SANTA CRUZ >> UC Santa Cruz fired Director of Admissions Michael McCawley on Friday, an abrupt end to the 36-year career of a man who has been called one of the state’s most well-known admissions officials.

McCawley said he speculates his firing was related to his voicing “objections” to how UCSC officials are altering admissions requirements and procedures. McCawley acknowledged at least some of those objections related to a push to increase the ratio of transfer students over which $50 million in state funding has been withheld.

Speaking by phone on Monday, McCawley confirmed the firing but is disputing its legitimacy and said he had retained a lawyer to investigate his legal options.

It was not immediately clear what led to McCawley’s termination, and UC Santa Cruz spokesman Scott Hernandez-Jason declined to comment.

According to McCawley, a termination letter he received cited issues including communication style, leadership and failing to support the goals of the campus.

“My own speculation is that there are issues in me speaking my mind about certain ways people want things done,” said McCawley, who had intended to retire in June. “I want people to adhere to prudential policy. I want people to adhere to academic senate policy, and to good practice, and I always want to put the interest of the public first. Some of those things are not what people are focused on right now. They’re focused on other things.”

He declined to go into further detail pending consultation with his attorney.

Questions over UCSC’s admissions picture come amid years of back and forth between the UC system and the state over declining state funding and campus admissions that in recent years have tipped toward favoring out-of-state and international students to address the funding shortfalls. Out-of-state and international students pay more than double the tuition of in-state students.

A 2016 state audit found campuses actively sought to enroll less qualified students from out of state who pay a higher tuition premium. As part of the fallout of that report, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill on Oct. 17 to prohibit campuses from admitting out-of-state students with academic performance below the average of students from within the state.

The Sentinel previously reported that UCSC reduced its fall admissions of California students, while increasing acceptance of international students, more than any other UC. And the campus’s fall freshman class boasted record-setting numbers of new international students.

In May, Gov. Brown withheld $50 million in funding from UC campuses until each enrolled one transfer student for every two new freshmen — a goal first set back in 1960 and reaffirmed in 2015.

UCSC and UC Riverside have yet to meet that goal, leaving the pot of funding in limbo until a state treasurer makes an evaluation in March.

Michelle Whittingham, UCSC’s associate vice chancellor of enrollment management, also declined to comment on McCawley’s termination or his suggestion about its cause.

“I can neither confirm or deny that,” Whittingham said. “He has every right to his perspective and has every right to share that.”

McCawley was appointed to lead the admissions office in 2011 after more than three decades in the office working his way up from frontline advisor to associate director of admissions.

“Michael’s leadership and expertise goes beyond the campus to the entire UC system. He is considered an expert by many at the Office of the President,” Whittingham wrote in 2011, announcing McCawley’s appointment. “He was instrumental in the Transfer Admissions Guarantee (TAG) program and the many technological enhancements since the program began.”

That same year, McCawley received the prestigious Outstanding Staff award, in which nominators cited his “integrity, honesty, equity and fairness in his management style.”

Stepping into the role of interim director of admissions is Blia Yang, previously associate director of undergraduate admissions.

Yang could not be reached for comment, and attempts to contact other staff at the office of admissions were unsuccessful or forwarded to the campus spokesman.