Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Janus v. AFSCME, an attack by wealthy, anti-union organizations on the voice of working people and their ability to negotiate collectively.

People from around the country rallied at the Court to let the world know that, regardless of the outcome of the Janus case, we will continue to organize for the public good and for our rights. This followed the Working People’s Day of Action over the weekend, which called attention to our rigged economy and the need to defend our rights at work. It marked the fifty-year anniversary of protests by Memphis sanitation workers and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. against discrimination, low pay, and inhumane conditions that led to worker deaths. Share the graphic above  on Facebook and spread the word.

The AAUP supports the right of working people, including faculty, to join together in unions as well as in traditional nonunionized AAUP chapters. Our collective voice is a powerful force to set standards and create better workplaces. Together, we fight for higher education and the critical role it plays in this country. Together, we defend academic freedom, shared governance, and due process protections. Standing together also makes it possible for us to negotiate affordable healthcare, a fair return on our work, and the ability to retire with dignity.

At issue in Janus is whether non-union members, who share in the wages, benefits and protections that have been negotiated into a collectively bargained contract, may be required to pay their fair share for the cost of those negotiations. Learn more about the Janus case and the amicus brief we filed.

Yesterday's oral argument went largely as expected. Many of the justices sharply questioned the attorneys. Justices Sotomayor, Breyer, Ginsburg, and Kagan generally asked questions and advanced arguments that were supportive of the constitutionality of fair-share fees, pointing to their benefits and to the fact that unions and others had relied on the prior decisions of the Court. Justices Kennedy, Alito, and Roberts took the opposite approach. Justice Kennedy seemed particularly hostile, asserting that unions compel nonmembers to subsidize their political speech.

Because none of the justices appeared to depart from their expected position, today’s oral argument reinforced the view that the Court will rule against us.

AAUP members are sticking together as One Faculty, One Resistance to fight for our collective voice, to promote safe and challenging learning environments, and to defend the important role our universities play in advancing the public good.

Thanks for standing with us.

In unity,
Rudy Fichtenbaum, President, AAUP
Paul Davis, Chair, AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress

Resolution of the California Conference of the American
Association of University Professors regarding California State University Executive Orders 1100 (Revised) and 1110

The California Conference of the American Association of University Professors (CA-AAUP) met with members of the California State University (CSU) Academic Senate and California Faculty Association at the CA-AAUP’s February 10, 2018, Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, California. Following that meeting, the undersigned members of the CA-AAUP issue this condemnation of the process by which CSU Chancellor Timothy White produced Executive Orders 1100  (Revised) and 1110.

We quote from CFA’s October 29, 2017, Resolution in Support of Rescinding California State University Executive Order 1100 (Revised). With the CFA, we conclude that the orders were, in fact, “issued without appropriate and statutorily required consultation or consideration of faculty governance protocols,” thereby

committing an egregious violation of faculty governance and academic freedom and undermining faculty control over academic preparation and standards as well as faculty purview over the curriculum.

 
Referring to the November 2, 2017, Open Letter to Chancellor White from the Chairs of the CSU Campus Senates, we conclude that Executive Orders 1100 (Revised) and 1110

were developed and presented to faculty without adequate consultation or true shared governance. All curricular decisions affect students directly, and therefore all curricular decisions must, by nature, lie with the teaching faculty and students; General Education criteria are not exempted from [Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act] principles.

 
The CA-AAUP views Chancellor White’s procedures in issuing Executive Orders 1100 (Re- vised) and 1110 as a direct assault on the principles of shared governance, principles that form the very core of AAUP values. We call upon Chancellor White to read the AAUP’s Statement on  Government of Colleges and Universities. We also call upon the Chancellor to refrain from tak- ing further actions that undermine the principles of academic freedom and shared governance enshrined in that document, which values are reified in California statute and in case law.

Passing from process to substance, CA-AAUP supports CFA's October 29, 2017, Resolution in Support of Rescinding ... Executive Order 1100 (Revised). We agree that the order

eviscerates Section F “Comparative Cultural Studies / Gender Race, Class and Ethnicity Studies,” as well as foreign languages, denying our students a culturally responsive education and failing to demonstrate an understanding of or respect for California's increasing diversity

Further quoting CFA’s October 29, 2017, Resolution, CA-AAUP notes that Chancellor White is out-of-step with “other systems of public education in California” which are, in fact,

adopting "diversity requirements" [AB 2016 Ethnic Studies, FAIR Education Act], and requiring that students take courses in race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, deaf and disability studies as criteria for graduation.

 
CA-AAUP joins with the Academic Senate of the California State University and eighteen of the CSU campus senates in calling for immediate rescission or, barring that, delay in implementing Executive Order 1100 (Revised), so that our colleges “may continue to provide the breadth and quality of education that our students deserve.”

 
Turning to Executive Order 1110, CA-AAUP supports CFA’s October 29, 2017, Resolution in Support of Rescinding California State University Executive Order 1110. CA-AAUP condemns that order’s attempt to eliminate the English Placement Test and the Entry Level Mathematics Test. Elimination of these examinations will dramatically disadvantage poor students, students of color, students for whom English is a second language, and students entering college with educational deficits. We agree that these examinations are “the baseline for providing our students the academically responsible quality education our faculty seek to provide and our students deserve.”

Quoting CFA’s October 29, 2017, Resolution in Support of Rescinding California State University Executive Order 1110, we ask that

Chancellor White immediately rescind Executive Order 1110, which will allow develop- mental, first year, and General Education courses to continue improving the skills and competencies of our students.

Quoting that same document, CA-AAUP also calls upon Chancellor White to

refrain from reissuing Executive Order 1110 until such time as appropriate and meaningful consultation has taken place and campus faculty have had sufficient time to ensure that the curriculum we require our students to complete continues to provide the quality education our students expect and deserve.

 
The California Conference of the American Association of University Professors

Alex Zukas, National University (2016- 2018), President
Claudio Fogu, University of California, Santa Barbara (2017-2018), Acting Vice President for University of California
Mary Ann Irwin, Diablo Valley College (2016-2018), Secretary/Treasurer
Rosalinda Quintanar, San Jose State University (2016-2018), Vice President for California State University
Katie Graham, Diablo Valley College (2016-2018), Vice President for California Community Colleges
Antonio Gallo, Representing California Faculty Association (South)
George Beckwith, National University (2016-2018), Vice President for Private Colleges and Universities
Steven Filling, Representing California Faculty Association (North)

The AAUP joined this week with other groups, including members of the California Community College System, in filing an amicus brief in support of a permanent injunction against a Trump administration executive order that sought to strip federal funding from “sanctuary jurisdictions.” The lawsuit resulting in the injunction was filed by the city of San Francisco. The AAUP’s interest in the case stems from the potential application of the executive order to colleges and universities. Such an extension would negatively impact colleges’ and universities’ ability to carry out their public mission and their interests in developing a diverse student body. Allowing the executive order  to stand would also set a dangerous precedent for the proposition that the president may unilaterally use the threat of withholding federal funding in a broad and punitive manner as part of an effort to coerce colleges and universities to participate in federal immigration enforcement. Joining this amicus brief enables the AAUP to participate in a precedent-setting case on issues of great national significance that affect the ability of universities to develop and support a diverse student body, regardless of students’ immigration status.

The case, now in front of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, is the City and County of San Francisco v. Trump. The brief was primarily authored by Robin Johansen and Kathleen Purcell, attorneys with Remcho Johansen & Purcell LLP.

Risa Lieberwitz
AAUP General Counsel