UC Riverside Faculty Association

May 9, 2024
by Admin 2
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Faculty Association Statement On Campus Protests

The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) denounces the growing number of attempts to intimidate, repress, and criminalize campus protests of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza that is supported economically and politically by the United States. Many of us have watched in horror as colleagues and students at pro-Palestinian encampments have been arrested and subjected to violent treatment by vigilantes and the police over the past few days. On April 30, students sitting in at UCLA were subjected to intense vigilante violence just hours after UC President Drake declared the encampment “unlawful” and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block called it “unauthorized.” These statements played a direct role in turning a peaceful, orderly campus demonstration into the target of violence. UCLA subsequently failed to respond appropriately when student demonstrators were assaulted by dozens of armed men overnight. On May 1, the leadership of UAW 4811 (which represents 48,000 academic workers across the University of California) voted to hold a strike authorization vote if this repression continues.

In the morning hours of May 2, the violence at UCLA intensified. Police deployed stun grenades and rubber bullets, arresting more than 200 individuals from the encampment. UCLA faculty present at the encampment have stated that the demonstrators were peaceful and orderly until outside right-wing agitators, and then the police, entered the camp and caused chaos and violence. As of May 3, there are student encampments on 7 UC campuses, while student demonstrations are taking place on the remaining 3 campuses. Students, faculty, and staff systemwide are rightly worried about UC leadership’s role in escalating repression and violence against peaceful demonstrations.

The appalling arrests of student demonstrators following vigilante attacks at UCLA repeats a disturbing national trend: as anti-war demonstrations have proliferated, university leaders have made sweeping characterizations of them as dangerous, weaponizing the language of “safety” to delegitimize, intimidate, and forcibly disperse legal, peaceful dissent. UC leaders have contributed to this pattern, making students, faculty, and staff less safe as a result.

We call upon the University of California President, Michael Drake, and Chancellors of all ten University of California campuses to immediately, clearly, and forcefully recommit themselves to freedom of expression on campus. We demand you fulfill your responsibility to your campus community to defend peaceful protestors, uphold academic freedom, and reject pressure to criminalize peaceful encampments and demonstrations.

For administration: CUCFA affirms that University of California administrators are responsible for protecting the free speech rights of students, faculty, and staff. CUCFA affirms that campus protests and demonstrations fall under that set of rights. We demand:

  1. No disciplinary actions, no retaliation. Do not suspend students who participate in protest, and do not retaliate against UC graduate students, lecturers, staff, or Senate faculty who participate in protest. Drop existing disciplinary cases against student demonstrators.
  2. No arrests, no declarations of peaceful demonstrations as unauthorized. Do not mark student demonstrations as targets for vigilante or police violence. No police actions against students, graduate students, lecturers, staff, or faculty who are engaged in their first amendment right to demonstrate and protest.
  3. Recognize the condition and empathize with all students, including those with direct ties to Gaza and Palestine, and others in the Middle East, and the many Jewish students and faculty who are allied with the protestors’ demands for a ceasefire.
  4. Listen to the demands of student demonstrators, and engage them in sincere talks.

For faculty: In the event of a UAW 4811 strike authorization, we wish to reiterate our previous statements that “under HEERA [the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act], faculty do not need to volunteer to perform struck work that is outside our customary duties” and that “messages from the university telling you that it is your responsibility to ensure the continuity of education for your students… does not mean you have to volunteer to do the work of strikers that is not part of your normal work duties.” It is simply untenable for an already overworked faculty to replace the critical educational work that is done by ASEs and doing so undermines our own working conditions and the impact of their collective action. Further, “all university employees covered under HEERA, including Senate faculty, even department chairs or heads of similar academic units or programs, are generally non-managerial and also have the right to respect a picket line established by other university employees.” Should a strike be announced, CUCFA will send out further guidance regarding faculty rights and responsibilities, including on the issue of graduate student timesheets.

October 31, 2023
by Admin 2
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Sign our letter objecting to unreasonable increases in health benefit costs

Dear UC Riverside faculty,

Please add your name to our letter to UC President Michael Drake and the UC Regents objecting to the sharp healthcare benefit cost increases to employees of 22% to 193%. We also object to the opacity with which UC negotiated rate increases with health care plan providers and unilaterally decided how to split the cost of any increase between employer and employees. The text of the letter is below. You can add your name to the letter at https://bit.ly/ucHealth
Thank you,
The RFA Board

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Dear President Drake,

On October 26th, every UC employee received an Open Enrollment notice with new rates for healthcare benefits. UCOP presented these changes to UC Unions and the Council of UC Faculty Associations just three days before the start of Open Enrollment, leaving no opportunity for any input.

