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Union and Student Letter to U. of California President Napolitano and Board of Regents

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following letter from staff, faculty, and student groups, delivered to University of California President Janet Napolitano, the UC Board of Regents, the campus Chancellors, and the Medical Center CEOs, enumerates concerns and suggestions for dealing with the financial consequences of COVID-19. May 13, 2020 Dear University of California President Napolitano…

U. of California Outsourcing Jobs in Violation of Law and Policy; Employees to Strike in Protest

BY HANK REICHMAN Two years ago state auditors rebuked the University of California (UC) for not following its own policy for outsourcing jobs. Now the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3299, which represents some 26,000 university employees, has filed six charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board against UC’s…

U. of California Researchers Go Union

BY HANK REICHMAN Scholars in the humanities and social sciences are painfully familiar with the widespread and baneful trend of converting teaching positions into contingent non-tenure-track, often part-time, “adjunct” jobs.  But some may not realize that a similar trend on the research side, especially in the physical and natural sciences, has emerged through the abuse…

UC Librarians Fight for Academic Freedom, Pay Equity

BY HANK REICHMAN This afternoon I had the pleasure of joining a demonstration of University of California librarians and their supporters outside the Berkeley campus’s Doe Library where the latest bargaining session between the UC-AFT Librarians and the UC administration was taking place.  As I previously reported, academic freedom is a central topic of negotiation. …

UC, Librarians, and Academic Freedom

BY MICHAEL MERANZE The following is reposted with permission from the Remaking the University blog.  Michael Meranze is Professor of History at UCLA and a member of AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure.  For previous posts on this topic go here and here.  As part of their negotiations with the university, University of…

CA-AAUP, CUCFA Support UC Librarians

POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN Earlier this week I posted an item about how contract negotiators for the University of California have refused to acknowledge the faculty status and academic freedom of the system’s librarians. Yesterday, the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) and the California Conference of the AAUP (CA-AAUP) issued the following…