved until more than a month and a half later.

The student was left with less time to conduct research because of the late approval, the political science professor said. He added that the hiring process was conducted quickly prior to the implementation of the hiring review, as it only required department approval and a brief onboarding process.

“These research positions with undergraduate students are not just about carrying out research. They’re about training the next generation of researchers,” the professor said. “To make it impossible to hire people for the summer … that both undermines our ability to get research done and to mentor students who want to learn about what a research career would look like.”

The federal funding freeze has already limited undergraduate research opportunities as labs operate under funding constraints. Britney Robinson, the special advisor on community and belonging for the Division of Physical Sciences, said in an email to physical science students that the freeze will “drastically” reduce labs’ abilities to take on undergraduates, adding that many programs may have to lay off staff or shut down entirely.

[Related: Federal funding cuts ‘drastically limit’ undergraduate research opportunities]

Mark Harrison – a distinguished research professor in the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences – learned of the policy when he attempted to hire an undergraduate student as a part-time researcher in early August, he said. The student, who was attempting to complete her senior capstone project, would have been approved to be hired within one day before the implementation of the hiring review, he added.

It took about three weeks for the position to be approved, Harrison said.

Harrison said he believes the new process is not aligned with UCLA’s strategic priorities, which include protecting research and teaching. He added that he believes the university’s administrators have not been sufficiently transparent with faculty.

“This (hiring policy) hasn’t been telegraphed to the entire institution,” Harrison said. “This is something that is known by seemingly every HR staff member on campus, but it’s a secret, otherwise.”

However, some faculty members said the review process has not affected them, such as Alexander Spokoyny, the chair of the UCLA chemistry and biochemistry department. No faculty members in his department have reported facing difficulties in hiring undergraduate researchers in his department as of Sept. 19, Spokoyny added.

UCLA’s chemistry and biochemistry students participate in student research programs where they receive academic credit for conducting research during the academic year, Spokoyny said. Undergraduate researchers in these programs – or on a fellowship or scholarship – are not currently expected to be affected by the review process, he added.

“The undergraduate is not working on some sort of federal grant, and so it gets processed through … some sort of scholarship,” he said. “That doesn’t necessarily require formal hiring.”

However, the political science professor said he believes the new review process will reduce the amount of research opportunities available to undergraduate students. He added that he hopes to continue hiring and mentoring undergraduates but said he might resort to hiring people from other institutions if he continues to face barriers in the approval process.

While the professor said he recognizes the difficulty of UCLA’s financial situation, he added that undergraduate researchers are not a significant financial commitment and uphold the university’s central mission.

“Hiring undergraduates for research positions is very different than hiring full-time faculty and staff,” the political science professor said. “Painting the same broad brush across all of these different categories, it’s just undermining the teaching and research mission at the university.”