From the California Faculty Association CFA HEADLINES May 15, 2019 · Weekly news digest from CFA Dear Reader: This is the last scheduled edition of CFA Headlines for Spring 2019. But have no fear—if there is CFA news to deliver, we will send a Special Headlines to our subscribers. We hope you have a great summer (which includes a 2.5% raise for all faculty on July 1!). CFA Headlines will resume in August 2019.

• Faculty, students advocacy pays off—Governor’s budget revise includes increased funding for CSU

• Bargaining News: Raises coming July 1, CFA defends Academic Freedom and Intellectual Property

• Asian Pacific American Heritage Month yields opportunity to highlight perspectives, contributions of API community

• Faculty Rights Tip: Summer employment • In Other News • Links of the week

Faculty, students’ advocacy pays off—Governor’s budget revise includes increased funding for CSU Increased funding for the CSU continues to be part of the state budget proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom thanks to advocacy efforts by faculty, staff, students and the support of lawmakers who understand the need to reinvest in public higher education. On May 9, Gov. Newsom released his May Revise of the proposed state budget, which includes an additional $570 million in ongoing and one-time funds. The additional funding also addresses student food and housing insecurity and homelessness, and money for programs that support foster youth and help formerly incarcerated individuals seek degrees.

“Gov. Newsom has a history of fighting for the CSU and we are grateful that he continues to show a serious commitment to investing in the People’s University,” CFA President Jennifer Eagan said. “For more than 30 years, funding for the CSU has been decreasing as our student population grew increasingly more diverse. The additional funding marks a real reversal in that trend and one that we hope will be the beginning of several more years of augmentations under the Governor’s leadership that will sustain our university system.”

For years, CFA activists and students have enthusiastically advocated for the additional funding the CSU needs. On April 30, we met with legislators and Capitol staff to highlight the need to #FundTheCSU, and highlight budget allocations that would directly benefit CSU faculty and students.

In the coming weeks, we will work with our legislative allies to ensure the additional funding is allocated to increase student enrollment, hire more tenure track faculty, and improve counselor-to-student ratios in the CSU.

• Click here to read more about our 2019 budget priorities and legislative agenda. • Watch a video of Newsom’s talking about CFA’s during our 2019 Lobby Day Reception

here.

Bargaining News: Raises coming July 1, CFA defends Academic Freedom and Intellectual Property CFA successfully defended faculty rights to academic freedom and intellectual property during recent negotiations with CSU management by rejecting proposals that would have diminished faculty speech and eliminated faculty control of their intellectual property.

In Fall 2017, against the backdrop of very serious challenges facing unions, working people, public higher education, and our students, CFA and CSU management agreed to extend our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

As part of that agreement, CFA secured salary increases that enhanced the progress we made in 2016 while, at the same time, protecting faculty benefits. The last of the raises go into effect July 1, and will be included in August paychecks.

In addition to raises, we agreed to continue negotiations over academic freedom and intellectual property with the caveat that no changes to the contract would be made unless CFA and CSU management reached agreement on both issues.

The CFA Bargaining Team met with CSU management several times in 2018 to negotiate those two areas, with a final meeting this week.

Despite our team’s best efforts, mutually agreeable contractual changes on both issues could not be negotiated. CFA’s leadership and Bargaining Team concluded that no changes (maintaining the status quo) is the best outcome given the nature of the changes the Chancellor’s bargaining team had proposed.

“Their proposals would have resulted in decreased faculty rights and an increase in management discretion,” said Bargaining Team Chair Kevin Wehr, “The status quo contract language is far superior to management’s final position.” For academic freedom, CFA proposed a new article in the contract which would have used the American Association of University Professors’ 1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure as a basis, in an effort to make faculty’s rights to academic freedom explicit. CFA’s proposal was responsive to members’ concerns about the current political climate, in which non-academic forces seek to regulate and limit faculty speech. CFA proposed that management has an obligation to support faculty speech, stating “The University shall vigorously defend its faculty members against non-University forces who seek to weaken Academic Freedom.” Given that academic freedom extends beyond the classroom to a myriad of pursuits from scholarship and creative activity to online communications, our proposal made it clear—and defensible—that academic freedom is a fundamental right of all faculty members. In response, CSU management proposed additional language to the preamble of our contract and an appendix, which included a list of prohibitions on faculty speech and expression. Not only was

