Union Letter Urges Critical COVID Protections for Workers

August 30, 2022

Dr. Michael V Drake, President and UC Regents
University of California Office of the President

University of California 1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor

Oakland, CA 94607

Re: UCUC Urge Critical COVID Protections for Workers

Dear President Drake and UC Regents:

As you know, the University of California EPSL is set to expire September 30, 2022. The Union Coalition urges UC to act quickly to extend and expand critical protections to its workers. Specifically, the members of the UC Union Coalition urge you to provide an additional 128 hours of COVID-19 paid administrative leave for UC employees; extend leave programs through at least the end of 2023; ensure leave hours are provided to all new hires; and enhance the Cal OSHA Emergency Standard that continues an employee’s income when they are excluded from work for COVID-related reasons.

The pandemic has been with us for over two years and many workers have exhausted the previously provided COVID-19 leave. The UC COVID leave programs have proven invaluable and remain important tools in maintaining stability and controlling the negative impacts of COVID-19. Safety measures remain necessary to maintain the safety of health care workers, patients, campus staff and students in order to mitigate the negative impact of the virus, including ensuring that sick workers are not vectors for spreading the virus at work. Therefore, UC workers still have an urgent need to have access to paid leave for coronavirus-related reasons.

Signed,
AFSCME 3299

CIR/SEIU

CNA

CUCFA

Teamsters 2010

UAPD

UAW 2865

UAW 5810

UC-AFT

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Report from the 2022 National AAUP Convention

Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA, of which IFA is the UC Irvine chapter) President Constance Penley attended the historic National AAUP convention on June 16-18 in Arlington, VA, as the CUCFA delegate, which meant that she had an opportunity to vote on the proposed alliance between the AAUP and the AFT (AFL-CIO) and to fill six open AAUP Council seats. Read her report from the Convention at the CUCFA website.

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We support the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council-authored requirement

Below is a letter from Constance Penley, on behalf of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, to Professor Madeleine Sorapure, Chair of the UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools, in support of the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council-authored UC A-G Ethnic Studies requirement.


June 6, 2022

Madeleine Sorapure, Chair
UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools
Via email.

Dear Chair Sorapure,

The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) supports the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council-authored UC A-G ethnic studies requirement (a subject requirement for admission to the UC system). We share their concern about a disturbing, recent development that suggests political interference in the faculty right to develop curriculum. We believe that recent abrupt shifts in course content betray student demands for an A-G ethnic studies requirement and potentially reflect irregularities in the process.

CUCFA joins nearly 1,300 faculty, administrators, and students who have signed a statement of support for the UC A-G ethnic studies course criteria that the UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS)-appointed ethnic studies specialists crafted and BOARS initially approved. The list of signatories includes the National Association for Multicultural Education, the California Alliance of Researchers for Equity in Education, chapters of the Association of Raza Educators, a range of UC departments, and the 19,000-strong UAW 2865 graduate student union. It reads as a roster of major ethnic studies scholars throughout the state and beyond. It speaks volumes about the support for ethnic studies both inside and outside the UC system.

The following is a brief timeline of the issue compiled by the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council:

  • In October 2021, Assembly Bill 101 was signed in California, requiring that ethnic studies be offered in high school by the 2025-26 school year and become a graduation requirement by 2030. In November 2020, in response to advocacy from the UC Student Assembly, which represents 285,000 students, the UC Academic Senate and UC Board of Regents approved a resolution expanding the A-G admissions requirements to include a one-semester ethnic studies course. The UC Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools (BOARS) then convened a workgroup of twenty ethnic studies specialists to articulate the course criteria.
  • On May 12, 2022, BOARS chair Madeleine Sorapure notified the UC-appointed members of the writing team (a subset of the larger workgroup) that developed, drafted, and revised the course criteria for the UC A-G ethnic studies requirement that the UC would instead be taking a “broader approach to include diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice courses.” The fact that BOARS blocked the members of the writing team from taking part in the May 6, 2022 BOARS meeting meant that no expert in ethnic studies was present at a consequential discussion that resulted in this reckless reversal of course.

Disturbingly, at that May 6 meeting, despite having previously approved the draft criteria, BOARS decided to allow racist and reactionary external pressure—including letters and petitions against ethnic studies—to inform their deliberative process. This abrupt shift from ethnic studies-specific course criteria to “DEI/social justice” is unconscionable since BOARS had unanimously approved an explicitly ethnic studies A-G requirement in late 2020. This new watered-down focus on “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) courses betrays student demands for a UC A-G ethnic studies requirement. It fails to align with California’s mandated ethnic studies high school requirement. Anti-ethnic studies organizations have boasted to the media that they were “successful in stalling the ethnic studies requirement” through interference in the deliberative process.