The increases in the employee health benefits share are unprecedented and alarming. Costs for healthcare benefits will be going up between 15% and 193% per month, depending on one’s plan and coverage. For example, if you currently pay for Kaiser for yourself and your spouse/partner, your cost will increase by 74% on January 1. An employee who insures themselves and their whole family (spouse/partner + children) through UC Health Savings Plan will see an increase of 171%. Every health benefit plan and coverage tier is affected, and these changes will impact the over 200,000 employees who receive benefits in the UC system.

Struck by the exorbitant increases, the UC unions pressed for answers. UCOP representatives cited inflation, deferred preventative care during the pandemic, rising drug costs, and clinical workforce shortages as root causes for these price increases. While these are all real issues impacting healthcare costs everywhere, when pushed for details about how prices were negotiated and set for UC employees, UCOP’s answers were unsatisfactory and lacked transparency.

For example, the cost to employees is determined by the insurance company rate increase less the employer share contribution. UC did not provide information about either the rate increase or the employer contribution, so there is no way to tell if UC is paying its share of the increased cost. But other sources indicate that Kaiser’s rate increase was probably about 15% this year[1], which would mean that UC reduced its share of contributions by about 20%.

We object to these unreasonable increases in our health benefit costs and UC’s secrecy and nontransparency in devising and announcing these policies. Your approach serves not only to degrade and disrespect UC’s academic employees but also contributes to the ongoing severe erosion of UC’s teaching and research mission. You will be hearing more from us, the people in the UC community who are now learning how their lives and livelihoods will be devastated by the poorly warranted policy changes to our healthcare that UCOP has sprung on them.

cc: The UC Regents

March 20, 2023
by Admin 2
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Call for the inclusion of caste within UC’s anti-discrimination policy

On March 19, 2023, CUCFA endorsed the following letter, which will be sent to President Drake, UC Chancellors, and Board of Regents calling for the inclusion of caste within the University of California’s anti-discrimination policy. To join this call, sign here by April 10, 2023:

Dear President Drake, UC Chancellors, and Board of Regents,

We, University of California faculty, staff, and students, are writing to request the inclusion of caste within the University of California’s anti-discrimination policy to further solidify the UC’s commitment to diversity and equity and ensure appropriate protections for caste oppressed students, staff, faculty, and community members. With the current UC-wide anti-discrimination policy undergoing revision, it is important that the updated policy explicitly includes caste to better address the ongoing caste discrimination across the University of California.

Caste is a structure of oppression that affects over 1 billion people across the world. As one of the oldest systems of oppression in the world, the caste system is a structure of graded inequality based on notions of purity and pollution. Caste is determined at birth and affects all aspects of life, including your right to human dignity, where you can worship, where you can live, who you can marry, and your prospects for educational and career advancement. To this day, caste-oppressed peoples continue to experience profound injustices including socioeconomic inequalities, usurpation of their land, rights, and brutal violence at the hands of the dominating castes.

Caste is prevalent across various faith communities across South Asia, and also transgresses regional and national boundaries to be found globally across communities part of the diaspora. Similar forms of caste systems also exist in various non-South Asian communities, with some examples being the caste system in Japan that marks the Burakumin caste as untouchable by birth, and the casta system across Latin America.

In the US, caste impacts over 5.5 million South Asians and has infiltrated a broad range of spaces and industries from education spaces to the tech sector to religious centers. According to the 2016 survey “Caste in the United States” produced by Equality Labs, 25% of Dalits reported facing verbal or physical assault based on their caste in the US, one in three Dalit students report being discriminated against during their education in the US, two out of three Dalits surveyed reported being treated unfairly at their workplace in the US, 60% of Dalits report experiencing caste-based derogatory jokes or comments in the US, and 20% of Dalit respondents report feeling discriminated at a place of business because of their caste.

Universities in the US are no exception. Caste-oppressed students and faculty are subjected to discrimination, bullying, and humiliation. According to the preliminary findings of the 2022 Caste in Higher Education Survey administered by the National Academic Coalition for Caste Equity (NACCE) and Equality Labs, 4 in 5 caste-oppressed students, staff, and faculty reported experiencing caste-discrimination at the hands of their dominant caste peers. Further, 75% of them did not report caste-based discrimination in their universities or colleges because caste was not added as a protected category and/or their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion departments lacked caste competency due to a lack of provisions and training. Given the prevalence of caste discrimination, leading universities and colleges across the US have amended their anti-discrimination policy to add caste as a protected category, including Colby College, Brown University, Brandeis University, and, most notably, the California State University system in 2022. Recently, Seattle also amended its anti-discrimination policy and became the first city in the nation to ban caste discrimination.

