ReportWire

Tag: Faculty

  • UCLA fires top finance officer, saying he made inaccurate claims about campus budget

    [ad_1]

    In a rare action against a top administrator, UCLA on Tuesday fired its chief financial officer after officials said he inaccurately described the campus deficit, which has come under scrutiny by faculty leaders amid growing operation costs, attacks by the Trump administration and weaker-than-promised state funding.

    Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer Stephen Agostini, who had overseen UCLA’s $11-billion budget since May 2024, “will no longer serve in his role, effective immediately,” Chancellor Julio Frenk wrote in a brief campuswide message, announcing an interim appointment and a national search for a replacement.

    The abrupt change came days after Agostini gave an interview to the Daily Bruin student newspaper saying the campus had “financial management flaws and failures” predating his arrival, leading to what he said was a $425-million deficit. In the interview, Agostini blamed financial woes on faculty and staff raises, academic departments’ requests for new positions and expanded programs, and UCLA athletics, which has run in the red for multiple years.

    Agostini suggested that UCLA’s annual financial reports going back to 2002 were incorrect, saying he saw “very serious errors” — a charge UCLA officials deny. UCLA’s last posted financial report covers the 2022-23 fiscal year.

    Agostini did not respond to requests for comment from The Times.

    In his campus letter, Frenk did not state a reason for Agostini’s dismissal.

    A source with knowledge of the situation told The Times that the firing was tied to Agostini’s public statements regarding the budget and long-term financial management, which were made without Frenk’s approval. The person asked to have their name withheld because they were not authorized to speak to the media about administrative matters.

    In a separate statement, Mary Osako, UCLA’s vice chancellor for strategic communications, dismissed Agostini’s comments directly.

    “Recent claims of a projected $425-million deficit for UCLA’s fiscal year 2025–26 are inaccurate,” Osako said. “The figure includes funds that are not committed for expenditure, including items that have been proposed or discussed but not approved. As such, it does not represent the university’s projected operating deficit.”

    Osako said the deficit was “substantially lower,” but did not say by how much. A UCLA spokesperson on Tuesday also declined to release a deficit number.

    Osako said budget challenges were caused not by academic programs but instead “reflect broader institutional and external factors affecting higher education.”

    “The university’s financial strategy has evolved under successive campus leaders in response to changing economic conditions, state funding levels and operational priorities,” she said. Also, “in spite of current strains, UCLA has the financial strength to maintain its excellence while adapting to new financial realities and opportunities.”

    She also said allegations suggesting long-term financial mismanagement were incorrect. “Chancellor Frenk is confident in the integrity of UCLA’s leadership, past and present, and their financial oversight and decision-making processes. Statements suggesting otherwise are unfounded and do not reflect his or UCLA’s position.”

    Financial challenges are common at U.S. universities, which have grappled with shifting enrollment, rising costs and funding pressures as well as lingering effects of pandemic-era financial declines. Harvard, which has faced major federal funding clawbacks since last year, recently said it has a $113-million deficit. UC Santa Cruz — where the operating budget is a fraction of UCLA’s — recently reported a $95-million deficit.

    UCLA leaders say the university is facing increasing costs and unpredictable state and federal support — including $584 million in federal research grant suspensions from the Trump administration that are currently blocked in court. The UC initiated a systemwide freeze on most hires last year and UCLA has made several cuts since then.

    At UCLA, changes include layoffs at the extension school, and reduced courseloads or a lack of contract renewals among some part-time faculty. The cuts are not uniform, with areas of the campus scaling back in different ways. Last year, the math department reported cutting paid graders and instituting reduced hours for teaching assistants. Lower-enrollment and less commonly taught foreign-language courses have also faced reductions. Faculty in other departments said their travel and conference budgets were reduced.

    UCLA, which is preparing to host the Olympic Village in 2028 and has invested tens of millions into athletics since joining the Big Ten, has also faced internal criticism for heavy spending on sports programs that have run in the red.

    A UCLA Academic Senate report released last month called for a “phased plan toward break-even or substantially reduced subsidy” for university money funneled toward athletics. The senate represents thousands of faculty members.

    Overall, the report said there was “incomplete data” and “major gaps in transparency” over financial matters.

    Speaking Tuesday, Megan McEvoy, a professor in the Institute for Society and Genetics who chairs the Academic Senate, said she was, “heartened that Chancellor Frenk took seriously the ongoing and serious concerns raised on campus about the now-former CFO.”

    But McEvoy said she and her colleagues still had questions.

    “Senate faculty need full, trustworthy accounting of decisions and policies that caused the current campus budget deficit,” she said. “Without accountability, we are concerned that the administration may repeat the same sort of decisions that led to the deficit. Senate faculty want to understand how the administration will balance the budget in ways that preserve the academic mission. The recent allegation that we can’t trust prior financial statements is worrisome, if true.”

    Anna Markowitz, president of the UCLA Faculty Assn. — an independent campus group that sued the Trump administration over its $1.2-billion UCLA settlement demand — said she had similar concerns.

    “We want to know how much money has been paid to subsidize athletics; on policing costs that have no clear goals or accountability structures; on real estate purchases; administrative consultants; and for high-level leadership who did not take action last year when our school was under grave threat,” said Markowitz, an associate professor in UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies.

    UCLA is not the only Southern California campus to face financial hurdles. Last year, USC laid off roughly 1,000 employees as it faced down a $230-million deficit. Speaking to The Times this month, USC President Beong-Soo Kim said the university was in a “much stronger financial position now” and that he was “optimistic” about its financial outlook.

    [ad_2]

    Jaweed Kaleem

    Source link

  • Times Investigation: Ex-Trump DOJ lawyers say ‘fraudulent’ UC antisemitism probes led them to quit

    [ad_1]

    Nine former Department of Justice attorneys assigned to investigate alleged antisemitism at the University of California described chaotic and rushed directives from the Trump administration and told The Times they felt pressured to conclude that campuses had violated the civil rights of Jewish students and staff.