Although a UC A-G ethnic studies requirement will advance UC’s diversity, equity, and inclusion goals, “DEI” is a corporate buzzword that is aimed, in top-down fashion, at managing diversity in institutional settings. It is not, nor has it ever been, a curriculum. Unlike ethnic studies as a field that emerged from grassroots struggles to democratize education for Native peoples and communities of color who have long been sidelined in traditional curricula, DEI does not center their lived experiences, epistemologies, and struggles within and against systems of colonialism and racism. It is not backed by research like ethnic studies, which has been empirically shown to improve all students’ academic achievement and social relations. Simply put, DEI is not a field of study.

Like other A-G requirements, the UC ethnic studies requirement–and course criteria–must be driven by scholars, teacher-practitioners, and experts within the field. In this sensitive juncture in which it appears that the A-G ethnic studies requirement itself is being reconsidered, the  Council of UC Faculty Associations joins the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council in asking that you take whatever measures you can to ensure that any campus-level and BOARS deliberations around the UC A-G ethnic studies requirement include at least one ethnic studies specialist from at least half of each of our UC campuses. We ask this out of concern for ensuring that the process by which this important academic requirement is developed proceeds in an open and equitable manner.

We also call on you as chair of BOARS, to ensure that, in keeping with the terms of their appointment, the members of the A-G ethnic studies workgroup be allowed to help formulate any policy proposal on ethnic studies. It is troubling that they have repeatedly been blocked from participating in discussions they were charged with contributing to as content-area experts.

We ask that you support the integrity of ethnic studies as a field now over a half-century old by requiring coursework for incoming students that is consonant with that discipline as it is for all others.

Sincerely,

Constance Penley, CUCFA President and Professor of Film and Media Studies, UC Santa Barbara
On behalf of the Council of UC Faculty Associations

cc: BOARS Analyst Kenneth Freer
UC Systemwide Senate Chair Robert Horwitz
UC Provost Michael Brown
UC President Michael Drake
The UC Regents

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IFA and CUCFA solidarity pledge with UC Lecturers and Strike

Dear UC Irvine Senate Faculty Colleagues,

For the first time in over 20 years and after 2 years of negotiations, our lecturer colleagues across the UC system, represented by UC-AFT, have voted with an overwhelming majority of 96% to authorize a strike. As Senate faculty, we stand in solidarity with them as they fight to strengthen job stability, improve wages and benefits, and ensure fair compensation and workload that reflects their training, experience, and contributions to the UC. Our lecturer colleagues’ precarious working conditions are our students’ learning conditions, so when we stand with the lecturers we are defending the quality of public education at the University of California.

IFA has joined with the other Faculty Associations across the UC system—under our umbrella organization, the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA)—to develop a UC Senate Faculty Pledge to Stand in Solidarity with UC Lecturers. The Pledge lists different ways to support the lecturers and provides links to more information, including an FAQ. Click here to learn more and to sign the Pledge.

 

With appreciation and in solidarity,

 

IFA Executive Board

 

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Our Letter to UC about the Potential for Censorship of Faculty by Private Technology Providers

September 24, 2020

President Michael V. Drake
Office of the President
University of California
1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607

Delivered via Email to: president@ucop.edu

Dear President Drake,

As members of the Board of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, we write with the utmost urgency regarding the cancellation of an approved remote/streaming panel at San Francisco State University yesterday, September 23, by Zoom, and the subsequent cancellation of the same event by Facebook Live and cut-off in mid-stream by YouTube. Continue reading

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Letter from Irvine Faculty Association regarding campus police reform – 8/7/20

The IFA Board sent the following letter to Chancellor Gillman in response to his August 6 email to the UCI community regarding policing and race at UCI.


Dear Chancellor Gillman,

We write as board members of the Irvine Faculty Association, part of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, in response to your August 6th email to the UCI community regarding racism and policing, Continue reading

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President Napolitano, please extend striking student health insurance for COVID-19

March 14, 2020

Dear President Napolitano,

The Faculty Organizing Group at UCSC has just issued a very important letter to UCSC’s EVC Kletzer (copied below) in which they call for an act of “empathy, compassion, and responsibility” in reinstating the 80 graduate students fired for their participation in the COLA strike, Continue reading

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IFA’s response to VC Haynes concerning the arrest and detention of an alumna.

The IFA Board sent the following response to Vice Chancellor Haynes, who responded to our letter of  February 26, 2020 concerning the arrest and detention of a UCI biomedical engineering alumna.


