CFA Sues CSU Over Disclosure of Cal State LA Faculty Personal Information to Trump Administration

Today, Friday, October 10, the California Faculty Association (CFA) filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate and Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief against the Board of Trustees of California State University (CSU) in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The case seeks a court order prohibiting CSU from disclosing CFA members’ personal information in response to federal subpoenas without first providing notice to affected employees and an opportunity for them to object.  

Faculty learned from an email sent from the CSU Chancellor’s Office on September 26 that the the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has initiated a systemwide antisemitism complaint against the CSU and has begun “direct outreach to some faculty and staff members across the system to review allegations of antisemitism and to speak with them about their experiences on campus.” 

The lawsuit also seeks a judicial declaration that CSU’s recent disclosure of Cal State LA employees’ personal information, including personal telephone numbers and email addresses, to the EEOC violated Article I, section 1 of the California Constitution and California’s Information Practices Act. CFA plans to seek a preliminary injunction prohibiting CSU’s further disclosure of CFA members’ personal information in the coming weeks. 

“The CSU leadership is out of step with most Californians, and most people in the nation,” said Margarita Berta-Ávila, CFA President. “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 at CSU and we demand they do more to protect faculty, students and academic freedom.” 

On September 25, the Cal State LA administration revealed that the EEOC subpoenaed the university to turn over personal phone numbers and email addresses for all employees. This came after Cal State LA complied with a previous request from the EEOC for employee contact information as part of the EEOC’s investigation of antisemitism charges.  

CFA demanded a copy of the subpoena and asked that Cal State LA not comply with the subpoena until CFA has had a chance to review it and formulate a response. On October 1, the CSU finally responded to CFA’s request for information about the subpoena and CFA was disturbed to learn that the CSU has already shared personal emails and telephone numbers with the EEOC. 

CFA leadership is doing everything it can to learn about current threats to our members’ privacy, livelihoods, and freedoms and to develop strategies to protect us all from harm.

ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA FACULTY ASSOCIATION: CFA represents more than 29,000 tenure-line instructional faculty, lecturers, librarians, counselors, and coaches on the 23 campuses of the California State University system, from Humboldt State in the north, to San Diego State in the south. Learn more about CFA at calfac.org and visit our Facebook, Bluesky, and Instagram pages. 

Media liaisons: Kenyon Farrow (Director of Strategic Communications, Kfarrow@calfac.org) and Kristin Lam (Communications specialist, klam@calfac.org)