James B. Milliken, Secretary of the University of Texas System

James B. Milickon, President of the University of Texas

The UC California Board of Directors announced Friday afternoon that his appointment was announced nationwide, a tense time for the state’s conceited system and elite universities nationwide, with President Trump’s actions being attacked by actions on higher education to clear out the “awakening” and “Marxist” ideologies he ridiculed, while also cutting back on support for medical and scientific research’s propaganda to universities.

Milliken's choice ended up searching for a six-month search to replace UC chairman Michael V. Drake, who has been in the role since 2020 and will resign on July 31.

UC “Broadly considered to be the world’s outstanding public research university, and I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to join the important work of many talented faculty, staff and campus leaders,” Milliken said in a statement. “More than ever, we have expanded the education, research, health care and public services that UC admires so much and benefited many Californians.”

Milliken, 68, has led the large public university system for over 25 years, spinning in the best roles in both the crimson and blue states. He left 256,000 Texas University's 14 campus systems, including seven medical schools, and a Republican state where political leaders are close to Trump.

“Milliken embodies the quality and leadership that the University of California community currently needs,” Regent Janet Reilly said in a statement. “He understands the important contribution of UC to the country and the country, and he has decades of experience as a leading public institution in a time of unprecedented change in higher education. Secretary Milliken is just the right person for UC at the right time.”

Drake said in a statement that Milliken “has the depth of wisdom and experience to address the challenges and opportunities of the presidency” and will be committed to “the lasting values ​​of the university.”

Throughout his career, Milliken has described his belief in opening up higher education to low-income and first-generation students, who talked about the importance of immigrant students and diversity enrollment and promoted student success in job placement. In interviews in Texas, Milliken often talks about “how talent is universally distributed and opportunities”, while college visits are “mobility” for poor students and immigrant families.

Prior to his role in Texas in 2018, he worked as the principal of New York's 25 campus for four years. He is a Nebraska native and served nearly 10 years as president of the four Nebraska universities, six North Carolina 16 vice presidents. He began his academic career in Nebraska, where he served as secretary of the board of directors at the university, and taught law and public affairs. Before entering academia, he was a Wall Street lawyer.

In August, Milliken will hire UC Helm, the most prestigious public university system in the United States, a $53 billion business with 299,000 students, 26,000 faculty and 192,000 employees, including 10 campuses, six academic health systems and three affiliated national laboratories.

He will face immediate challenges from the Trump administration’s investigation and funding threats that could fundamentally reshape UC’s research, admission practices, free speech policies and diversity initiatives, while Sacramento also proposed a significant budget reduction.

Milliken, who will move from the Dallas area to the Bay Area this summer, will receive a salary of $1,475,000, while Drake will earn $13.08 million.

UC in the fire

The UC campus plays a huge role in Trump’s higher education goals. The UC system is conducting a federal investigation into alleged anti-Semitism against employees, due to last spring’s opposition to widespread pro-Palestinian protests and allegations of camps, including violent melee battles at UCLA camps. UCLA and UC Berkeley face other anti-Semitism investigations, which were investigated for their use of foreign donations.

The system’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs face scrutiny when the president widely declared that such efforts were based on racial discrimination. Federal lawyers are investigating the selective UC admission process, claiming it is illegally considering participating in the competition.

California, also one of the Democratic-led states, sued the administration with support from the University of California and California State University, with the support of the U.S. and California State University, including cutting billions of dollars in grants from the National Institutes of Health.

The UC system has lost $300 million in federal awards since January, and he has established a recruitment freeze in anticipation of further cuts that could drastically narrow campus ambitions. The UCLA budget of about $1 billion (about 10%) comes from Washington, a figure that says if lost, that number cannot be compensated by donations or other funds.

Faculty, students and faculty also criticized the university system for not defending its attacks more strongly.

