Council of UC Staff Assemblies urges system action on housing, AI use and wellbeing

The Council of UC Staff Assemblies (CUPSA) presented its annual report at the July 17 Regents meeting, urging the University of California to prioritize staff well-being, housing stability, total compensation and workforce sustainability.

KUPSA chair Jen Brauser (outgoing) and colleagues summarized multi-year work groups that recommended immediate and practical steps: establish emergency housing assistance for staff in crisis; continue the systemwide engagement survey (paused since 2021) with a new vendor; create a systemwide mentorship and coaching network; develop AI literacy and a shared Gen AI toolkit to improve efficiency while protecting jobs; and explore dependent tuition remission as a long-term benefit to retain staff. CUPSA emphasized it does not support replacing staff with AI and called for transparency on return-to-office policies and their justification.

Regents thanked CUPSA for the report and highlighted staff contributions across UC. Several Regents suggested pilot programs and further consultations with UCOP HR to examine feasibility, particularly for dependent tuition remission and emergency housing programs. No formal actions were taken during the session; Regents asked UCOP staff to follow up.