    In interviews over several weeks, the career attorneys — who together served dozens of years — said they were given the instructions at the onset of the investigations. All nine attorneys resigned during the course of their UC assignments, some concerned that they were being asked to violate ethical standards.

    “Initially we were told we only had 30 days to come up with a reason to be ready to sue UC,” said Ejaz Baluch, a former senior trial attorney who was assigned to investigate whether Jewish UCLA faculty and staff faced discrimination on campus that the university did not properly address. “It shows just how unserious this exercise was. It was not about trying to find out what really happened.”

    In spring 2024, increasingly tumultuous protests over Israel’s war in Gaza racked UCLA. Jewish students and faculty reported “broad-based perceptions of antisemitic and anti-Israeli bias on campus,” a UCLA antisemitism task force found. A group later sued, charging that UCLA violated their civil rights, and won millions of dollars and concessions in a settlement.

    UCLA avoided trial, but the suit — along with articles from conservative websites such as the Washington Free Beacon — formed a basis for the UC investigations, the former DOJ lawyers said.

    “UCLA came the closest to having possibly broken the law in how it responded or treated civil rights complaints from Jewish employees,” Baluch said. “We did have enough information from our investigation to warrant suing UCLA.” But Baluch said, “We believed that such a lawsuit had significant weaknesses.”

    “To me, it’s even clearer now that it became a fraudulent and sham investigation,” another lawyer said.

    A DOJ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. When it announced findings against UCLA in late July, Assistant Atty. Gen. Harmeet K. Dhillon — the DOJ civil rights chief — said the campus “failed to take timely and appropriate action in response to credible claims of harm and hostility on its campus.” Dhillon said there was a “clear violation of our federal civil rights laws.” Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said UCLA would “pay a heavy price.”

    The former DOJ attorneys’ description of their Trump administration work offers a rare view inside the government’s UC probe. For months, university officials have said little publicly about their ongoing talks with the DOJ. Their strategy has been to tread cautiously and negotiate an out-of-court end to the investigations and financial threats — without further jeopardizing the $17.5 billion in federal funds UC receives.

    Four attorneys said they were particularly troubled by two matters. First, they were asked to write up a “j-memo” — a justification memorandum — that explained why UC should face a lawsuit “before we even knew the facts,” one attorney said.

    “Then there was the PR campaign,” the attorney said, referring to announcements beginning with a Feb. 28, 2025, press release saying investigators would be visiting UCLA, UC Berkeley, USC and seven other universities nationwide because the campuses “have experienced antisemitic incidents since October 2023.”

    “Never before in my time across multiple presidential administrations did we send out press releases essentially saying workplaces or colleges were guilty of discrimination before finding out if they really were,” said one attorney, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.

    Jen Swedish, a former deputy chief on the employment discrimination team who worked on the UCLA case, said “virtually everything about the UC investigation was atypical.”

    “The political appointees essentially determined the outcome almost before the investigation had even started,” said Swedish, referring to Trump administration officials who declared publicly that punishing colleges for antisemitism would be a priority. She resigned in May.

    The lawyers spoke out because their formal connections to the DOJ recently ended. Many said they believed the Trump administration had compromised the integrity of the department with what they viewed as aggressive, politically motivated actions against UC and other elite U.S. campuses.

    “I think there were absolutely Jewish people on campuses that faced legitimate discrimination. But the way we were pushed so hard to investigate, it was clear to so many of us that this was a political hit job that actually would end up not helping anyone,” said one attorney who worked on UC Davis and UCLA and interviewed students.

    In a statement, a UC spokesperson said, “While we cannot speak to the DOJ’s practices, UC will continue to act in good faith and in the best interests of our students, staff, faculty, and patients. Our focus is on solutions that keep UC strong for Californians and Americans.”

    The government has not sued UC.

    But in August, the DOJ demanded that the university pay a $1.2-billion fine and agree to sweeping, conservative-leaning campus policy changes to settle federal antisemitism accusations. In exchange, the Trump administration would restore $584 million in frozen grant funding. At the time, Gov. Gavin Newsom called the proposal “extortion.”

    Last month, after UC faculty independently sued, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin ruled that the “coercive and retaliatory” proposal violated the 1st Amendment. Lin blocked the fine and the demands for deep campus changes.

    “Agency officials, as well as the president and vice president, have repeatedly and publicly announced a playbook of initiating civil rights investigations of preeminent universities to justify cutting off federal funding, with the goal of bringing universities to their knees and forcing them to change their ideological tune,” Lin said.

    Her ruling does not preclude UC from negotiating with the administration or reaching other agreements with Trump.

    Protests roiled campuses in spring 2024

    The federal investigations largely focused on the tumultuous pro-Palestinian campus protests that erupted at UC campuses. On April 30, 2024, a pro-Israel vigilante group attacked a UCLA encampment, resulting in injuries to student and faculty activists. Police failed to bring the situation under control for hours — a melee former Chancellor Gene Block called a “dark chapter” in the university’s history.

    During the 2023-24 UC protests, some Jewish students and faculty described hostile climates and formal antisemitism complaints to the schools increased. Some Jews said they faced harassment for being Zionists. Others said they encountered symbols and chants at protests and encampments, such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which they viewed as antisemitic. Jews were also among the leading encampment activists.

    In June 2024, Jewish UCLA students and faculty sued UC, saying the encampment blocked them from accessing Dickson Court and Royce Quad. The four blamed the university for anti-Jewish discrimination, saying it enabled pro-Palestinian activists to protest. On July 29, 2025, UC agreed to pay $6.45 million to settle the federal suit.

    In response to the demonstrations and suit, UC overhauled its free speech policies, banning protests that aren’t preapproved from vast portions of campus. It said it would strictly enforce existing bans on overnight encampments and the use of masks to hide identity while breaking the law, and agreed to not prohibit campus access to Jews and other legally protected groups.