the substance of the management proposal inconsistent with generally accepted definitions of academic freedom, even worse was the fact that their proposal could have subjected faculty to disciplinary action, which would not be allowed under our current faculty contract. Regarding intellectual property, management proposed that intellectual property would default or be licensed indefinitely to the CSU with no or minimal financial and institutional support. Current language in Article 39 is the inverse of their proposal: faculty members can enter contracts with the campus administration that provide an exchange of rights for a specific monetary amount known as “extraordinary support,” in all other cases faculty maintain control of everything they produce. “One particularly galling aspect of management’s proposal was that the CSU asserted a claim to perpetual license of all faculty course materials, whether there was extraordinary support or not,” said Antonio Gallo, Chair of CFA’s Contract Development & Bargaining Strategy Committee. “No faculty member would ever give up their intellectual property in such a manner.” Management’s proposal also did not speak to CFA’s stated concern about faculty members’ control of course material, particularly material that is available to students through course management systems, and it became clear that our perspectives on intellectual property were far apart. The current contract language remains in place, and nothing prevents campus Academic Senates from passing policies that clarify and elaborate on faculty rights and freedoms, as long as those policies are consistent with our faculty contract. Under the current contract, CFA successfully defends faculty from discipline surrounding unpopular speech and expression, and Article 39 will continue to protect our intellectual property. If you’re not yet a member of CFA, join today! Your membership helps strengthen our union, and together, we are powerful! Asian Pacific American Heritage Month yields opportunity to highlight perspectives, contributions of API community May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and faculty activists are engaging in events, honoring the achievements and contributions of their colleagues, and highlighting issues that continue to impact the API community. Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, which celebrates the history, culture, and traditions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S., commemorates the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7,1843, and marks the anniversary (May 10, 1869) of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which was primarily built by Chinese immigrants. Honoring Asian heritage also affords an opportunity to tell an often-neglected story in labor history—that of Asian involvement in the labor movement, said Dr. Russell Jeung, chair of

the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and is the first and largest department of its kind in the U.S. Though they made up the majority of those building the railroad, the estimated 20,000 Chinese workers were paid a third less than Irish workers. It is noteworthy that in 1867, they held the largest strike in that era’s history. There can be no doubt that Asian Americans have made vital contributions to our nation’s labor traditions, Jeung said. “If you don’t celebrate Asian Heritage Month, you miss out on the gifts and skills and voices that add to the fabric of California and this country,” Jeung said. “We can use this opportunity to improve our organizational history and literacy, and honor the Asian traditions that benefit us all.” Jeung and members of CFA’s Asian Pacific Islander Caucus were among those who attended an event on May 13 honoring trailblazers who have enriched California’s cultural heritage and history. The awards gala, for which CFA was a sponsor, was hosted by the Joint Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. Three members of that caucus authored CFA bills this year—Senator Dr. Richard Pan (SB 660), Assemblymember Todd Gloria (AB 930), and Assemblymember Ash Kalra (AB 418). Caucus Assemblymembers Evan Low (AB 716) and Rob Bonta (AB 1038) also have authored CFA-sponsored legislation in recent years. The number of Asian Pacific Islander students and faculty in the CSU has been steadily increasing in recent years. Since 1985, the number of API faculty by headcount has tripled (330%), and the number of API students has increased by 102%, according to research included in CFA’s 2018 Equity Report. Additionally, 14 of 23 CSU campuses meet the criteria to be Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions. As the CSU includes more API students and faculty, our union also benefits from their perspectives and contributions, and is able to better address issues facing API faculty colleagues. As incoming CFA Associate Vice President South Darel Engen noted in a reflection to a Radio Free CSU podcast, our union encourages conversations about race, and is actively addressing API concerns within those conversations. “Dialogue is a key step toward collective action, and it is collective action that will create the better world we all desire and deserve,” Dr. Engen, Professor of History at CSU San Marcos said. Faculty Rights Tip: Summer Employment

Article 21 of our Collective Bargaining Agreement covers summer term employment for CSU faculty. Many faculty with semester, quarter, or academic-year appointments also will find summer employment in the CSU.

Summer employment can vary from campus to campus. It may take the form of state-funded year-round operations (including fee buy-down) or self-support for-credit programs offered through extension.

