The California Faculty Association has sued the California State University after the university system handed over the personal phone numbers and email addresses of 2,600 Los Angeles campus employees to the federal government in response to an antisemitism investigation.
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Last month, CSU Los Angeles officials revealed that the Trump administration subpoenaed the university to turn over the personal phone numbers and email addresses of the employees as part of the administration’s U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation into alleged antisemitism on campus.
“The CSU leadership is out of step with most Californians, and most people in the nation,” said CFA President and Sacramento State professor Margarita Berta-Ávila. “While California is leading the nation in our efforts to fight the targeting and harassment of educators, government employees, LGBTQ folks, immigrants, and Black and Brown communities, CSU capitulated without a fight to the Trump Administration’s witch hunt of faculty. We are suing for accountability of the CSU administration and we demand they do more to protect faculty, students and academic freedom.”
The Trump administration has been investigating universities’ handling of antisemitism complaints across the country that arose amid student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza responding to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. CSU officials indicated that Cal State LA, which had hosted a Gaza Solidarity Encampment, received a discrimination complaint in 2024. Students from San Jose State, Sacramento State, San Francisco State and CSU Long Beach participated in a hunger strike protesting the Israel-Hamas war, though it’s unclear if it led to complaints.
In a statement Thursday, CSU said officials are aware of the lawsuit and the university system shares the faculty association’s concern for protecting employee privacy but has a responsibility to comply with federal law. The university system said refusal to comply could result in federal court enforcement and sanctions.
“As a public institution, the CSU has a legal obligation to comply with such subpoenas while striving to limit disclosures to only what is required by law,” the university system said. “We are reviewing the claims made in the lawsuit and will continue to take all appropriate steps to ensure compliance with both state and federal law, while upholding the privacy and trust of our faculty and staff.”
Cal State said under the subpoena, CSU LA was legally obligated to provide employees’ names, gender, race/ethnicity, position title, work site, preferred personal phone number and personal email address, among other information. The university system said Cal State LA withheld employee personal contact information until it received a lawful subpoena requiring its disclosure and even then, “CSU filed a formal petition to modify the subpoena, citing privacy and undue burden concerns.” Cal State said the university system successfully narrowed the scope of the request — excluding home addresses and detailed separation reasons — and provided only the minimum information legally required.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a similar conflict at the University of California after the university provided the names of hundreds of UC Berkeley faculty members and students to the Trump administration as part of an investigation into alleged antisemitism. The incident sparked outrage across the state and led to a national, Democratic-led coalition to call for the removal of UC president James Milliken, who stepped into the role Aug. 1.
Since he returned to office in January, President Donald Trump has criticized perceived antisemitism in schools across the country, which critics have derided as an excuse to exert more control over universities. The Trump administration recently expanded a probe into the University of California over alleged antisemitism on its school campuses and demanded an additional $1 billion fine and major campus changes to settle antisemitism claims at UCLA — which Gov. Gavin Newsom described as “extortion” and said the state will sue to protect the UC system.
Newsom said earlier this month that he had requested an “independent review” of the data release from UC leaders. At a press conference last week, he revealed that he was “still reviewing” the report, but it had made a “compelling case” that the university system was legally required to share information with the government. Newsom said he also may scrutinize CSU’s actions for its own turnover of faculty data.
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