    Inside the investigations

    The nine former DOJ lawyers worked between January and June researching whether UC campuses mishandled complaints of antisemitism filed by Jewish students, faculty and staff tied to pro-Palestinian encampments. They were involved with two areas under the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division — employment litigation and educational opportunities — tasked with looking into potential discrimination faced by UC employees and students.

    The attorneys described an at times rushed process that concentrated legal staffing on probing antisemitism at UC campuses, to the detriment of other discrimination cases focused on racial minorities and people who are disabled.

    At one point, attorneys said, more than half of the dozens of lawyers in the employment litigation section were assigned solely or nearly exclusively to UC campuses, with some told specifically to research the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and other campus divisions. As lawyers begin to quit, the attorneys said, additional staff was brought in from other DOJ teams — those focused on tax law and immigrant employment law.

    When five lawyers in the mid-spring reported minimal findings at Berkeley, Davis and San Francisco campuses, they were reassigned to UCLA.

    “It was like UCLA was the crown jewel among public universities that the Trump administration wanted to ‘get,’ similar to Harvard for privates,” said another attorney, who requested anonymity because they feared retaliation for speaking out. “There were meetings where managers — who were career employees like us — would convey that political appointees and even the White House wanted us all on UCLA.”

    Dena Robinson, a former senior trial attorney, investigated Berkeley, Davis and Los Angeles campuses.

    “I was someone who volunteered on my own to join the investigation and I did so because of some of my lived experience. I’m a Black woman. I’m also Jewish,” she said. But she described concerns about fast and shifting deadlines. “And I am highly skeptical of whether this administration actually cares about Jewish people or antisemitism.”

    Lawyers described similar views and patterns in the Educational Opportunities Section, where UC investigations were concurrently taking place.

    A 10th attorney, Amelia Huckins, said she resigned from that section to avoid being assigned to UC.

    “I did not want to be part of a team where I’m asked to make arguments that don’t comport with the law and existing legal precedent,” she said.

    Huckins had been away from the job for a little more than two months when she read findings the DOJ released July 29 saying that UCLA acted with “deliberate indifference” to Jewish students and employees and threatened to sue the university if it did not come to a settlement.

    In those findings, the DOJ said, “Jewish and Israeli students at UCLA were subjected to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment that created a hostile environment by members of the encampment.” As evidence, it cited 11 complaints from Jewish or Israeli students regarding discrimination between April 25 and May 1, 2024.

    It was “as if they only talked to particular students and used public documents like media reports,” Huckins said, adding that the evidence publicly presented seemed thin. In a “normal investigation,” attorneys research “different layers of document and data requests and interviews at every level of the university system.” Those investigations, she said, can take at least a year, if not longer.

    What investigators encountered

    Attorneys described site visits at several UC campuses over the spring, including meetings with campus administrators, civil rights officers, police chiefs and UC lawyers who attended interviews — including at least one with UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk.

    The lawyers said UC leaders were cooperative and shared campus policies about how civil rights complaints are handled as well as information detailing the way specific cases were treated, such as those of faculty who said they faced harassment.

    “There were thousands and thousands of pages of documents and many interviews,” said Baluch, referring to Berkeley and Davis. “There may have been harassment here and there, but there was not a lot that rose to the level of the university violating federal law, which is a pretty high bar.”

    “We identified certain incidents at Berkeley and at Davis that were kind of flash points. There were a couple of protests that seemed to get out of hand. There were the encampments. There was graffiti. But we just did not see a really hostile work environment,” said another attorney who visited those campuses. “And if there was a hostile environment, it seemed to have been remediated by the end of 2024 or even May or June for that matter.”

    However, at UCLA, Baluch said he and team members found “problems with the complaint system and that some of the professors were genuinely harassed and to such a severe level that it violates Title VII.” Eventually, he said “we successfully convinced the front office that we should only be going after UCLA.”

    Where UC and Trump administration stand today

    When Harvard faced major grant freezes and civil rights violation findings, it sued the Trump administration. UC has so far opted against going to court — and is willing to engage in “dialogue” to settle ongoing investigations and threats.

    “Our priorities are clear: protect UC’s ability to educate students, conduct research for the benefit of California and the nation, and provide high-quality health care,” said UC spokesperson Rachel Zaentz. “We will engage in good-faith dialogue, but we will not accept any outcome that cripples UC’s core mission or undermines taxpayer investments.”

    The calculation, according to UC sources, is simple. They want to avoid a head-on conflict with Trump because UC has too much federal money on the line. They point to Harvard — which suffered major grant losses and federal restrictions on its patents and ability to enroll international students after publicly challenging the president.

    “Our strategy before was to lay low and avoid Trump any way we could,” said a UC official, who was not authorized to speak on the record. “After the UCLA grants were pulled and the settlement offer came in, the tactic shifted to ‘playing nice’” without agreeing to its terms.

    In public remarks to the board of regents last month at UCLA, UC President James B. Milliken said “the stakes are enormous” and presented data on funding challenges: Under Trump, more than 1,600 federal grants have been cut. About 400 grants worth $230 million remained suspended after faculty court wins.

    UC “is still facing a potential loss of more than a billion dollars in federal research funding,” Milliken said.

    “The coming months may require even tougher choices across the university,” he said.

    No information about a possible UC-Trump settlement has been released. But some former DOJ lawyers said they believe a settlement is inevitable.

    “It’s devastating that these institutions are feeling pressured and bullied into these agreements,” said Huckins, speaking of deals with Columbia, Brown, Cornell and other campuses. “I would love it if more schools would stand up to the administration … I recognize that they’re in a hard spot.”

    To Baluch, who worked on the UCLA case, it appeared that the DOJ had the upper hand.