March 6, 2020

Dear Vice Chancellor Haynes,

Thank you for your letter replying to our call for real measures in response to the police violence incident at Aldrich Hall.  Your letter raises several issues of concern.  This incident is not a dispute between individuals that can be resolved privately and out of the public view: the campus community has been seriously affected, as you too may have been hearing. The statement in your letter that the administration “is working closely with all parties to reach a mutually agreeable situation” does not seem to reflect the gravity of the situation.  The campus community needs transparency and clarity from the UCI administration, public accountability and real checks on policing on campus through strong public oversight, and an assurance that assaulting non-violent campus members is against UCI policy.  We believe this incident requires a statement directly from the Chancellor to the UCI community and a public commitment to ensure appropriate disciplinary and proactive measures will be taken in the wake of this case.

We look forward to hearing from you and the Chancellor at the earliest possible time.

Sincerely,
Eyal Amiran, Mark LeVine, and Kristin Peterson
UCI IFA Executive Board

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Letter to Chancellor Gillman from the UCI Faculty Association 2/26/20

Dear Chancellor Gillman:

We are writing as UCI faculty to express our concern about the arrest and detention of Shikera Chamndany, a UCI biomedical engineering alumna. Chamndany went to the Registrar in Aldrich Hall on February 20 at the same time the protest in support of UCSC graduate assistants cost of living adjustment was being held outside.  In an event that was documented by a widely circulated video, Chamndany was tackled to the ground and arrested by UCI police officer Trish Harding.  In the video we see her exchange some words with the police before it appears she is assaulted. It is reported by students who then followed her that she was then detained off campus before being released at around 6am the next morning.

Even if Chamndany were related to the protest—which was not the case, evidently—and even if she entered the building after being told not to (we do not know), her arrest is violent and disturbing.  The UCIPD statement posted to Twitter and Facebook describes Chamndany as “forcibly enter[ing] the building” – a statement difficult to believe, due to police presence at the doors documented on video prior to the event. The police claim that she assaulted them requires thorough investigation, as does the entire incident.  Chamndany is Black, and given that racial bias is perceived to be often involved in police arrests, many have commented, such as the BSU on campus, that it was racially motivated.  Chamndany is calm and non-threatening in the video.  Were her arrest and detention racist or meant to intimidate and harass students, as the BSU has suggested?  This uncertainty is itself unacceptable.  Such events contribute to a climate of fear and distrust on campus.

UCI administrators and UCIPD appear to think that a heavy police presence is not only acceptable, but justified for a small, peaceful protest by our graduate students. Tackling and arresting an alumna, and then dragging her off not to the UCI police station but to the county criminal justice system, is the wrong response. This disturbing event requires prompt and transparent investigation.  UCI administration should say at once that tackling and arresting non-violent students is against our policy, and should not be the first and apparently aggressive act of campus police. We feel threatened by the possibility that UCI might sanction such behavior.  To think that any of us and our students can be and have been subject to this violence affects our ability to work and live without fear on campus.  This is particularly true under the current national climate where police intimidation and killings of black and brown bodies and state violence more generally are on the rise.

The current Public Safety Advisory Committee should be replaced with an independent oversight committee with real authority to investigate and work to correct police procedures and actions, including this incident.  If it is found that excessive force or intimidation tactics were used by UCI police, then the officer(s) involved should be disciplined or dismissed.  UCI should have zero tolerance for racism, intimidation, or violence by campus police.

Sincerely,
Eyal Amiran, Mark LeVine, Kristin Peterson
UCI Faculty Association Executive Board

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Paid Family Leave for UC Employees

The Council of UC Faculty Associations’ board has just signed on to a proposal to provide paid family leave to all who work at the University of California. Most working residents of California have access to financial support for pregnancy, bonding with a new child, and caring for a sick family member. The governor is poised to further improve those programs.

University of California workers do not have this access. Staff employees are required to use accrued sick leave to stay home even just after giving birth, and although biological mothers on the faculty have six weeks of paid leave after birth, all other faculty parents are only eligible for teaching relief, and that must be individually negotiated with their Chairs.

Who pays for the work of caring for those who cannot care for themselves is a pressing social justice issue that goes well beyond the University of California. Apart from the raw question of what kind of world we are making, family leave policy also raises obvious equity issues relating to gender and family form. The University of California should be a leader in this context; instead we are far behind. This proposal is the beginning of a significant push to rectify that situation.

The committee working on the proposal is also looking for testimonials about UC employees’ experiences with dealing with a new child or a sick family leave under the current system. If you or someone else you know would like to contribute an account, it can be shared (anonymously or for attribution) here:  https://bit.ly/2Bd0Li4

It is high time the University of California offered paid family leave that is at least equivalent to the California Paid Family Leave program.

Leslie Salzinger for the Irvine Faculty Association

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