From the California Faculty Association CFA HEADLINES October 5, 2016 Weekly news digest from CFA Important: October 24 is last day to Register to Vote do it online Mail ballots start arriving Tuesday Voters by mail: Check out the CFA Voter Guide! Faculty Take Action! Walking & talking for Prop 55 We can help our students & colleagues prepare for the Nov. 8 election Prop 55 endorser Danny Glover, SFSU alum, sends video message Bargaining Survey on next faculty contract coming soon Lack of faculty diversity topic of Assembly hearing at San Jose tomorrow Faculty Rights Tip: Campus Investigations and Weingarten Rights Links of the Week Mail ballots start arriving Tuesday Voters by mail: Check out the CFA Voter Guide! The November 8 Election gets underway this Tuesday, Oct. 11, when Vote-by-Mail ballots begin arriving at voters homes. About 5 million of California s 18 million registered voters are expected to vote by mail. That is why we strongly urge you to check out CFA s Voter Guide on the CFA website and share that information with other voters, says Jennifer Eagan, CFA President. This election is too important to miss. As faculty in a public state university system, we have a lot at stake. CFA s Voter Guide is personalized for you; it displays candidates for state offices based on where you are registered to vote and provides information on state ballot measures on which CFA has taken positions. (You also can learn more about all the propositions that appear on the Nov. 8 ballot in a summary on the CFA website.) If you or a colleague wants to vote by mail, you still have time to make a request of the Secretary of State s office. November 1 is the last day you can request a vote-by-mail ballot from your county s registrar of voters office.
Faculty Take Action! Walking & talking for Prop 55 By now, readers of CFA Headlines know that Proposition 55 on the November 8 ballot is an important Yes vote to keep the CSU from losing millions in funding. Just getting CSU faculty to vote won t be enough, says Lillian Taiz, CFA s Political Action Chair. We need to get the word to thousands of other voters who, like us, face a long list of ballot measures and a lot of conflicting publicity about them. Campus CFA Chapters are organizing phone banks and making connections with precinct walk operations in nearby communities. They need you. Go to Take Political Action on the CFA web site to learn how you can help spread the word on campus and in the community to get in touch. Or, contact your campus CFA Chapter for more information. Yes on 55 to Help Students Thrive, is our message, says Taiz. Just one hour of your time can make all the difference. PHOTO: Faculty in the CFA Chapter at San Jose State gather around the table for a phone bank session. Photo by Sue Pak. We all can help our students & colleagues prepare for the Nov. 8 election It s important to know how you want to vote on candidates and ballot measures, and CFA s Voter Guide can help. But even before you make those decisions, you, your students and your colleagues need to register to vote, and know how, where, and when to vote. This can be especially tricky for students who may be voting for the first time, and who may have to determine residency to know where to vote. Here are important dates with links that help. Please share! October 24 is the last day to register to vote in the November 8 election. You go online to register to vote or to update your voter information. Advise people with questions or need assistance with voter registration to call 800-345- 8683.
Prop 55 endorser Danny Glover, SFSU alum, sends video message As campaigning for and against the many November 8 ballot measures heats up, San Francisco State graduate and celebrated actor Danny Glover has released a video urging Californian s to vote Yes on Prop 55. We re committed to helping our kids thrive, says Glover. And that means voting yes on Prop 55. Glover joins a growing cohort of Prop 55 endorsers including the editorial boards of the San Jose Mercury News, Fresno Bee, and Sacramento Bee. Around the California State University, in addition to CFA, the California State University Employees Union has endorsed Prop 55, along with the CSU Board of Trustees (see page 8 of PDF at link), the statewide CSU Academic Senate, and the California State Student Association. The hundreds of other endorsers of 55 include the California Teachers Association, State Controller Betty Yee, State Treasurer John Chiang, and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Campaign for College Opportunity, and the ACLU of California. Proposition 55 is particularly important to the CSU since it would free up money in the state s General Fund, which is the source of the CSU s state funding. If Prop. 55 fails, the loss to the General Fund means CSU could suffer a $250 million cut to its base budget. LEARN MORE ABOUT CASE FOR PROP 55: See news site Capital & Main s in-depth analysis of the impact of the current tax on high incomes, which Prop 55 continues, on education and other essential services. Bargaining Survey on our faculty contract coming soon CFA members have been discussing our numerous successes from last Spring at the CFA campus meetings this Fall term. We won good raises without having to go on strike. Check here to view the dates & times of campus CFA meetings on bargaining Another win in that agreement is a change in the bargaining calendar. Going forward, CFA and CSU management will begin talks earlier, before the CSU Board of Trustees makes its funding request to the state. That change means CFA and CSU management will begin negotiations on the entire contract a new multi-year agreement in July 2017 for implementation in July 2018. CFA has already launched the first step in this process holding faculty meetings on the CSU