    “Cutting grants is a huge hit to a university. And the billion-dollars fine is a lot. I see why these universities feel backed into a corner to settle,” he said. “The threats, they are working.”

    [ad_2]

    Jaweed Kaleem

    Source link

  • Pepper-balls, rifle rounds, drones: UC police get green light for military-grade weapons

    [ad_1]

    SAN FRANCISCO — University of California police will be replenishing and increasing their stockpile of military-grade weapons and equipment — including drones, bullets and thousands of pepper ball rounds — as part of an annual request approved Wednesday by the governing board of regents.

    As UC’s handling of protests and campus security comes under scrutiny from the Trump administration, five campuses — UCLA, Irvine, Santa Barbara, San Diego and San Francisco — asked for more weapons, while those in Berkeley, Davis, Merced, Riverside and Santa Cruz did not seek to make new purchases.

    The biggest request came from UC San Diego, which said it needed 5,000 new 5.56-millimeter caliber rifle rounds to replace ones used in trainings. At UC Irvine, police asked for 1,500 pepper-ball projectiles. UCLA, which has a significant weapons inventory compared to other campuses — among it 39,500 rifle rounds and ammo — made relatively few requests, including four new pepper-ball launchers and 100 sponge foam rounds.

    California law enforcement agencies are required by state law to make annual reports on the acquisition and use of weapons that qualify as military equipment. The definition includes munitions, explosives and long-range acoustic devices, which are regularly used by U.S. law enforcement and are not exclusive to the military. Some equipment under the definition, such as drones, are not traditional weapons but used for patrol and special events.

    A report from the office of UC President James B. Milliken presented Wednesday to the board of regents, which approved the requests, added that the tools “are not used indiscriminately but with caution to protect the lives of UC community members/visitors and UC officers when bringing an incident to a conclusion with the least amount of force.”

    The report said “no UC campus uses or receives goods from the U.S. Department of Defense and Law Enforcement Support Office program for surplus military equipment.”

    Under the state law, police departments also have to disclose use of such weapons in the last year. In 2024, the report said weapons were primarily used during training and that new orders would help replenish supplies used in those exercises.

    There were dozens of non-training exceptions at UCLA:

    • On June 10, 2024, police deployed 240 pepper-ball projectiles “during an incident involving an aggressive crowd.” It added that none of the rounds were “aimed at individuals and there were no reports of these rounds directly affecting any person.” A single sponge foam round was also fired. Police were responding to a pro-Palestinian encampment and protest.
    • A long-range acoustic device was used for crowd management 71 times. The report described the device as “a portable speaker used to provide increased sound and clarity over public address systems, bullhorns, or megaphones so officers can effectively communicate with crowds and provide emergency directions to people in large areas so they can take immediate actions such as sheltering in place or evacuating.”
    • A sponge foam round was fired “during an arrest when a suspect put their hand near a police officer’s firearm.”

    The report also detailed non-training uses at two additional campuses: UC Davis deployed drones 11 times for “patrol and special events,” and UC Santa Cruz also used a long-range acoustic device for crowd management at least once.

    California Assembly Bill 481, which requires the disclosures, was signed into law in 2021. But public scrutiny of UC policing has grown since 2024, when pro-Palestinian protests grew across the 10-university system and officers clashed with demonstrators at several campuses.

    UCLA police, the LAPD and California Highway Patrol were faulted in internal and external reports, including one compiled by a congressional education committee, for a failure to coordinate and quickly respond to a violent attack on a UCLA encampment on April 30 and May 1, 2024. The agencies have also faced criticism and lawsuits by pro-Palestinian protesters after officers shut down multiple demonstrations that year.

    Since then, UCLA has created a new top campus safety post, installed new police leadership and instituted changes to protest rules, including zero tolerance of encampments.

    Speaking at the regents meeting Wednesday during a public comment period, UCLA associate professor Chelsea Shover encouraged regents to reject the purchases.

    “My concern is that it will be used against students and faculty,” said Shover, who works in the medical and public health schools. In an interview, Shover added, “I have no confidence military-grade equipment will make the campus safer, as last year’s UCLA campus protests made clear.”

    Together with demands President Trump has made recently to restrict protests and speech freedoms at UCLA — in exchange for the release of frozen federal research funding — “this sets a worrying and chilling effect on rights protected by the 1st Amendment,” Shover said.

    Graeme Blair, a UCLA professor of political science who was part of the 2024 encampment and additional pro-Palestinian protests, said he believed Wednesday’s presentation “obscures an extraordinary use of force that injured students and faculty” during the June 10, 2024, campus protest that ended in arrests.

    Blair said the police-fired projectiles ended up “hitting students and faculty, leaving them bruised and with burning eyes.” Police reported only using one foam round. Blair said he witnessed multiple rounds.

    “The fact that UCPD fails to describe these harms calls into question whether they can be trusted with more munitions and their deployment,” he said. “Less-lethal munitions like sponge rounds, rubber bullets, and pepper balls have no place on a college campus, much less to be deployed against students and faculty exercising their right to free expression.”

    [ad_2]

    Jaweed Kaleem

    Source link

  • Seven HBCUs across the country on lockdown for threats

    [ad_1]

    Seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities are closed or on lockdown because of terroristic threats, according to Hearst sister stations and NBC affiliates.Alabama State University was briefly on lockdown Thursday morning because of a “terroristic threat” aimed at the campus.The university sent a statement to WVTM, stating that campus operations had been shut down that morning into the afternoon: “Alabama State University has received the all-clear from law enforcement and University officials. While the immediate threat has been resolved, all non-essential day-to-day operations remain suspended for the remainder of the day, and the campus is still closed to the public. We are still asking all students to shelter-in-place in their residence halls until further notice. The safety and well-being of our Hornet family continues to be our top priority.”FloridaIn Florida, Bethune-Cookman University is on lockdown and classes have been canceled after “a potential threat to campus safety” was made, the school told sister station WESH.GeorgiaClark Atlanta University received threats and is on lockdown, causing Spellman College to also go under lockdown because of proximity, according to a post on its social media page.”At this time, no threats have been directed toward Spelman’s campus. However, we have increased security presence across campus and at our two main entrances,” Spellman posted.LouisianaSouthern University is on lockdown due to a potential threat, according to NBC affiliate WAFB. VirginiaVirginia State University and Hampton University closed for terroristic threats, according to our NBC affiliates WWBT and WAVY. This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.

