In October, we learned that the Trump administration is considering a new legal definition of gender under Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded education programs. Gender would be narrowly defined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable” as “a biological, immutable condition determined by genitalia at birth.”  

The AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure and Committee on Women in the Academic Profession strongly condemn efforts to restrict the legal meaning of gender to what are said to be its natural or immutable forms. Biologists, anthropologists, historians, and psychologists have repeatedly shown that definitions of sex and sexuality have varied over time and across cultures and political regimes. The politicians promoting the new definition are neither scientists nor scholars. Their motives are ideological and their invocation of “science” is cynical.

The definition change also poses a potential threat to academic freedom, in that it could be used to deny research funding to scholars and to impugn the value and validity of their scholarly work. In a 2016 report, The History, Uses, and Abuses of Title IX, we wrote that a narrow focus on sexual injury can mask relations of inequity on and off campus and overshadow the prevalence of other conditions prohibited by Title IX, including uneven access to educational resources, wage disparities, and inequitable representation across the university system. We now reiterate the necessity of robust gender studies (its research and curriculum) as essential to addressing the goals of Title IX.

Read our full statement.

Sincerely,
Rana Jaleel, chair, AAUP Committee on Women in the Academic Profession
Henry Reichman, chair, AAUP Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure

August 18, 2018
President Janet Napolitano
University of California
1111 Franklin St., 12th Floor
Oakland, CA 94607
Email: president@ucop.edu

Joint statement by CUCFA and CA-AAUP:

On July 26, 2018 UC negotiators rejected a proposal by the UC-AFT Unit 17 that academic freedom be recognized as a right of all UC librarians as academic employees. UC negotiators reportedly argued that academic freedom is granted only to faculty and students “to enable free expression in the classroom,” that it is “a professional standard established by faculty, for faculty,” and that their position was consistent with “AAUP’s stance on Academic Freedom.”
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has rejected UC negotiators’ claims and clarified that since 1972 it has recognized librarians as faculty (Joint Statement on Faculty Status of College and University Librarians - https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/files/2013 Bulletin/librarians.pdf).

Specifically, the joint statement affirms that:

"College and university librarians share the professional concerns of faculty members. Academic freedom is indispensable to librarians in their roles as teachers and researchers. Critically, they are trustees of knowledge with the responsibility of ensuring the intellectual freedom of the academic community through the availability of information and ideas, no matter how controversial, so that teachers may freely teach and students may freely learn. Moreover, as members of the academic community, librarians should have latitude in the exercise of their professional judgment within the library, a share in shaping policy within the institution, and adequate opportunities for professional development and appropriate reward.

The Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA) and the California Conference of AAUP chapters (CA-AAUP) wholeheartedly agree with AAUP’s 1972 statement, recognize librarians as fellow faculty, and jointly support UC-AFT Unit 17’s request that all librarians be “entitled to academic freedom, as their primary responsibility to their institution and profession is to seek, state, and act according to the truth as they see it.”

CUCFA and CA-AAUP therefore urge UC President Napolitano to instruct UC negotiators to grant academic freedom to university librarians as they rightly deserve and have requested.

Sincerely,
Claudio Fogu,
President, CA-AAUP

Stanton Glantz
President, Council of UC Faculty Associations
cc: UC Regents

Earlier this week, the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that prevented the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order withholding federal funds from sanctuary cities and counties. These jurisdictions have passed laws putting limits on local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.  

The Ninth Circuit found the Trump administration overstepped its authority with the executive order because only Congress can put conditions on federal funds. The court explained “If [the administration] were to enforce the Executive Order, the Executive would assert a power that belongs solely to Congress by withdrawing funds in the absence of congressional authorization.”

In February, the AAUP joined with other groups, including members of the California Community College System, in filing an amicus brief opposing the executive order and supporting a permanent injunction preventing its enforcement.

The AAUP’s interest in the case stemmed from the potential application of the executive order to colleges and universities. Our brief argued that 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.

In the decision, the Ninth Circuit upheld the permanent injunction preventing enforcement of the order against the city and county of San Francisco and in California, but  lifted the nationwide injunction and sent the case back to the lower court for a more searching inquiry into the need for such relief.
The Trump administration has not indicated whether it will appeal the decision. The AAUP will continue to follow the case and will keep you updated.

Thank you for supporting our legal work. If you’d like to deepen your support, donate to the AAUP Foundation’s Legal Defense Fund.

Risa Lieberwitz, AAUP General Counsel
Aaron Nisenson, AAUP Senior Counsel

The CA-AAUP is delighted to announce that our immediate past president, Alex Zukas, has won AAUP’s 2018 "Outstanding Achievement Award" for his "organizing work at National University, [his] accomplishments building solidarity within California’s AAUP chapters, and [his] efforts to grow faculty strength within the state," all of which AAUP believes "demonstrated outstanding leadership and work in defense of AAUP’s principles."

Alex's colleagues at CA-AAUP could not agree more!

The award will be presented on Saturday, June 16, 2018, at AAUP’s 2018 Annual Meeting, to be held at the DoubleTree Hilton in Crystal City, Virginia.

Congratulations, Alex, and well-deserved!

Signed  CAAAUP Steering Committee
President, Claudio Fogu, University of California, Santa Barbara
Secretary/Treasurer, Mary Ann Irwin, Diablo Valley College
Vice President for University of California, Nathan Sayre, University of California, Berkeley
Vice President for California State University, Rosalinda Quintanar, San Jose State University
Vice President for California Community Colleges,  Katherine Graham, Diablo Valley College
California Faculty Association South, Antonio Gallo
California Faculty Association North, Steve Filling

The California Conference of the American Association of University Professors (CA-AAUP) is offering a limited number of travel grants to assist chapters and individuals with the costs of attending this year's AAUP/CBC Summer Institute.

