our program

Historically, academic institutions were built to serve a small minority of property owning families of European descent; and the oppressive legacy of universities continues to keep out people of color and low-income families with the many barriers that are built into the current system.

With the current roadblocks to higher education, there are over 2.5 million students enrolled in a California public higher education institution. Students – and faculty – are experiencing increased strains on their ability to learn and teach due to rising tuition, limited accessible/affordable student housing, limited (or absent) union support for staff, and the like.

The hardfought gains that came from the struggles of the 1960s are under attack – and even being rolled back – with the State Supreme Court undoing affirmative action in 2023 and escalated attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.

With a radical transformation of the education system, it is possible to remove all barriers to entry. Anyone, at any age – regardless of race, ethnicity, or income – who wants to pursue higher education should have access to do so. Education is the backbone of our society. We need to ensure that people of all backgrounds and generations have access to quality education.

As Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Stek will sit on three Boards that govern all public higher education institutions in California (i.e., the UC, CSU, and community college systems), voting with other board members to establish university policy, student tuition, admissions, employee wages and benefits, and land management policies on campuses. Additionally, the Board controls investments of the university financial endowment, and they supervise contract negotiations between public universities and private companies.

As Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Stek will:

• Make higher education free and accessible to all, at no cost to taxpayers that earn an annual income less than $250,000.

• Abolish all student-loan debt.

• Ban academic censorship and protect free speech. Students and faculty have a right to protest and challenge the status quo. Drop all charges on students and faculty speaking out against university complicity in genocide.

• Codify in the university Code of Conduct that anti-zionism does not equate to anti-semitism.

• Ban the presence of police and immigration customs enforcement (ICE) from all campuses as well as military recruitment outreach from all campuses.

• Fully divest university assets from Israel and weapons manufacturing companies.

• Protect unions and improve working conditions and compensation to employees by ratifying contracts/agreements during bargaining to favor the workers.

• Free day care for all children.

• Invest in and expand education programs, including community colleges, providing more hybrid and online options, and courses taught in multiple languages, to reach broader sections of working class people. Additionally, expand courses offered at public colleges to include trade skills to provide more options for people that may instead want to attend trade school.

• Inform investment into education programs based on what jobs are needed in society to meet the needs of the people and the planet. Support (next-generation and present-day) workers so that everyone has a job by planning for what training is required to successfully fill these roles.

Health care should be a basic human right. And yet, the US is one of the few developed countries that doesn’t offer health care.

At no additional increase to our taxes or any cost to us, we deserve and can achieve full, high quality medical care for every Californian. Health care is a human right – and it should not be tied to one’s employment or marriage.

As Lieutenant Governor, Alice Stek, a physician for over 40 years, will:

• Access to free, high quality health care, from cradle to grave, for all residents in California – including undocumented immigrants.

• Criminalize the presence of police and ICE agents in healthcare facilities. 

• Abolish all medical debt.

• Guarantee full reproductive and gender affirming care.

• Eliminate medical bias through better funded research and development and training programs for medical staff.

• Invest in adding and improving medical facilities in underserved communities.

We are long overdue for a society that is governed by a system that protects and celebrates all minorities. Black Americans deserve reparations. Immigrants deserve a full path to citizenship. Indigenous tribes deserve to have their treaties ratified and honored. Women and LGBT+ people deserve protection from gender-based bias. All minorities deserve social, economic, and political safety and dignity.

As Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Stek will:

• Demilitarize the police and end the war on drugs.

• Invest 90% of the budget currently allocated to policing into actual safety programs, in coordination with residents from heavily-policed communities: community programs for Black, POC, and low-income neighborhoods, such as after-school programs, libraries, free trade schools, health clinics, free farmers’ markets, and community centers.

• Criminalize ICE presence in California. Guarantee California as a sanctuary state.

• Divest from Israel and reinvest funds into social programs. Expand public housing that is safe, accessible, and affordable.

• Honor treaty obligations with Native American nations and recognize California tribes.

• Guarantee full reproductive, and gender affirming care.

• Guarantee paid parental leave for up to two years and free, quality child care for every Californian – including for domestic workers.

• Recategorize all vacant units in the coastal zone as mixed-income housing units.

As a state that currently boasts the most progressive, robust environmental regulations, we continue to see California’s government prioritize big corporations over working class people. For example, Northern California’s utilities monopoly, Pacific Gas and Electric, was responsible for some of the largest fires in California history in recent years, such as the Dixie Fire in 2021. In January 2025, fires devastated Los Angeles with the Palisades and Eaton fires, which resulted in catastrophic outcomes due to lack of resources invested in fire prevention and hazard mitigation programs, and lack of under-preparedness in response.

As the Lieutenant Governor, Dr. Stek will sit on the Board of the State Lands Commission and Coastal Commissions and will fight for the following:

• Divest from Big Oil and reinvest in renewable energy research and development.

• Create a fund from all profits made by Big Oil and invest that wealth into public transportation expansion.

• Invest in high speed rail across cities, across California, and across state boundaries.

• Develop public green spaces and community gardens, beginning with historically under-served communities.

• Invest in sustainable agricultural practices and ban toxic chemicals from pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides.

• Require regular testing of coastal waters and sediment, and uploading results to a public database, to ensure public safety.

• Invest in wildlife corridors and habitat connectivity projects.

• Invest in native vegetation planting initiatives and invasive/overgrown vegetation removal to increase biodiversity, minimize wildfire risk, and protect our wildland-urban interface.

• Guarantee public access to coastal areas and ban privatization of the coastline.

• Preserve coastline habitats and ensure everyone can appreciate California’s coast.