Dear Chancellor Wilcox and whom it may concern,

We write to express concerns regarding the announced temporary layoffs of Early Childhood Services (ECS) staff at UC-Riverside (which began on October 5 and will continue until December 13). ECS provides high quality early education and childcare to the local community as well as UCR students, staff, and faculty, many of whom do not have tenure.

Already, the temporary layoff of ECS teachers has created hardships for these teachers, 11 out of 13 of whom are women of color. ECS teachers should be reinstated; these layoffs should not be extended nor made permanent. If we care about promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity, we need to permanently maintain ECS teachers, even if ECS enrollment has experienced temporary declines due to the pandemic. After all, ECS are an important resource for UCR’s faculty, staff, and students and their children; they help to keep our campus diverse and inclusive. We must ensure that diverse and vulnerable groups on campus are protected and that highly qualified and experienced ECS teachers will be available when our campus reopens.

As we have previously stated, we believe UCR, and UC as a whole, can manage current revenue shortfalls by using reserves and borrowing power, rather than resort to austerity in the form of layoffs and program cuts. The ECS layoffs, like other campus layoffs, are unnecessary. According to a May 19, 2020 research presentation by the UC Coalition of Unions: “Based on its cash reserves, working capital and endowment pools, strong credit, and through potential administrative savings, UC does not need to be bound to a strategy of austerity” (https://cucfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/2020.5.19-UC-can-avoid-austerity.pdf). Along with the Council of UC Faculty Associations and other higher education unions and organizations, we believe that “College and University Executives should use all rainy day funds, reserves, investments, endowments and other resources at their disposal to center the care of workers and students first.” (https://cucfa.org/2020/05/not-just-reopen-transform-higher-ed/).

Sincerely,

The Board of the Riverside Faculty Association: