To Assemblymember Fong, Assemblymember Tri, Senator Newman:

Cc: California Assembly Committee on Higher Education, California State Senate Education Committee, Assemblymember Robert Rivas, Governor Gavin Newsom, Congressman Lieu

We, the undersigned, are writing to highlight our concerns over the treatment of Professor Priyanga Amarasekare, a member of the faculty at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). 

Professor Amarasekare is a distinguished academic who is widely respected by her colleagues for her groundbreaking contributions to science. Her achievements have earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Robert H. MacArthur Award from the Ecological Society of America. Professor Amarasekare has long been dedicated to justice and equity. Her passionate advocacy of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) at UCLA has regrettably led to allegations of harassment, disruption, and breach of confidentiality which have been used to charge her with violating the Faculty Code of Conduct. 

Since 2021, the UCLA Administration has subjected Professor Amarasekare to two disciplinary proceedings on these purported violations. The penalties imposed by the University are disproportionately severe in light of the allegations and are inconsistent with prior actions taken by the University in similar situations.

In July 2022, UCLA Chancellor Gene Block rejected a faculty hearing committee’s recommendation for a letter of censure and a provisional salary reduction. Instead, he suspended Professor Amarasekare without pay or benefits for one year and reduced her salary by 20% for two subsequent years. She was barred from campus premises, denied access to University facilities, forbidden to advise her students, and removed from her federal grant, forcing her to abandon time-sensitive experiments on climate change. Since July 2023, Professor Amarasekare has been placed on involuntary leave pending further charges against her. This leave has just been extended until December 31, 2024.    

The sanctions imposed on Professor Amarasekare are typically reserved for the most egregious forms of misconduct such as scientific misconduct and Title IX violations, which she is not charged with.  These sanctions have severely disrupted her federally funded research on climate change, undermining her invaluable contributions to science and the greater good of society.  Her website (https://pamarasekare.org/) details her ongoing mistreatment by UCLA.

The University’s disproportionate response to the alleged violations is alarming, particularly as they are directed at a female minority faculty member who has been a vocal advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion in her department. 

We urge you and your committees to become directly involved in this matter before this mistreatment permanently damages the reputation of the UC system. We ask you to conduct an external investigation into the UCLA’s treatment of Professor Amarasekare and request that the currently imposed harsh penalties on her be lifted until such time that the external investigation is concluded.