Dear colleagues,
It has been a busy and distressing few months. As your union, we’ve been tracking a variety of issues that are impacting faculty work here at UCSC. This message includes information on SCFA activities related to:
- Effort report certification
- Child care reimbursement proposal
- Workload
- Academic freedom
- Upcoming events
Effort certification
In response to questions from our members, SCFA has contacted UCSC’s Office of Labor Relations to inquire about recent emails regarding Effort Report Certification during the time period that includes the 2022 UAW strike. During the strike, UCSC instructed faculty to not ask GSRs, postdocs and staff whether they were working. As a result, faculty may not know how to fill out the reports. We will pass on any information we receive from Labor Relations. In the meantime, faculty may wish to defer completing the Effort Report Certification.
Child care
As you might have heard at the last Senate meeting, SCFA is working with the Academic Mothers Faculty Network to advocate for affordable and accessible child care and will soon be bringing forward a proposal for child care reimbursements for parents with children 5 years old and younger.
Workload and changes to teaching conditions
We’ve been hearing from faculty about the TA shortage, budget cuts, and the pressure to increase class sizes without increased instructional support. We are deeply concerned about how these dynamics are degrading the quality of undergraduate education on our campus while simultaneously increasing faculty workload. If you have a story to share about how these changes are impacting you and your department, please send it to us via this google form, or bring your experiences and ideas about how to address these pressures to our upcoming town hall.
Academic freedom
We continue to hear from many colleagues who are concerned about issues of academic freedom and free speech in the context of the Israeli government’s ongoing attacks on Palestine, and reiterate our alarm at the chilling climate across the United States and on UC campuses. As part of CUCFA, we have been defending the “rights of instructional faculty, staff, and students to express support for the Palestinian people and/or criticize the Israeli government in any terms consistent with academic freedom, including settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.” If you are a faculty member who is experiencing discipline or threats of discipline due to your engagement on this issue, we encourage you to reach out to both the Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and to scfa.assist@gmail.com, or to come to the town hall to discuss ways to organize together on these issues.
Relatedly, SCFA has also signed onto an AAUP resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, and has been working with CUCFA to respond to potential actions by the UC Regents that threaten to usurp faculty authority over the curriculum and further undermine academic freedom and free speech.
Upcoming Events
- Tomorrow! Wednesday, February 14th, 11:45 am: Cross-union Solidarity Rally: meet at Stevenson Dining Hall, short march goes to Quarry Plaza
- Monday, February 26th, 4:30pm: SCFA Town Hall: Humanities 210
In community,
The SCFA Board