    Seven Historically Black Colleges and Universities are closed or on lockdown because of terroristic threats, according to Hearst sister stations and NBC affiliates.

    Alabama State University was briefly on lockdown Thursday morning because of a “terroristic threat” aimed at the campus.

    The university sent a statement to WVTM, stating that campus operations had been shut down that morning into the afternoon:

    “Alabama State University has received the all-clear from law enforcement and University officials. While the immediate threat has been resolved, all non-essential day-to-day operations remain suspended for the remainder of the day, and the campus is still closed to the public. We are still asking all students to shelter-in-place in their residence halls until further notice. The safety and well-being of our Hornet family continues to be our top priority.”

    Florida

    In Florida, Bethune-Cookman University is on lockdown and classes have been canceled after “a potential threat to campus safety” was made, the school told sister station WESH.

    Georgia

    Clark Atlanta University received threats and is on lockdown, causing Spellman College to also go under lockdown because of proximity, according to a post on its social media page.

    “At this time, no threats have been directed toward Spelman’s campus. However, we have increased security presence across campus and at our two main entrances,” Spellman posted.

    Louisiana

    Southern University is on lockdown due to a potential threat, according to NBC affiliate WAFB.

    Virginia

    Virginia State University and Hampton University closed for terroristic threats, according to our NBC affiliates WWBT and WAVY.

    This is a developing story and will be updated as information becomes available.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Faculty accuse UC campuses of labor violations over pro-Palestine protest crackdowns

    Faculty accuse UC campuses of labor violations over pro-Palestine protest crackdowns

    [ad_1]

    Faculty across the state have accused the University of California system of carrying out a sweeping campaign to suppress pro-Palestinian speech and protests in violation of state labor law.

    The Council of University of California Faculty Associations said UC administrators have threatened faculty for teaching about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and launched disciplinary proceedings against faculty for supporting on-campus student encampments as well as backing a strike by student academic workers this spring.

    The faculty group made the allegations in a 581-page complaint filed Thursday with California’s Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees labor-management interaction for public employees in the state. The unfair labor practice charge was co-signed by faculty associations at seven UC campuses, including Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Davis and San Francisco.

    Faculty members gathered at UCLA midday Thursday to announce the charge. At the news conference, Constance Penley, president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, described the university’s actions as a “relentless campaign to chill faculty’s exercise of their academic freedom and to deter them from teaching about the war in a way that does not align with the university’s position.”

    Faculty have also been investigated for pro-Palestine social media posts, arrested for exercising their free speech rights and were surveilled and intimidated by university representatives, the filing alleged.

    The push from faculty highlights how, months after police cleared pro-Palestinian encampments at universities, the fallout has continued on various campuses, with university officials implementing new protest rules and students grappling with ongoing suspensions and holds on their records.

    The faculty claims build on an earlier charge filed by the UCLA Faculty Assn. in the aftermath of attacks and mass arrests faced by students and faculty participating in an on-campus encampment in April and May. And they parallel similar allegations made by unions representing UC employees, including United Auto Workers Local 481, which represents student academic workers and the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents 6,500 librarians and teaching faculty across the university system.

    The various charges, filed earlier this year with the state labor board allege essentially that the university had failed to maintain safe working conditions, disregarded the free speech rights of its employees, and unlawfully made changes to working conditions in response to campus protests.

    The university defends its course of action. In response to a request for comment, UC spokesperson Heather Hansen pointed to a university statement previously filed with the state labor board in response to the UCLA Faculty Assn.’s charge.

    The university stated that while it “supports free speech and lawful protests,” it must also “ensure that all of its community members can safely continue to study, work, and exercise their rights, which is why it has in place policies that regulate the time, place, and manner for protest activities on its campuses.”

    “The University has allowed — and continues to allow — lawful protesting activities surrounding the conflict in the Middle East. But when protests violate University policy or threaten the safety and security of others, the University has taken lawful action to end impermissible and unlawful behavior,” the university said.

    The filing details instances of the university allegedly investigating and disciplining faculty.

    Soon after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, and the start of Israel’s bombing siege of Gaza, the university began sending emails to faculty threatening that they could be investigated and disciplined for teaching content outside the scope of their courses. In November, UC San Diego investigated two lecturers for teaching about the history of the Palestinian territories, the filing said. A UC Irvine faculty member was sent a “letter of warning” by the administration for holding a vote on whether to conduct class at the on-campus encampment, with optional attendance.

    In another example cited, a medical school lecturer at UC San Francisco who delivered a talk in April about trauma-informed care at a health equity conference was barred from participating in future educational activities after she devoted some six minutes of a 50-minute course to discussing the topic as it related to Palestinians’ health challenges. A campus administrator informed the lecturer they had received complaints that her talk was “biased and antisemitic,” and took down an online video of the talk. The ban was eventually lifted, but the video remains offline.

    The complaint says the university’s “harsh crackdown against professors for expressing pro-Palestinian viewpoints stands in stark contrast to its treatment of vocal pro-Israeli faculty.”

    The university refused to initiate a formal disciplinary investigation into a pro-Israel faculty member at UC Irvine accused of harassing and physically intimidating an undergraduate student, although video footage was provided of the faculty member “cornering, physically intimidating, and interrogating a visibly scared student,” the filing said.

    After an unfair labor practice charge is filed, the Public Employee Relations Board will review and evaluate the case, and decide whether to dismiss the charge or proceed with having parties negotiate a settlement. If no settlement is reached, the case would be scheduled for a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.

