UT System chancellor leaves to lead University of California
University of Texas System Chancellor JB Milliken will leave the 256,000-student system to take a new out-of-state position as University of California president, system officials said Friday.
"We are fortunate to have had Chancellor Milliken at the helm of the UT System for almost seven years,' said UT System Regents' Chair Kevin P. Eltife in a statement. 'The board and I are grateful for our close and very productive relationship with him, and we are proud of what we accomplished together. He has led the UT System admirably and innovatively."
John Zerwas, the University of Texas System's executive vice chancellor for health affairs and who served seven terms in the Texas House of Representatives, will serve as acting chancellor when Milliken leaves in June, according to a news release from the UT System.
Milliken was named the new president of the University of California on Friday, and will enter that role in August, according to statements from UC and UT.
This is a developing story; check back for details.
Disclosure: University of Texas System has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas' breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
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Forbes
2 hours ago
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Newsweek
a day ago
- Newsweek
Clarence Thomas' Former Clerk Warns Trump Did Something 'Truly Outrageous'
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Boston Globe
2 days ago
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The challenge for Donovan, whose academic research focuses on misinformation, and the other activists is keeping their movement going now that Musk appears to be pulling back from politics. Alice Hu, a political activist who has organized protests at Tesla locations in New York, said organizers were determined to continue, drawing on people's distress over Trump's policies and Musk's support of right-wing causes. 'We want to apply as much pressure as possible to Elon Musk himself,' Hu said. 'We want to send a message to the Trump regime that there is a mass movement and that people are watching, and there will be consequences for what they are doing to our government.' The group is planning around 50 protests for June 28 -- Musk's birthday -- according to its website. Donovan said she hoped the protests would expand beyond picketing in front of Tesla locations. 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A graduate of Columbia University, she founded a climate activist group, Planet Over Profit, that held demonstrations targeting Citi last year. A handful of celebrities have supported the Tesla Takedown protests. Actors Alex Winter and John Cusack have participated in organizing calls. Winter contacted Donovan early on and offered to create a Tesla Takedown website. He declined to comment for this article. In April, Tesla reported that its profit fell 71% in the first three months of the year after it sold 15% fewer cars compared with a year earlier. Many Tesla owners are selling or trading their cars in, and prices of used Teslas have fallen sharply. In early April, Tesla's stock price was down by around 54% from a December high, although it has regained much of that ground in recent weeks and is now down 29%. Advertisement In an April conference call to discuss Tesla earnings, Musk addressed the demonstrations, saying, without evidence, that the protesters were paid. 'They're obviously not going to admit that the reason that they're protesting is because they're receiving fraudulent money or that they're the recipients of wasteful largess,' he said. Hu and Donovan said they were not paid or funded by anyone to protest against Tesla. In March, Trump defended Musk and Tesla at a White House event in which he looked over a display of five different Tesla models and said he would buy one of them, a Model S luxury sedan. 'I think he's been treated very unfairly by a very small group of people,' Trump said. 'And I just want people to know that he can't be penalized for being a patriot.' One challenge for the protest movement is preventing it from becoming linked to recent acts of vandalism against Tesla. The company's cars, dealerships and chargers have been spray-painted, set on fire and damaged in other ways around the world. Musk and Trump have described these incidents as the work of 'terrorists.' The White House spokesperson said the Justice Department was investigating the vandalism. Donovan and Hu say they urge protesters to refrain from violence and demonstrate peacefully. But the posters and signs some demonstrators have displayed at Tesla Takedown events often take an aggressive tone. At one March demonstration in lower Manhattan, a line of protesters strode down the street toward a Tesla dealership, holding a large banner with the words, 'Burn a Tesla, Save Democracy,' painted against flames on a white background. In Germany protesters recently projected images and videos on the walls of Tesla's plant outside Berlin. They showed Musk making a Nazi-like, stiff-armed salute along with slogans like 'Heil Tesla.' Advertisement While the protests were originally aimed at Musk and Tesla, many events have started attracting people who see them as a way to demonstrate their opposition to other administration initiatives. At a recent demonstration at the Tesla store in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Beth Ann Thorrez was dressed in a penguin suit -- a poke at the Trump tariffs levied against countries around the world, including one uninhabited island populated largely by penguins. Several protesters said they would speak only on the condition of anonymity, saying they feared attacks from supporters of Trump and Musk, or punitive actions by the federal government. Donovan said death threats arrive in her email inbox and social media accounts almost every day. But she finds encouragement and resolve, she said, in how the demonstrations have grown. The events in Boston where Donovan is often present typically draw hundreds of participants and have taken on a carnival atmosphere. A marching band provided entertainment at one recent gathering; a chorus sang at another. 'A lot of people who are not incredibly political in their daily lives are coming out and joining,' she said. 'You see a lot of adults, grandparents, kids. I'm energized by it.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times.