UC Riverside Faculty Association

The Riverside Faculty Association invites you to

The Future of the Public University in an Age of Privatization

Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 4 – 6 PM

Interdisciplinary Building 1113

A discussion with Christopher Newfield

Professor of English at UCSB, blogger at Remaking the University, and author of Unmaking the Public University: The Forty Year Assault on the Middle Class (Harvard University Press, 2008)

And UCR faculty members

Jennifer Doyle, English

Vorris Nunley, English

Ellen Reese, Sociology

The Riverside Faculty Association endorses a petition demanding the withdrawal of the “Protest Guidelines” (UCR has now taken these protest guidelines offline) issued recently by the UCR Dean of Students.

We believe these Guidelines are a blatant attempt to abridge students’ right to free speech and dissent at UCR.  The Guidelines include requirements that exceed the Regents’ policies on protest and that may be in violation of laws enacted by the California State Legislature (SB 1370, AB 2581) to protect freedom of speech on University campuses.

We encourage UCR faculty, staff, students and members of the community to sign the petition. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/say-no-to-ucr-protest-guidelines/

Council of UC Faculty Associations
15 Shattuck Square, Suite 200
Berkeley, CA 94704
800 431-3348

November 27,  2011

President Mark G. Yudof
University of California
1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607
Fax: (510) 987-9086

Dear President Yudof,

The Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) protests your decision to hire the Kroll Security Group, and its Chairman William Bratton, to conduct what you call an independent investigation of police violence at UC Davis. We take no position here on Mr. Bratton’s personal qualifications; our objection is to the conflicts of interest of Kroll Security itself, which is already a major contractor with UC on security matters. According to its website, Kroll’s services are not confined to securing databases and facilities from attacks by criminals and terrorists. It also protects many global financial institutions and other multinationals against threats to “operations” that may come from public criticism and direct political action.

By deepening UC’s links to Kroll, you would be illustrating the kinds of connection between public higher education and Wall Street that the Occupy UC movement is protesting. Kroll’s parent company, Altegrity, provides data-mining, intelligence and on-the-ground security to financial institutions and governments seeking to head off and defeat both private sabotage and public protest. In addition, Altegrity’s parent company, Providence Private Equity, is a major global investor in for-profit higher education companies that benefit from the decline of publicly funded higher education.

We already know that Kroll has provided security services to at least three UC campuses for the past several years. This in itself would disqualify Mr. Bratton from participating in the investigation you propose, even if the role of Kroll and its affiliated companies in defending the financial sector against OWS did not raise further questions about its pro-Wall Street and pro-privatization bias.

A truly independent investigation that would allow UC to provide a credible response to the events at Davis (and the other campuses) needs to address several questions that would not be seriously considered if you hire Kroll.

•    What was your role and that of UC General Counsel in the events at Davis? Did you, as a distinguished first amendment scholar, tell chancellors and campus police chiefs that protests (especially protests against UC’s own policies) are “part of the DNA of this University” that should not be addressed using the same techniques that UC has developed (likely with the help of Kroll) to deal with terrorists, shooters, and cyber-saboteurs? (Even if you have been a zealous defender of the rising student movement to restore public higher education, such a conclusion would not be credible coming from an investigation tainted by Kroll’s conflicts of interest outlined above.)

•    What was and is the role of Kroll in helping banks and public institutions (including UC) investigate and defeat movements such as OWS and their campus counterparts? Is Kroll now acting as a liaison between universities, city governments and the Department of Homeland Security in defending the financial sector against protests occurring on what used to be considered public spaces? Are protests against Wall Street in such spaces now considered a threat to the security of the nation, the city and the public university? (The growing securitization of public space has been a major obstacle to first amendment activity since 9-11.)

•    How much money has UC and its individual campuses paid to Kroll for security services? Were these contracts issued as sole source contracts or was there open bidding? Were Kroll’s services confined to protecting, for example, the privacy and integrity of data systems and faculty and staff conducting animal research or did they extended to what Kroll’s website calls “organizational threats” arising from “the dynamic and sometimes conflicting needs of the entire campus population”? (This could be a description of the student protests that you rightly regard as “central to our history” as a university.)

•    What led to the issuance of false and misleading statements by University of California officials (Chancellors and their assistants, spokespeople, and police chiefs) in the aftermath of police violence at Berkeley and Davis? Did you encourage these efforts at spin control? (Dishonest statements seriously damage the university as an institution devoted to truth and protect only the individuals whose decisions are in question.)

The broader issue is how protest can be part of what you characterized as “our university’s DNA” when the right to protest is not formally recognized within the university’s own codes of student and faculty conduct. It could be and should be. The CSU student code states explicitly that “[n]othing in this Code may conflict with Education Code Section 66301 that prohibits disciplinary action against students based on behavior protected by the first amendment.” If such language were included in the UC code of conduct, students would have a clear first amendment defense against disciplinary action arising from peaceful political protest—and there would be strong grounds for questioning the legality of a police order to disperse a peaceful protest from a public site on a public university campus. The explicit incorporation of constitutional limits on UC’s power to break up
demonstrations that threaten its march toward privatization would go a long way toward recovering UC as a public, rather than a private, space. We urge you to see that the UC codes of conduct are amended to parallel those in place at CSU.