The call to ban caste discrimination has also been ongoing in the University of California system, with UC Davis becoming the first UC campus to add caste to its anti-discrimination policy, and UC Berkeley’s ASUC Senate unanimously passing SR 21/22-029 urging administration to amend the anti-discrimination policy to include caste in order to create equitable learning opportunities for all students.

We call on the University of California to also recognize caste within its anti-discrimination policy and commit to protecting caste oppressed peoples against discrimination on the basis of caste. Caste-based discrimination is an urgent civil and human rights issue that requires immediate action and we request you to recognize the humanity and the reality of caste oppressed faculty, staff, and students. Given UC’s commitment to ensuring a safe and equal working and learning environment for all, adding caste as a protected category will affirm the university’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and support for those most marginalized.

To support adding caste as a protected category, please sign your name and affiliation below by April 10, 2023.

February 16, 2023
by Admin 2
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Reject Punitive Austerity at the University of California

The Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA), in collaboration with University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT), which represents over 6,000 UC Unit 18 faculty and librarians, is collecting faculty and lecturer signatures on a letter we intend to send to President Drake and UC Regents later this month. The letter is pasted below, and if you are interested in adding your name to it, click here.

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Dear President Drake and UC Regents,

We, the undersigned members of the UC community, stand firmly against any move on the part of the UC Office of the President (UCOP) to impose the costs of UAW-ratified contracts on the already strained finances of departments, research centers, libraries and faculty. The result would be a diminished quality of research and education for undergraduates and graduates. We urge campus administrators, UCOP, the California legislature, Governor Newsom, and federal granting agencies to recommit to fully funding public higher education.

On December 23rd, 2022, UAW members across the UC system ratified contracts with much-needed and significantly increased pay and benefits, including childcare subsidies, increased access to healthcare, family leave, and transit benefits. These overdue contracts improve the lives of UAW members—our students and postdocs—who have long endured inadequate pay and benefits. Despite numerous warnings by public education advocates, the UC system has enjoyed these lowered labor costs for decades. It is only now facing the question of how to pay for these much-needed improvements.

The University is seeking to impose these costs on departments, research centers, and faculty PIs, leading to a reduction of graduate student appointments, an increase in the already high number of undergraduates per discussion section, and a correspondingly negative impact on course curriculum, undergraduate assignments, and grading. This reduction also weakens currently funded research and allows fewer future funded research opportunities for graduate students. TA and GSR appointments are central components of funding for graduate students, and both are major inputs into the research and educational work of the institution. Given these anticipated effects, the costs of the new contracts negotiated by UCOP cannot be borne by departments, research centers, and faculty PIs. Indeed, by pushing the costs downwards in this way, the university is both effectively canceling the gains of this historic strike and negatively impacting the research and education mission of the UC.

We refuse this divide-and-conquer tactic and stand alongside our undergraduate and graduate students, department chairs, and deans in insisting on a funding model that advances the UC system’s fundamental mission of education and research. We refuse the imposition of unilateral, punitive austerity as the university’s response to a strike by academic workers against poverty wages.

We know the UC system has funds at its disposal and can work to raise additional public funds at both the state and federal levels to cover the costs of the new UAW contracts. UC leadership must not only reallocate administrative budgets but also robustly appeal to state legislators and federal grant agencies for larger budget appropriations. We expect to see a budget and planning process that allocates funds to the central missions of teaching and research and underwrites the short-term and long-term costs of the improved contract. The strike, the largest academic labor action in US history and the largest across any industry in the US last year, has highlighted the urgent need to reprioritize educational goals above financial goals.

We intend to take our concerns to the Academic Senate, the UC Regents, the California Governor and legislature, and the media. We do so to advocate for public education and to stand with our undergraduate and graduate students and junior colleagues as we all work hard to carry out that mission.

January 17, 2023
by Admin 2
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Statement on UC’s Attestation Form for Faculty

Following today’s campus directive requiring the submission of self-attestation forms by those faculty who participated in strike-related activities last quarter, we write to offer further clarification and guidance from the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA) on how best to respond.