Summer term employment can be extra work for extra pay or work that is part of the regular academic year for a faculty unit employee at a Quarter System Year-Round Operations (QSYRO) campus.

If you have questions about contract provisions covering your summer employment you can read contract Article 21.

You can contact your CFA Faculty Rights representative if you need help to exercise your rights under the contract.

If you have questions about a Faculty Rights Tip or would like to suggest a tip, please write us at cfa@calfac.org with the subject line “Faculty Rights Tip.”

• If you have questions about a Faculty Rights Tip or would like to suggest a tip, please write us at cfa@calfac.org with the subject line “Faculty Rights Tip.”

• Click here to find faculty rights advocates on your campus. • Read more Faculty Rights Tips.

In Other News… GRADUATION IN MEMORIAM: David Josiah Lawson was supposed to be walking across the stage on Saturday, May 18 to be awarded his diploma from Humboldt State. Instead, Charmaine Lawson will be symbolically receiving it on her son’s behalf. David Josiah Lawson, a 19-year-old Crime and Justice Studies major, was murdered at a party near campus in April 2017. His murder remains unsolved, despite a criminal grand jury investigation and continued demands for resolution from his family and the community, including CFA. To listen to a podcast featuring Charmaine Lawson and learn more about justice for David Josiah Lawson, click here. BOARD PREVIEW: Faculty and students will be at the CSU Board of Trustees meeting May 21-22 to highlight the need for resolution in the murder of David Josiah Lawson and ongoing needs surrounding campus safety for students of color, and to offer faculty perspective on issues Trustees will be discussing. The CSU Board of Trustees agenda includes discussions of a proposal to increase CSU application fees to $70 (up from $55), as well as announcement of new campus presidents at Humboldt and San Francisco, building names, public-private partnerships, and a legislative update. Click here to review the agenda and to watch the meeting via livestream on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 21 and 22. EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT: An updated Lecturer Unemployment Rights Supplement Guide is now available for viewing and download. The guide, which provides information and resources for Lecturers who are applying for unemployment benefits between terms and/or have been denied benefits, has been updated to reflect changes in the state EDD online application. Please note: Lecturers who wish to obtain unemployment benefits should file for unemployment the day after the last official date of their Spring 2019 academic term, not when you file your grades if before the end of term. More information for Lecturers is available on the Lecturers Council homepage.

MAY 22 MOBILIZATION: Stand with us on May 22 at the State Capitol as we mobilize for public education alongside our fellow pre-K-12 and higher ed colleagues. Click here to learn more and to RSVP. Bus transportation is being provided by CTA. Links of the Week There Is No Free Speech Crisis On Campus Forbes “Chilling” is the word used in the Washington Post headline to describe college students’ supposed hostility to free speech. A new poll appears to indicate that 20% of college students believe it is appropriate to use violence to shut down hateful or offensive speakers. Thanks to a carefully orchestrated campaign, the notion that universities are hostile to the free exchange of ideas is slipping into mainstream opinion. It is a phony crisis manufactured by the same people who fuel the engines of climate denial. Right wing activists and donors are fighting to undermine universities because their values cannot thrive there. Modern conservatism is failing on campus because it shrivels in an atmosphere of intelligent, open debate. Tongva, Los Angeles’ first language, opens the door to a forgotten time and place LA Times From the top of Signal Hill, Los Angeles disappears in the haze. Gauzy light smudges details, so that only the mountains, the sea and the land in between remain. No freeways; no homes, high-rises or palms… This world was theirs before it belonged to anyone else, before strangers arrived and began to bend the region to their will and Tovaangar disappeared. ‘Born to Win, Schooled to Lose’ Inside Higher Education Race and class matter when it comes to who gets ahead educationally in American society, according to an analysis released today by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. Prospector Pete packs up and sharks swim in as Cal State Long Beach’s new mascot LA Times "Move over, Prospector Pete, a famous ocean predator is taking over Cal State Long Beach. After a months-long process to replace the former mascot, which was ousted in 2018 following years of outcry that he was offensive to indigenous people, students have selected a shark as the new face of the college, university officials announced." Occidental College adjunct faculty vote to unionize The Eastsider More than 100 non-tenured faculty at Occidental College have voted to unionize, setting the stage for the start of contract negotiations, according to the Service Employees International Union. * * * Join CFA’s Facebook page For the latest news, follow CFA on Twitter Check out CFA YouTube