Summer Institute 2018 takes place at the University of New Hampshire in scenic Durham, New Hampshire from July 19 to July 22.  This intensive, four-day series of workshops and seminars will prepare you to organize your colleagues, stand up for academic freedom, and advocate for research and teaching as the core priority of higher education. The program and additional information will soon be available at https://www.aaup.org/event/2018-summer-institute.

This year there are several grants for which CA-AAUP members can apply:

1.  CA-AAUP general travel grants are intended to assist with travel and registration costs for any member of AAUP who resides in California. The maximum grant is $800/person. We encourage applicants to also seek funding from their home campuses and AAUP campus chapters.
The deadline to apply for a CA-AAUP Summer Institute General Travel Grant is midnight Friday, May 19, 2018. CA-AAUP scholarship award notifications will be issued by midnight Monday, May 21, 2018.
 
2.  CA-AAUP private university travel grants are intended to assist with travel and registration costs for AAUP members in California who belong to an advocacy chapter at a private university. These have been funded by a generous grant from the AAUP’s Assembly of State Conferences. The maximum grant is $800/person. We encourage applicants to also seek funding from their home campuses and AAUP campus chapters.
The deadline to apply for a CA-AAUP Summer Institute Private University Travel Grant is midnight Friday, May 19, 2018. CA-AAUP scholarship award notifications will be issued by midnight Monday, May 21, 2018.

NOTE: Early registration for Summer Institute 2018 is $650/person, due May 25. Full-price registration is $675/person, due by June 29. Registration includes all workshop materials, 3 nights’ single-occupancy room, plus 3 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and opening reception on Thursday, July 19 (see website above for details).

Priority for CA-AAUP travel grants will be given to CA-AAUP members from:

* Chapters with financial hardships,
* Campuses that do not have AAUP chapters but are considering creating one
* Chapters that are providing their own matching support to help finance costs for attendees

TO APPLY FOR CA-AAUP FUNDING

Please provide the following information and send your responses via email to westcoast@aaup.org

1. Your name, the name of your institution, your status (faculty, staff, etc.), chapter/union position (if any), and /or any other relevant positions you hold (e.g., member of Academic Senate). Include your preferred email address and phone number and mailing address.

2. A brief explanation of the reason for your application for travel funding.

3. How you expect to use information/experience gathered at the meeting (e.g., to organize faculty, to initiate specific actions on your campus, and/or to address another specific need).

4. Please state the sum that you are requesting. Reimbursable expenses include: registration fee ($650 early or $675 full-price), airport shuttle service/local transportation, taxi, hotel, airfare, mileage (54.5¢/mile) to/from airport or conference location and meals (up to $60/day). CA-AAUP will not reimburse attendee’s costs for alcoholic beverages.

After the meeting, awardees will submit their receipts and summarize total costs on a signed and completed CA-AAUP Reimbursement Voucher. As a condition of receiving a travel grant, each CA-AAUP travel scholarship awardee will submit a brief report to CA-AAUP (approximately 100-200 words) reporting on awardee’s planned or actual use of the Summer Institute experience on his/her campus or institution or within his/her organization. , or within 30 days of the Summer Institute. Reimbursement for travel costs will not be made until we receive the awardee’s report.  Please email reports to westcoast@aaup.org

CA-AAUP may choose to publish excerpts from these reports on the CA-AAUP website. www.ca-aaup.org

Note:  travel funding occurs as a reimbursement upon submittal of original receipts and report

https://academeblog.org/2018/03/01/aaup-urges-csu-chancellor-to-suspend-executive-orders/
The national American Association of University Professors joins its California state conference in urging the suspension of two executive orders, EO 1100 (revised) and EO 1110, that make extensive changes to the general education requirements, placement testing, and remedial education policies applying to all of the California State University (CSU) campuses. The policies mandate significant changes to the graduation requirements, curricula, and course offerings at CSU.

The widespread concern stems from apparent violations of academic governance norms. According to the Statement on Government of Colleges and Universities, “The faculty has the primary responsibility for such fundamental areas as curriculum, subject matter and methods of instruction, research, faculty status, and those aspects of student life which relate to the educational process.”

The CSU system Academic Senate (ASCSU), the California conference of the AAUP, and the California Faculty Association (CFA) contend that the process that led to the adoption of the executive orders did not provide for adequate faculty consultation.

The ASCSU adopted a resolution at its September 14-15 meeting objecting to the flawed governance process and consultation, stating, “CSU faculty are experts and researchers in their fields who must be relied on when the system contemplates major changes in curriculum design. We contend that the revision to EO 1100 and the newly released EO 1110 did not arise from the fulsome shared governance process needed to reflect faculty expertise, and therefore the Senate and the faculty it represents are compelled to reject changes in curricula that do not originate through such a fulsome process. Changes to basic curriculum policy need thoughtful consideration informed by a nuanced understanding of the rationale and impacts of proposed changes on the quality of education that CSU campuses provide and that our students deserve.”

The AAUP joins the ASCSU resolution urging Chancellor White to place the executive orders “into abeyance and defer their implementation date to, at earliest, Fall 2019,” to engage in “genuine consultation with faculty.”

Read the full letter from the AAUP to Chancellor White here.

This kind of unilateral action is occurring more and more at campuses across the country. That's why it's so important that faculty stand together and follow the lead that faculty in California like you frequently set in fighting back. Thank you!

Hans-Joerg Tiede,
Senior Program Officer, AAUP

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)