Below we append CUCFA’s advice on faculty-protected rights in relation to UC’s issuing of these attestation forms, along with a cease-and-desist letter sent to UC Labor Relations. Links to each of these are below.

https://cucfa.org/2023/01/ucops-attestation-form-for-faculty/
https://cucfa.org/2023/01/uc-interference-with-faculty-protected-rights/

Please read CUCFA’s arguments as to why “UC’s attempt to survey faculty about whether or not they honored the picket line is unlawful, and you are not required to submit these forms.”

 

January 4, 2023
by Admin 2
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Strike Resolution and Grading Updates

In light of the resolution of the recent historic strike by academic workers, we write to share with you the following update regarding grading that remains to be completed for the fall 2022 quarter.

The Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA), in collaboration with UC-AFT, UAW 2865, and the UC Santa Cruz Faculty Association (the only legal bargaining unit representing Senate Faculty in the UC system), sent the following letter to Letitia Silas, Executive Director of Labor Relations at the UC Office of the President (UCOP), regarding the need for centrally funded compensation for readers and/or lecturers to complete Fall grading. The letter reminds UCOP that Senate faculty members and lecturers have no obligation to volunteer to pick up struck labor required to complete Fall 2022 grade submission, and calls on UC to provide funds to hire readers to complete that work. The full text of the letter is pasted below, and shared online at:

https://cucfa.org/2023/01/uaw-ucaft-cucfa-scfa-return-to-work-grading/

Sincerely,
The Board of the RFA

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January 4, 2023

Letitia Silas
Executive Director, Labor Relations
UC Office of the President
1111 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94607

CC: President Michael V. Drake

Delivered via Email to: Letitia.Silas@ucop.edu

Dear Labor Relations Executive Director Silas,

We write collectively as representatives of UAW 2865, UC-AFT, CUCFA, and SCFA. Due to the UAW’s strike over UC’s unfair labor practices during contract negotiations, a significant amount of the labor required to complete Fall 2022 grade submission remains outstanding.
The workers represented by our unions and associations understand their rights and protections. Senate faculty members and lecturers have no obligation to volunteer to pick up labor struck by ASEs employed in their classes. Readers and teaching assistants in UAW 2865 enjoyed legal protections during their strike, and their appointments for the Fall Quarter terminated on December 31 at the latest while the strike was active.
Should the University require additional labor for submitting any Fall 2022 grades, it can hire readers (including those who previously served as TAs for the class) under the terms of the new contract and/or hire lecturers at a rate set by negotiation between UC-AFT and the university administration. Further, given that departments were not responsible for the strike’s duration and/or resolution, we also expect this labor to be centrally funded. Finally, we ask that the administration communicate a process for accessing these funds as soon as possible so that course sponsoring agencies can hire replacement workers and instructors are not pressured to take on labor beyond their customary duties.
We are willing to meet to discuss this matter further.

Yours,
Rafael Jaime, UAW 2865 President
Katie Rodger, UC-AFT President
Constance Penley, CUCFA President
Jessica Taft, SCFA Co-Chair

November 8, 2022
by Admin 2
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Faculty rights and responsibilities during a UAW strike

The Council of UC Faculty Associations
A Coordinating and Service Agency for the Faculty Associations of the University of California

Dear Colleagues,

On November 14, tens of thousands of academic workers represented by UAW 2865 (the Union of Academic Student Employees at UC), UAW 5810 (Postdocs and Academic Researchers), and SRU-UAW (Student Researchers) will begin striking to resolve Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs). 98% of 36,558 union members cast YES votes authorizing the UAW to call a multi-unit strike. UAW has bargained for months with the UC to secure better pay, benefits, and working conditions. A timeline and their demands can be found at fairucnow.org.

CUCFA supports our fellow academic workers and calls on the UC to bargain in good faith. The disruption to the university’s core mission – teaching and research – will end through the administration’s efforts to settle the strike. Faculty are not responsible for its resolution, nor should we be expected to mitigate all its effects.

These FAQs respond to questions that Senate faculty may have regarding their rights and responsibilities during the UAW strike, including but not limited to how they can respect the picket line. The UAW requests that faculty honor the picket line, but there are also other ways to show support, which can be found in the FAQ.

One easy way to show support is to add your name [here] to the 600+ faculty members who have already signed on to CUCFA’s solidarity statement.

In solidarity,
Constance Penley
President, Council of UC Faculty Associations

October 26, 2022
by Admin 2
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UAW Strike 2022

Dear Colleagues,

As you may be aware, the UC Academic Workers (UAW) union, which includes graduate students, postdocs, fellows and other workers, are considering going on strike next month.

