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UCLA Removes CFO as Dispute Over Budget Claims Intensifies

Campus leaders reject Stephen Agostini’s $425 million deficit estimate, with faculty pressing for an independent accounting.

Overview

  • Chancellor Julio Frenk said Stephen Agostini will no longer serve as vice chancellor and CFO effective immediately, naming Reem Hanna-Harwell interim and launching a national search.
  • UCLA called the $425 million figure inaccurate, saying it includes uncommitted or unapproved items, and declined to provide an updated deficit estimate.
  • In a Daily Bruin interview, Agostini alleged long-standing errors in posted financial reports and labeled the halted Ascend finance project a costly failure with spending reported between $150 million and more than $213 million.
  • Faculty leaders and the Academic Senate urged independent auditing and greater transparency, including a phased plan to reduce institutional subsidies for athletics.
  • University officials cited broader institutional and external pressures for current strains and asserted UCLA retains the financial strength to adapt.