Background

Origins

When Heterodox Academy launched its Campus Community initiative in 2023, faculty and staff at three University of California campuses formed affiliated chapters: UCLA (HxA UCLA), UC Berkeley (HxA Berkeley), and UC Riverside (CIVIC). These groups organized events and community meetings that brought together members committed to fostering a campus culture more supportive of free speech, open inquiry, and constructive disagreement.

All three campus communities remain active today, and Heterodox Academy continues to be a close partner of the heterodox community across the University of California.

History

In Fall 2024, HxA UCLA convened a small meeting with members of the heterodox community from across the University of California campuses. The aim of the goal was to bring together faculty to discuss issues relevant to academic freedom and free inquiry across the UC campuses.

In May 2025, this group reconvened, joined by faculty from eight of the ten UC campuses, for the May Day Conference on Free Inquiry. These discussions helped crystallize a shared vision for a UC-wide organization, modeled in part on an already established faculty group at UC Berkeley: Berkeley Initiative for Free Inquiry (BIFI).

In Fall 2025, under the leadership of a small organizing group—including Richard Sander, Steven Brint, Will Fithian, Chris Hoofnagle, Ethan Ligon, and Smriti Mehta—the University of California Initiative for Free Inquiry (UCIFI) was formally established. UCIFI now has members at all ten UC campuses, and momentum for its work continues to grow.

Mission

UCIFI is a faculty-led, system-wide network dedicated to advancing free inquiry and academic freedom across the University of California system. UCIFI seeks to promote policies that support academic freedom and help create a university culture in which intellectual diversity is respected, open debate is encouraged, and scholars and students alike can pursue truth without fear of institutional or social sanction.

Read UCIFI’s Guiding Principles