Milliken will face early financial challenges ahead of Trump. In recent years, UC has met a growing number of requirements to open more seats for Californians and plans to add thousands of seats each year. But that could face hundreds of millions of dollars in national funding cuts, with leaders saying it could drive a reduction in enrollment. This, with higher faculty costs, greater retirement plan contributions, and more expensive health care, resulted in the UC budget of about $5 billion last year.

Higher Education in Texas

In Texas, Milliken is not known for its drastic challenge to Trump and the state's Republican initiatives to reshape campuses. In recent interviews, including an interview last summer by Gallup during the presidential campaign, he carefully addressed issues about Trump, instead choosing his belief in the unified role of education.

Under his leadership, Texas’ system (with a budget of approximately $18 billion) has earned record enrollment, increased transfers to community colleges and established a $300 million endowment fund to cover all tuition fees for statewide students from families earning under $100,000 in the state.

The system also launched a $16.5 million mental health program to meet student needs and established partnerships to provide free professional certificates to students from Microsoft, Google and other major companies. Milliken also advocated for the establishment of the UT Center for Education and Research at Laredo, a Center for Academic Health Research in South Texas.

In 2024, the second year after Gov. Greg Abbott signed the law, Milliken banned diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the state assembly, the state testified in the state assembly that UT closed 21 DEI offices, removed 311 DEI-related jobs, and canceled more than 600 contracts related to diversity issues. He said the moves allowed transfers to other plans for $25 million.

“You may not like the law, but it is the law,” Milliken said at the time.

At the same hearing in May 2024, the UT Prime Minister also answered a question from a state senator who asked if the pro-Palestinian protests were “an essentially anti-Semitism.”

Milliken replied that the protests were “quite anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism”, but not all of them were anti-Semitism.

The system’s flagship Austin campus is fighting the allegations that illegally consider the applicant’s race in admissions. The university was sued for fair admission by students, and the organization won an affirmative action case against Harvard in 2023 in the Supreme Court.

In a statement, University of California Regent Carmen Chu, who chaired the election committee, nodded to Milliken's experience while challenging the political terrain.

“As the university grows, it is crucial that we interact skillfully with leaders and strive to navigate and position institutions for long-term success,” she said.

Steven W. Zhang, the chairman of the UC faculty and staff, Senate Chairman.

Perspectives about UC, Education and Immigration

Milliken is a trained attorney who ranks not by academic certificates, but rather has a reputation for skilled government relations and management, sometimes working with competitive constituencies – students, parents, faculty, taxpayers and politicians.

Milliken, who spoke about Texas shortly after starting his University of Dexas role in 2018, also talked about his views on his new home, when the interviewer asked, “What does the UT system need to do to catch up with UC?” citing that the UC campus regularly appears in the highest ranking nationwide.

“I'm not going to see the world through UC Prism. In my opinion, it's not about catching up with UC, there's a lot of things going on in California in Texas.”

“You measure success by looking at what you want to achieve. Are these highly rated California institutions that make sense for Texas? Do we want to increase our research productivity? Do we want to strengthen our program to attract the best academics and get the best education. Yes, of course we have to do it. Do we want to measure ourselves by rejecting the percentage of our students?

In the same interview, the incoming prime minister spoke about another familiar theme in California: the looming budget cuts. “I do believe we need to provide public higher education in Texas, which will enable students to succeed and allow the country to thrive,” Milliken said. He described the university as “one of the best investments that states can make. It’s an investment in the future of the people.”

During Trump's first semester, Milliken was in Cuny, where the population included a large number of immigrants with legal documents.

Shortly before the president's first inauguration, Milliken issued a statement urging Trump to “reserve humane and beneficial action to extend childhood arrivals” plans and said the university will “take any action under the law to protect and support its undocumented students.”

During Milliken’s tenure in Nebraska, the theme of educational immigration also rose. Milliken wrote to state law in 2011 to defend a state law that was under attack for providing domestic tuition to undocumented students.

He also opposed a 2008 Nebraska voting initiative that won approval and banned affirmative action in public education and employment.

“If we are going to make students successful in the global economy, we should provide an educational environment that reflects the diversity of the world,” Millican said at the time.