First Amendment • Title IX • Due Process • Teachers' Rights • Students' Rights
REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS
The Foundation exists to help students, staff, and faculty when their rights are threatened or infringed upon by UCLA. The Foundation will evaluate any case that fits these parameters. The Foundation has recently focused on matters involving student Title IX hearings (representing both Complainants and Respondents), graduate student and faculty academic freedom issues, and student employee pay/benefits. To get a sense of what we do, take a look at the representative matters below:
Teaching Assistant was retaliated against for publicly supporting conservative professor Keith Fink.
A graduate student (who served on the Academic Senate’s Academic Freedom Committee) spoke out publicly about academic freedom concerns during conservative professor Keith Fink’s excellence review. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Communication threatened the TA’s job by presenting him with two choices to either (1) resign immediately, or (2) have a fake Title IX complaint filed against him to publicly smear his reputation. The Foundation filed a complaint with the United States Department of Education on the student’s behalf, alleging that the Communication Department’s abuse of Title IX violates federal law. An internal investigation at UCLA found in the TA’s favor; meanwhile, the Department of Education’s investigation remains ongoing.
Graduate student’s PhD dissertation was endangered by committee members’ academic freedom violations.
The Foundation supported student by reviewing UCLA and Departmental policy regarding composition of dissertation committees and devise plan to remove the committee member who was interfering with student’s academic freedom.
Student sexually assaulted at fraternity party.
The Foundation advocated on behalf of the sexual assault victim and represented her during UCLA’s Title IX investigation and appeals process. The offending student was subsequently expelled from campus.
Sorority member assaulted by fraternity member.
A sophomore was assaulted at a UCLA fraternity party.
The Foundation represented this student throughout UCLA’s Title IX investigation and appeals process. The offending student was expelled from campus. The Foundation then filed a lawsuit against the fraternities responsible for the assault.
Graduating senior’s degree was on hold due to pending Title IX investigation.
The Foundation protected the rights of a graduating senior whose degree was threatened by a fictitious Title IX investigation initiated against him during his last week of school. The Foundation protected the Respondent’s rights by guiding him through the Title IX investigation and the subsequent appeal, and prevented UCLA from deviating from established Title IX investigation procedure (in a way that would infringe on our student’s rights). Both the initial investigation and the appeal found that our client had not engaged in any wrongdoing. He ultimately received his degree and is presently enrolled at a top medicine school.
ASUCLA failed to pay overtime to employee when required to by law.
The Foundation assisted a student in evaluating his pay records, reviewing relevant law, and composing a demand letter to human resources requesting recalculation of overtime eligibility. Following our intervention, the employee was ultimately compensated completely.
Graduate Teaching Assistant intentionally misclassified as a “course reader”.
A Teaching Assistant in the Department of Communication was intentionally misclassified as a “course reader” instead of a “teaching assistant,” despite having all of the duties of a Teaching Assistant. The Foundation has helped this student through the UCLA grievance process to recover the unpaid wages resulting from this misclassification.