University campuses across California were the epicenter of protest on Thursday, as thousands of students, faculty, and supporters joined a nationwide day of action to oppose President Donald Trump’s latest actions targeting higher education.
Demonstrations erupted at the University of California (UC) Berkeley and Santa Cruz campuses, Stanford University, California State University East Bay, and San Jose State University, with participants rallying against federal funding cuts, threatened visa revocations, and investigations into universities seen as defying the administration’s directives.
At UC Berkeley, hundreds gathered at Sproul Plaza—historic home of the Free Speech Movement—where signs reading “Education Not Censorship” and “Freedom to Learn and Protest” captured the crowd’s mood. The rally was part of a coordinated protest led by over 75 chapters of the American Association of University Professors.
“This goes to the core meaning of freedom in this country,” said former U.S. Labor Secretary and UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich during the event, according to The Mercury News. “If the Trump regime can dictate to any university… then there are no limits to what that regime will do.”
The protests were sparked by a series of aggressive measures from the Trump administration. These include slashing federal funding to universities that refuse to eliminate DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs, banning masks at protests, and altering admissions policies. Columbia University lost $400 million in federal funding, and Harvard recently saw $2 billion frozen after refusing to meet federal demands.
The wave of activism sweeping campuses reflects growing anxiety over what many see as a coordinated effort by the federal government to reshape the values and operations of higher education. Organizers say the policies—ranging from visa revocations for international students to investigations into classroom discussions—are not just bureaucratic decisions, but ideological moves aimed at silencing dissent and reshaping academic priorities.
At the heart of the backlash is a belief that universities are being forced to choose between federal support and their core missions of inclusion, research, and free expression. Faculty and students argue that targeting programs centered on racial and gender equity, or punishing institutions that allow student-led protests, represents a fundamental threat to both academic freedom and democracy itself.
Despite mounting pressure, faculty and students vowed to continue resisting what they view as an authoritarian overreach.
“Our whole entire society is under attack,” Chris Cox, a sociology professor at San Jose State, said during the protest. “Trump’s real agenda is basically to create a society where people have no ability to fight back.”
As the protests gain momentum, many educators say this moment echoes past struggles for justice on college campuses. References to the Free Speech Movement, the Civil Rights era, and the Third World Liberation Front were common throughout the rallies, signaling that students and faculty see today’s fight as part of a broader historical continuum. With public funding, international collaboration, and student rights hanging in the balance, Thursday’s demonstrations may be only the beginning of a long and highly visible resistance.