    [ad_2]

    Suhauna Hussain

    Source link

  • UCLA chancellor faces growing faculty criticism, no-confidence vote, after weeks of turmoil

    UCLA chancellor faces growing faculty criticism, no-confidence vote, after weeks of turmoil

    [ad_1]

    UCLA Chancellor Gene Block is facing faculty calls for his resignation and motions of no confidence and censure as criticism mounts against his leadership in the wake of a violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters and a sweeping police takedown of their encampment that resulted in more than 200 arrests last week.

    Representatives of the 3,800-member UCLA Academic Senate — made up of tenured and tenure-track faculty — are preparing to vote on separate motions for censure and no-confidence, both stating that Block “failed to ensure the safety of our students and grievously mishandled the events of last week.”

    The vote was scheduled for Friday but has been postponed to next week.

    The vote has no legal power to force action, but it marks a grave moment for Block. The leader of the nation’s top public research university is completing the final months of his 17-year tenure, after steering the Westwood campus through a financial crisis and global pandemic to reach new heights by expanding enrollment, diversity, philanthropy and research funding. Last year, Block announced he planned to step down on July 31 and return to faculty research.

    Other university leaders also have been criticized for their handling of campus protests, sparked last October when Hamas militants launched a deadly surprise attack on Israel and Israel retaliated with a massive bombardment of Gaza. Earlier this week, USC’s Academic Senate voted to censure the university’s president, Carol Folt, and provost, Andrew Guzman, after the widely criticized decision to cancel the valedictorian’s commencement speech due to unspecified “threats” and controversy over an aggressive police takedown of a pro-Palestinian encampment.

    UCLA declined to comment on the upcoming faculty vote.

    Three weeks of turmoil at UCLA started April 25, when students set up an encampment in the campus’ grassy quad to express solidarity with Palestinians, condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza and demand that UCLA divest from firms that make and deliver weapons and services to Israel. The encampment was initially free of violence, with protesters engaged in teach-in, art builds, yoga and other activities.

    “Many of us have personally witnessed the vibrant, respectful and highly disciplined learning [at the encampment],” Chicano Studies department chair Charlene Villaseñor Black said. “And university administration have gotten it wrong every time.”

    But UCLA Police Chief John Thomas said he advised campus leadership against allowing the encampment, as it violated rules against overnight camping. Inna Faliks, a professor of piano, said she and some other Jewish campus members felt targeted by protest chants, graffiti of expletives against Jews and blocked access to public walkways and buildings.

    UCLA declared the encampment unlawful on April 30. Later that night, a violent mob attacked the encampment and students were left to fend for themselves against beatings, pepper spray and fireworks for three hours. Law enforcement moved in on May 1 and early the next morning took down the encampment and arrested more than 200 people.

    Since then, a number of people have been blamed for the debacle.

    More than 900 University of California faculty and staff members issued a list of demands this week that included Block’s resignation, amnesty for students, staff and faculty who participated in the encampment and peaceful protests, university disclosure of all investments and divestment from military weapon production companies.

    “Following the violent and aggressive police sweep of the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on May 2, 2024, resulting in more than 200 students, faculty, and staff arrested while peacefully protesting, it has become obvious that Chancellor Block has failed our university,” the demand letter said.

    Faculty who signed the letter represented various departments including those of mathematics, American Indian Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Asian American Studies, history, Chicana/o and Central American Studies, African American Studies, and anthropology.

    They spoke out about their demands Thursday, joined by a group of volunteer medics — representing about 100 UCLA medical students, nurses, residents and emergency medical technicians — who raised concerns regarding police brutality and the absence of medical help from the university after the attack. They said more than 150 students were attacked with pepper spray and bear mace, and at least 25 students were hospitalized for head trauma, fractures and severe lacerations.

    “UCLA Chancellor Gene Block’s and UC President Michael Drake’s statements minimize the severity of both the physical and psychological impact of their actions while attempting to justify the force they authorized against their students,” a medic said in a statement.

    When police took down the encampment, medics said, more than a dozen students were evaluated for rubber bullet injuries and others showed contusions and musculoskeletal injuries.

    “We strongly feel that Chancellor Block endangered the lives of our students, faculty and staff,” said Michael Chwe, a political science professor who helped organize the demand letter.

    Judea Pearl, a computer science professor, said UC President Michael V. Drake was ultimately responsible for the campus security failures. He said Block should not be blamed for failing to bring in a stronger police presence because he was a “victim” of UC systemwide guidelines that direct campuses to rely first on communication with protesters and bring in law enforcement as a last resort.

    “He was trying to protect the campus but had to follow the directive…not to bring in police,” Pearl said.

    But other critics have blamed Thomas, the police chief. Three sources not authorized to speak publicly told The Times that campus leadership, even before the mob attack, had wanted to beef up security and authorized Thomas to bring in external law enforcement to assist UCLA police and private security with as much overtime pay as needed. But he failed to do so, they said, and also did not provide a security plan to campus leadership despite multiple requests to do so.

    Others said that Administrative Vice Chancellor Michael Beck, who oversaw the police department and Office of Emergency Management at the time of the mob attack, should step aside. Previous lapses are now being scrutinized, including his responsibility for not stopping the LAPD from using the UCLA-leased Jackie Robinson Stadium as a staging area for action against Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020 — which Block, Beck and others called a mistake and a violation of university values. Beck’s duties also include management of Bruin Woods, the university’s Lake Arrowhead facility, where two counselors alleged they were hazed and sexually assaulted by other counselors in 2022.

    Beck did not respond to requests for comment.

    Pearl said a censure and no-confidence vote would send the wrong message to Block’s successor to refrain from strong leadership and instead pander to campus political sentiments, which he said would signify a “caving in” to demands to cut business and academic ties with Israel. Chwe, however, said it would signify faculty’s strong views that the chancellor must be held responsible for student safety.

