Dear Bruin Community:
First, Chancellor Frenk and I want to congratulate our exceptional women’s basketball team on their first-ever championship in the NCAA era. The team members, Coach Cori Close and support staff represent the spirit of UCLA in all they do — and are shining examples of what it means to live out our True Bruin Values.
Over the past two years, thousands of students, staff, faculty, alumni and campus leaders have helped shape the next iteration of UCLA’s True Bruin Values for a new era. Through campuswide surveys, focus groups, Campus Community Conversations, Steering Committee deliberations and Academic Senate engagement, this work has reflected the care, thoughtfulness and commitment of our Bruin community. We undertook this effort to ensure our shared values are not only representative of UCLA, but also deeply felt, widely owned and meaningfully lived in everyday actions across our campus.
Today, we are entering the final feedback phase before the values are finalized and unveiled this fall. Based on campuswide feedback, a second draft of the refreshed values consolidates the values, reintegrates excellence and aligns them more explicitly with UCLA’s academic mission. The updated draft values are:
| Integrity | Excellence | Belonging |
| Lead with character – We communicate with honesty and transparency – We make ethical decisions grounded in evidence – We engage in disagreements with openness and humility – We take responsibility for our actions and their impact | Strive for greatness – We pursue the highest standards in teaching, research and service – We ask questions and challenge assumptions – We collaborate to elevate quality and impact – We direct our efforts toward the public good | Engage across difference – We treat one another with respect, even when we disagree – We create inclusive environments for learning and collaboration – We address bias or harm with accountability and care – We build relationships across differences in identity, role and viewpoint |
Please provide your feedback now via this updated survey by May 15, 2026.
This latest iteration reflects an evolution fully shaped by community voices and refined to align with UCLA’s mission and aspirations. Across the fall 2025 and winter 2026 engagement phases, faculty, staff, students and alumni raised several consistent themes about the draft values: a call to restore “Excellence” as a core value, concerns that the previous draft’s language felt overly corporate and a desire for values that are more distinctly UCLA. In response, this spring 2026 revision reintroduces Excellence, sharpens the language to be more specific and actionable, and more clearly reflects UCLA’s academic mission and identity.
After two years of engagement, this spring quarter marks your last opportunity to provide input before the values are finalized and launched this fall. We are especially interested in how these values feel distinctly UCLA — and where we can strengthen that connection.
You can participate in several ways:
- Provide your feedback via this updated survey by May 15, 2026
- Register now for the final Campus Community Conversation on May 13, 2026, 4–5:30 p.m.
- Host your own conversation with this updated toolkit, which includes an overview of the values’ evolution and new discussion questions
Whether this is your first time engaging or you have participated before, we welcome your voice in this important campuswide effort. When we launch in fall 2026, our hope is that the finalized True Bruin Values will permeate throughout campus, at new student orientation, in employee recognitions and so much more.
Thank you for participating in this process rooted in openness, reflection and shared responsibility. The True Bruin Values belong to all of us.
Sincerely,
Darnell Hunt
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost