Apologies for interrupting what we hope is a productive and restful summer. We write to give an update on the imposition of Trellix Endpoint Detection and Response, also known as EDR and known here at UCI as ZotDefend.
As IFA and CUCFA have noted already, Trellix is software that grants itself unrestricted root-level access to faculty computers, thereby enabling comprehensive and invasive surveillance capabilities. Such unchecked access allows the monitoring, extraction, alteration, and even deletion of files without explicit user consent or notification.
ACTION ITEMS:
Sign this open letter to incoming UC President James Milliken about the imposition of surveillance software on faculty computers
Exempt yourself from ZotDefend every 24 hours by clicking one button at https://activate.uci.edu/sso-zotdefend-exemption/. Add this to your bookmark bar so you can access it easily
Fill out this brief survey about how ZotDefend has impacted your work
Trellix represents an unprecedented intrusion into the privacy and intellectual security of faculty, undermining fundamental principles that underpin the university’s educational and research missions. Beginning last winter, CUCFA and IFA mobilized in opposition to the rushed and threatening implementation of the cybersecurity mandate. Hundreds of faculty members systemwide have voiced serious and well-founded concerns regarding the mandatory deployment of Trellix through several petitions. This spring, the Representative Assembly at UCI passed a resolution calling for an immediate halt, as did the Representative Assemblies at UC Santa Barbara. The Berkeley Division of the Academic Senate and UC Riverside’s Senate Executive Council also called for a freeze on the rollout. On June 12, 2025, the systemwide Representative Assembly of the UC Senate approved a resolution reflecting this same position. A petition signed by over 1,000 members of the Senate called for halting the implementation of any EDR-technology solution.
Although campus and systemwide leadership have so far violated shared governance and ignored these resolutions, ZotDefend is not inevitable:
– Senate faculty are the only academic workers required to use ZotDefend, UAW and AFT have demanded their union members be exempt.
– Campuses pick-and-choose which services require Trellix, and Irvine’s requirement is by far the most extensive.
Requirements/exclusions vary greatly campus-by-campus, but our impression so far is that UCI is among the most restrictive campuses across the UC. Trellix/ZotDefend is necessary to access (among other things) KFS, KSAMS, Docusign, Atlassian, OneTrust, FacNet, Canvas, TRS, and UCPath. Even if a faculty member needs to access one of these vital resources on their own personal device, they must have ZotDefend installed on that device unless they use the 24-hour exemption request. If you have had Trellix installed on your device and wish to remove it, please see this informational document.
Current leadership–both in UCOP and on the UCI campus–has so far violated the principle of shared governance in ignoring the resolutions of campus-level and systemwide assemblies, so we are calling on faculty to urge incoming UC President James Milliken, who begins his term on August 1, 2025, to listen to faculty. We encourage you to sign this letter, written by members of a CUCFA working group on the cybersecurity policy, asking that President Milliken answer the following questions:
- Why the implementation of Trellix is continuing in contradiction to the Academic Senate resolution.
- What steps he will be taking to halt the implementation of Trellix.
- How UCOP interprets shared governance in this context.
- What steps he will take to rebuild trust with the faculty whose voices have been sidelined.
Separately, faculty working groups are preparing a Public Records Act request to obtain documentation about the decision-making and procurement process that led to the Trellix requirement, and detailing alternatives to EDR systems that can meet the same insurance criteria. In other words, we are doing the work that the administration should have done when it decided not to consult us. Reach out if you have relevant skills and are interested in joining these efforts.
If you are not already a member of the IFA, now is a great time to join our efforts to protect and defend faculty governance and academic freedom.
Your IFA Board,
Aaron Bornstein (Cognitive Sciences)
Annie McClanahan (English)
Kevan Aguilar (History)
Tiara Na’puti (Global and International Studies)
María Rebolleda-Gómez (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)