campuses to review what we have accomplished and discuss what comes next. In addition to the campus meetings this Fall, CFA will ask faculty to complete a survey about the principal issues in successor contract talks. We need to know what s most important to you so that we can focus our work at the bargaining table, write Kevin Wehr, CFA Bargaining Team Chair, and Antonio Gallo, Chair of CFA s Contract Development & Bargaining Strategy Committee. We also need to know that faculty are ready to come together and fight if necessary to obtain a fair contract. The survey will go live soon. All CFA members are invited to participate. Watch your email inbox for a message with a link to the survey. Lack of Faculty diversity topic of State Assembly hearing at San Jose State tomorrow, Oct. 6 The Assembly Higher Education Committee of the California State Legislature will hold a public hearing at San Jose State tomorrow to explore the lack of diversity of the faculty teaching in the CSU, the Community Colleges, and the UC. Oversight Hearing on Improving Faculty Diversity California s Public Colleges and Universities San Jose State University Student Union Thursday, October 6, 10 am-6 pm The hearing is open to the public and CSU faculty are encouraged to attend In a background document issued by the Higher Education Committee in advance of the hearing, the committee notes that despite ongoing activity and interest, the lack of faculty diversity remains a significant issue in all three segments. The final page of the document lists questions the hearing will explore, including Why have the segments been unable to make major gains in this area, despite numerous programs at each segment? After an opening by Thuy Thi Nguyen, President, Foothill College, management will testify including Christine Mallon, CSU Assistant Vice Chancellor of Academic Programs and Faculty Development, followed by faculty testimony, and public comments. Cecil Canton, CFA s Associate Vice President for Affirmative Action, will provide faculty perspective from the CSU. While preparing his testimony, Canton took a break to remark, We are a nation in crisis, a crisis that shows up on our campuses, too, in the ways we relate to one another and in the steps we and our administration take to solve problems. We don t see things as they really are; we see them through the lens of our unconscious biases. On the topic of the hearing, Canton added, The CSU administration has not addressed the extant issues that are facing our university system, like diversity of the faculty. Institutional bias and racism
are key factors in why we have not changed the core aspect of our public higher education system. PHOTO: CFA leader Cecil Canton, who will testify at the hearing. Faculty Rights Tip: Campus Investigations and Weingarten Rights Have you ever been called in to a meeting with a campus administrator and, once in that meeting, realized that they were conducting an investigation about your alleged conduct or asking questions that could result in your being disciplined? When this happens, your Weingarten Rights kick in as a matter of due process. You are entitled to union representation (from CFA staff or a member/colleague) in an investigatory meeting that could result in discipline for you, and you are entitled to schedule the meeting at a time that works for both you and your advocate. You invoke your Weingarten Rights immediately by saying: If this discussion could in any way lead to my being disciplined or terminated, or affect my personal working conditions, I request that my CFA representative or an advocate of my choosing be present at the meeting. Make sure you get in touch with your local CFA chapter right away to arrange for advocacy and help if you are the subject of an investigation for misconduct at work. Want to learn more? Become active with your local CFA chapter faculty rights team. Find you representatives here. Browse the faculty contract. See previous Faculty Rights Tips on a range of topics in our 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. Links of the Week A Major Union Just Launched A Boycott Against Donald Trump Huffington Post The Culinary Workers Union is asking travelers not to stay at his hotels or play golf at his courses. They are publicizing it on twitter with #BoycottTrump 'Finish in Four' is new mantra for California State University Sacramento Bee Jennifer Eagan, CFA president, said political pressure is causing the university to obsess over one tiny measure of student success among many others. There s an implication that any student who hasn t finished in four years has failed somehow, Eagan said creating incentives for students to graduate faster does not address the real reasons for their delays.
Sonoma State U. drops plans for 10,000-seat outdoor pavilion at Green Music Center Santa Rosa Press Democrat The new Sonoma State President Judy Sakaki framed (the move) as a bid to save money better spent on academic programs and the needs of students and faculty. The pavilion would have cost roughly $10.6 million. Part-time community college instructors to get job protections Sacramento Bee mandating the state s community college districts come to the negotiating table with part-time instructors to discuss reemployment and termination rules. The Evolution of California s College Promise, as Told Through 4 Students KQED-FM NPR Does higher education in California still unlock economic opportunities for young people? I explored that question by looking at the cost of a college degree through the lives of four students at very different points in California s history. Nearly 7 million Californians will be automatically enrolled in state-run retirement savings plan under new law Los Angeles Times The War Against Public Education Huffington Post People who don t like public education usually don t like strong faculty unions As faculty strike date nears, union and state universities' system try to get their story out PennLive.com Working more than 450 days with an expired contract, the faculty union in Pennsylvania s 14-campus state university system holds a rally to send a message to the board that it's time to get serious... before their Oct. 19 strike date.