Events at Davis and the other campuses have shown the University of California in a negative light, and we agree strongly with the need for an independent investigation. We believe, however, that your appointment of Kroll to investigate the university’s response to last week’s protest could itself become a basis for new protests, and that you should ask Speaker Pérez (or someone unaffiliated with the University) to appoint a genuinely independent committee with representatives from student, faculty, staff and civil liberties groups. Such a committee should be given a specific charge to investigate and report on all of the questions set forth above.

Robert Meister,
President, Council of UC Faculty Associations
Professor History of Consciousness and Political and Social Thought, UC Santa Cruz
(831) 212-3040
rlmeister@earthlink.net

The Board of the Riverside Faculty Association supports Occupy UCR’s call for a general strike in solidarity with UC Davis on Monday, November 28.  We encourage you to participate in the activities planned, which are described in the letter below, and to honor the strike in any way you deem appropriate.

From Occupy UCR
Nov. 28: UCR General Strike and Teach Out in Solidarity with UC Davis

On Nov. 18, a group of students at UC Davis sat down and locked arms as a form of protest. Without even receiving a warning, the participants in this act of non-violent civil disobedience were pepper sprayed by campus police at point blank range. Many students were sprayed repeatedly. A number of those sprayed experienced vomiting and difficulty breathing as a result and required medical attention. The video of this incident has now been seen by millions all throughout the world.

In response to this incident, and other instances of police brutality at UC campuses in recent weeks, a democratic assembly of UC Davis students, faculty, and staff voted with near unanimity to declare a general strike for UC Davis on Nov. 28 and to request that all other UC campuses act in solidarity on that day. In response to this call to action, the general assembly of Occupy UCR voted unanimously to declare a General Strike and Teach Out for Monday, Nov. 28. We are requesting that all UCR students, faculty, and staff abandon their normal routines this Monday and instead take the day to participate in a series of on-campus actions. On Nov. 28, we come together to honor the UC students, faculty, and staff who so valiantly put their bodies on the line for the sake of reclaiming our democratic and educational institutions.

On Monday, Nov. 28, we will begin assembling at the Bell Tower at 9AM. The day will consist of a series of marches, games, teach-ins, and democratic assemblies. Community members, students, staff, and faculty are all welcome and encouraged to attend. Faculty are encouraged to bring their classes to attend and participate. Students will be leading the majority of the day’s proceedings. Bring signs, food, activities, instruments, chants, songs, books, and ideas!

Inspired by Occupy Wall St.’s example of direct and participatory democracy, UC students, faculty, and staff are rising up in order to reclaim our campuses! Together, we demand an end to police brutality! Together, we demand an end to the budget cuts that have compromised the quality of UC education and made the lives of faculty and staff members increasingly difficult! Together, we demand an end to the egregious tuition and fee hikes that are confining UC students to a future of debt slavery! Whose University of California? Our University of California!

For more information see the Occupy UCR Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/occupyucr or contact: occupyucriverside@gmail.com

The Board of the Riverside Faculty Association invites Senate and Non-Senate Faculty to a lunch at the University Club, The Barn, on Wednesday, November 30, 12:00- 1:30 PM.

The Council of UC Faculty Associations Condemns Police Violence Against Non-Violent Protesters

November 19, 2011

This week, we have seen excessive force used against non-violent protesters at UC Berkeley, UCLA, CSU Long Beach, and UC Davis.  Student, faculty and staff protesters have been pepper-sprayed directly in the eyes and mouth, beaten and shoved by batons, dragged by the arms while handcuffed, and submitted to other forms of excessive force.  Protesters have been hospitalized because of injuries inflicted during these incidents.  The violence was unprovoked, disproportional and excessive.

We are outraged by the excessive and unnecessary force used against peaceful protests.

We are outraged that the administrations of UC campuses are using police brutality to suppress dissent, free speech and peaceful assembly.

We demand that the Chancellors of the University of California cease using police violence to repress non-violent political protests. We hold them responsible for the violence and believe it can only result in an escalation of outrage that holds the potential for even more violence.

Police brutality damages the University’s public image, and, more importantly, it damages the climate for free expression at UC.  We condemn the assault on the legacy of free speech at the University of California.

We call for greater attention to the substantive issues that motivate the protests regarding the privatization of education. With massive cuts in state funding and rising tuition costs across the community college system, the Cal State network, K-12, and the University of California, public education is undergoing a severe divestment. Student debt has reached unprecedented levels as bank profits swell. We decry the growing privatization and tuition increases that the frequent — and only — responses of the UC Board of Regents.

Signed,

The board of the Council of UC Faculty Associations