    Drake has announced an external investigation into UCLA’s response, which Block says he welcomes as he conducts his own internal review.

    UCLA also has moved swiftly to improve security by creating a new chief safety officer position to oversee campus security operations, including the campus police department. Rick Braziel, a former Sacramento police chief who has reviewed law enforcement responses in high-profile cases across the country, is leading the new Office of Campus Safety as associate vice chancellor.

    Some critics, however, said the move would further “militarize” the campus. UCLA deployed a larger law enforcement presence earlier this week, when campus police arrested 44 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered in a parking structure before a planned demonstration. Police said they carried equipment that could be “used to unlawfully enter and barricade a building.” Some students decried the arrests as harassment and intimidation. Classes were moved online for the rest of the week as a security precaution.

    Differing opinions among faculty over the university’s response to student protests have created small rifts within departments, according to multiple faculty members.

    Chwe said they are working to combat misinformation being spread to faculty members surrounding recent events and continue to hold conversations with their colleagues.

    “It’s not only about dialogue with the university but also with our colleagues,” he said.

    Caroline Luce, a UCLA historian and member of University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents more than 3,000 non-senate faculty and several hundred professional librarians, called the atmosphere for UCLA faculty, particularly those not tenured like lecturers, “dicey with lots of risk.”

    “There are reputations and interpersonal dynamics in departments that they have to navigate,” she said.

    John Branstetter, a UCLA lecturer in political science, was one of about 10 faculty arrested after police took down the encampment. He said the university’s crackdown on free speech on campus has not only made him fear for his students’ safety but for his own.

    “I do feel threatened by the general atmosphere that the administration is fostering through this continuing quasi-criminalization of free speech on campus, so I don’t know if they will try to get rid of me or the protections I have will be abided by,” he said.

    [ad_2]

    Teresa Watanabe, Ashley Ahn

    Source link

  • Saint Rose adjunct faculty demand severance pay

    Saint Rose adjunct faculty demand severance pay

    [ad_1]

    ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -Adjunct faculty and staff at the College of Saint Rose are demanding severance pay when the College shuts down. Some professors tell NEWS10’s Anthony Krolikowski there is currently no help to be given to them after the spring semester and summer classes end.

    According to the College’s website, more than half of the faculty at Saint Rose is part-time, or adjunct. Laura Hartmann and Kelly Bird said after graduation, they eventually became adjunct professors. After years of dedication, they say it’s time the College shows support for its employees who sacrifice the most.

    A union representing a portion of the 134 part-time employees at Saint Rose is advocating for what they say is “a little more than the cost of a class” for severance pay. That’s why over a week ago, the union sent out an email to the school community.

    “It was the first I had heard about it. When I read the email, I got thinking about what a great idea that is,” described Adjunct Faculty Member of the Music Industry Program, Laura Hartmann.

    Hartmann and Bird bring real-world experience into their classrooms, but say having part-time jobs comes with drawbacks. “So many people have kept the College running for so long without health insurance, without any other employee benefits, and an equal salary… We’re still here,” stated Senior Teaching Artist, Kelly Bird.

    The two faculty members hope Saint Rose will provide the financial support they feel they’ve earned.

    “They’re having to give incentives to the upper administrative people that are going to be sticking around as far as I can tell to be on-site real estate agents, if you will,” said Bird. “And they were the stewards of this school and they didn’t steward it well. That’s the part that really burns,” added Hartmann.

    As the final semester winds down, teach-out plans have been created and job fairs planned for students to prepare for their future. NEWS10 reported that along with students, the Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences welcomed eight Saint Rose faculty with new jobs.

    As far as the next steps, Bird and Hartmann are pressuring the College to do what they call the right thing in a follow-up letter to the union’s first email. “So far, they have ignored what the Union has requested. They said they will get back to us. We’ve heard nothing. So, we are waiting to see what they’re going to say.”

    NEWS10 reached out to the College on where severance pay for the adjunct professors and faculty currently stands and is awaiting a response.

    [ad_2]

    Anthony Krolikowski

    Source link

  • Pro-Palestinian protests grow at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara

    Pro-Palestinian protests grow at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara

    [ad_1]

    Pro-Palestinian protests grew Thursday at California colleges and universities, including a new encampment at UCLA and demonstrations at UC Santa Barbara, a day after police in riot gear arrested 93 protesters at USC.

    Fallout over the Israel-Hamas war grew Thursday as USC announced that it would cancel its main stage commencement ceremony after more than a week of national controversy over its decision to pull a pro-Palestinian valedictorian’s speaking slot from the May event that was expected to draw 65,000 attendees.

    The university cited new safety measures, saying that the “time needed to process the large number of guests coming to campus will increase substantially.”

    Dozens of smaller graduation ceremonies and celebrations at USC will continue under a new ticket policy and security checks.

    At Cal Poly Humboldt in Arcata, the campus remained closed and classes shifted online, with pro-Palestinian students occupying multiple buildings since Monday night.

    And at UC Berkeley, 50 tents remained up by Sproul Hall, the historic home of the campus’ free speech movement. On their fourth day of a “Free Palestine Camp,” students called for the university to divest its endowment from weapons manufacturers tied to Israel.

    Tensions were high at USC, where the campus was rocked at the end of the semester by President Carol Folt’s decision to cancel the valedictorian’s speech and then a commencement address by film director Jon M. Chu, before calling off the main commencement altogether.

    An encampment that launched before sunrise Wednesday morning at Alumni Park grew to about 200 protesters — students, faculty and outsiders — before the late-night arrests by the LAPD. By Thursday morning, the encampment had been cleared, with campus security picking up the remaining tents and signs.

    On Thursday, the university fenced off the park — the site of the called-off commencement — to set up a brunch for 2024 graduates scheduled for Friday morning. There were no protesters and few signs of Wednesday’s unrest, besides chalk messages on nearby sidewalks in support of Palestinians.