This website provides information on the reasons for the possible strike—including and especially fair compensation and cost of living adjustments in a time of unprecedented inflation—as well as the full list of demands, the current state of negotiations, and the timeline on voting for the strike.
Voting on the strike begins October 26th and continues through November 2nd. Should the measure pass, the vote authorizes the bargaining team to call a strike as early as November 14th, if circumstances justify.
While the negotiations are ongoing, and before voting concludes, faculty are being asked to support the student workers in the following ways:
  • Sign on to this letter supporting the demands of the academic workers (the letter is labeled for undergrads but the form allows you to indicate that you are a faculty member)
  • Discuss with undergraduate students the critical role that academic workers play in the everyday functions of the university
Other suggestions for  supportive actions can be found here.
We encourage you to read the Fair UC Now website carefully, and sign the above-linked letter in support of our academic workers.

Sincerely,
The Board of the RFA

Farah Godrej, Political Science (Chair)
Patricia Morton, Media and Cultural Studies (Vice-Chair)
Helen Regan, Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology (Treasurer)
Chris Chase-Dunn, Sociology
Uma Jayakumar, Graduate School of Education
Quinn McFrederick, Entomology
Setsu Shigematsu, Media and Cultural Studies
Stephanie Ann-Wilms Simpson, University Writing Program
Samantha Ying, Environmental Sciences

June 2, 2022
by Admin 2
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RFA list of Actions in 2021-22

  • Disseminated CUCFA’s solidarity pledge with striking UC-AFT lecturers, and supported town Hall for UC-AFT (Sept 2021)
  • Supported UC-AFT picket, disseminated statement of solidarity, encouraged faculty to have AFT reps speak in class  (Oct 2021)
  • Met with new Provost Watkins to discuss our vocal opposition to merger of UCPD with health/wellness systems on campus  (Sept 2021)
  • Held elections (October 2021)
  • Supported UC-AFT collective bargaining via statements of solidarity and pledges to support picket line (Nov 2021)
  • Held all-member general meeting (Feb 2022)
  • Encouraged faculty participation in UC Academic Senate Survey of Faculty Life, designed to bring more awareness to the UC Regents of faculty experiences and concerns during the pandemic (May 2022)
  • Collaborated with Senate Planning and Budget committee to review UCR’s budget model, and encouraged faculty to advocate for budget transparency and accountability (May 2022)
  • Provided information for faculty to advocate for state legislative support to reinstate funds in Newsom’s budget designed to address inequities at UCR and UC Merced (May 2022)

 

April 21, 2021
by Admin 2
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Comment period on University-wide Police Policies ends April 21st 2021

The Riverside Faculty Association (RFA) wish to bring your attention to an URGENT matter we have just become aware of relating to proposed changes in policy relating to University-wide Police Policies and Administrative Procedures. We believe these proposals undermine and contradict current efforts to re-examine the role of the police and policing at the University of California and should be rejected. https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/underreview/gold-book-systemwide-review.pdf

The policies are currently undergoing review by the Academic Senate but have received scant attention from the broader UC community. The proposed changes include an updated “Use of Force” policy; a new “Body Worn Audio” policy; a new “Systemwide Response Team” policy; and a new “Concealed Carry Weapons” policy.

The most disturbing and insidious of these proposed policies is the creation of a “Systemwide Response Team” made up of UCPD officers from all campuses: a tactical team with specialized equipment and weaponry intended to suppress demonstrations and other forms of civil action. This proposal is in Chapter 16 beginning on page 15 of the document. The rationale for its creation and its deployment is not clearly described in the proposal, which opens the question of why it is being formed at all and at this time.

The creation of a new SWAT-style police force, the establishment of policies that endorse the use of force with specialized equipment by UC police are utterly unacceptable reinforcements of police departments’ long record of gendered racist and antiblack violence and harassment.

None of these policies should be enacted while the University undergoes a review and transformation of campus safety and security, including symposia organized by the UC Office of the President, and while UC faculty, students and staff participate in a growing, national movement to transform campus and public safety.

We call on these policies to be withdrawn immediately.

Faculty who would like to submit a comment on the proposed policies should send an email to Chair of the Riverside Division of the Academic Senate, Professor Jason Stajich. The comment period at the Academic Senate ends TODAY APRIL 21ST 2021 and we urge your promptness on this matter: https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/under-review/index.html