    The campus remains closed to the public through weekend, and professors have moved classes online.

    “This is a series of poor decisions by USC, from banning the valedictorian to calling in police to arrest peaceful students,” said Luke, a USC sophomore who was arrested Wednesday night and released early Thursday morning. “I don’t know what this university thinks it’s doing, because none of it makes sense.”

    Luke did not share his last name because he said he was worried about his safety and repercussions to his enrollment at USC, where campus safety officers on Wednesday told students that they could face discipline for violating rules over camping and use of amplified sound.

    Amelia Jones, a professor at the Roski School of Art and Design who joined faculty in protesting on Wednesday, said there was a growing “lack of trust” at USC between the administration, faculty and students.

    “They just massively escalated by calling in LAPD,” she said.

    A Jewish community group condemned the USC protests, while a Muslim civil rights group condemned the arrests.

    “While students have a right to protest, they do not have the right to intimidate or threaten Jewish students,” said a statement from USC’s Hillel. “Today’s events on campus included a protest action that again employed antisemitic chants including ‘there is only one solution, intifada revolution’ and ‘long live the intifada.’ These actions reflect a disturbing and quickly escalating situation nationally and on our own campus at USC.”

    In another statement, the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations spoke out against the arrests of peaceful protesters.

    “It is deeply concerning that USC’s response to students demonstrating peacefully in solidarity with Palestine is forcible suppression of free speech and assembly,” said CAIR-LA legal director Amr Shabaik. “This mirrors a nationwide trend of colleges and universities attempting to censor pro-Palestine advocacy on campuses.”

    At UCLA, about 100 students, faculty, staff and alumni occupied the Palestine Solidarity Encampment on Thursday with more than 20 tents surrounded by wooden pallets and protest signs.

    The effort was organized by UC Divest Coalition, which was made up of several student groups.

    Outside Royce Hall, students and others stood in line to check in before entering the encampment.

    Participants said they had seen minimal police presence — mostly officers passing by in squad cars.

    Marie Salem, 28, a graduate student studying public health, said the encampment is a community of people demanding a change from UC administrators.

    “It’s about our community realizing that we no longer can go to a university that is complicit in genocide, and we no longer can go to a university that is invested in this genocide of the Gazans,” Salem said.

    George Dutton, a professor of Asian language and cultures, said he and others wanted to observe the protest to ensure that students can safely practice their 1st Amendment rights.

    Dutton said it was “deeply disturbing” to see a large police presence on campuses across America this past week as students protest the war in Gaza.

    At UC Santa Barbara, hundreds occupied the student resources building Thursday for a daylong series of workshops, art projects and other actions to express solidarity with Palestinians, call for a cease-fire and demand an end to Israel-related investments.

    A few tents were set up inside the building, but no encampment is planned, said Bisnupriya Ghosh, a professor of English and global studies and member of Academics for Justice in Palestine. She added that no police were present, and the event was proceeding peacefully.

    “It’s centered around education about Israel-Palestine, as well as antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of racism and hate,” Ghosh said.

    Times staff writers Melissa Gomez, Jenny Jarvie and Teresa Watanabe contributed to this report.

    [ad_2]

    Angie Orellana Hernandez, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Jenna Peterson, Jaweed Kaleem

    Source link

  • California State University faculty vote in pay raises and other benefits amid strike

    California State University faculty vote in pay raises and other benefits amid strike

    [ad_1]

    (FOX40.COM) — After a lengthy negotiation process and strikes, the California Faculty Association ratified a vote that adds pay increases and other benefits for California State University instructors to their employment contracts.
    •Video Above: Faculty begins weeklong strike at Sacramento State, other CSU campuses

    “The California State University (CSU) is pleased with the results of the California Faculty Association’s (CFA) ratification vote,” the CSU chancellor’s office said in a statement on Monday.

    The tentative agreement provides a 10 percent general salary increase to all faculty by July. It also includes a raise in salary minimums for the lowest-paid faculty that will result in increases—some as high as 21 percent—for many of them, according to the chancellor’s office.

    It also addresses issues that the CFA identified as “extremely important to its members, such as increased paid family leave from six to 10 weeks and a process for making gender-inclusive restrooms and lactation spaces more easily accessible.”

    “We look forward to the CSU Board of Trustees Committee on collective bargaining ratification of the agreement in March and to continue working in partnership with the CFA and its members to carry out our mission in service to our students and the university,” the CSU chancellor’s office said.

    The CFA went on strike in 2023 and again in January 2024. The most recent strike (January 2024) was planned for the first week of the spring semester. After one day, CSU agreed to negotiate.

    [ad_2]

    Veronica Catlin

    Source link

  • CSU and faculty reach surprise tentative agreement, ending massive strike after one day

    CSU and faculty reach surprise tentative agreement, ending massive strike after one day

    [ad_1]

    The union representing California State University faculty reached a tentative agreement with the university system late Monday, putting an end to a planned five-day strike after one day.

    “In case anyone forgot, STRIKES WORK! After months of negotiations and two strike actions, our movement for a #betterCSU has paid off!” the union announced on Instagram.

    Faculty are expected to resume teaching Tuesday and students were advised to look for messages from their instructors. The agreement, which must be ratified by union members, includes higher salary floors for the lowest-paid workers, safer workplaces and an expansion of parental leave. In an email to faculty members, union leaders said the agreement includes a 5% salary increase retroactive to July 1, 2023, among other benefits.

    “I am extremely pleased and deeply appreciative that we have reached common ground with CFA that will end the strike immediately,” CSU Chancellor Mildred García said in a statement. “The agreement enables the CSU to fairly compensate its valued, world-class faculty while protecting the university system’s long-term financial sustainability.”

    The unanticipated announcement came after faculty at all 23 campuses of CSU, the nation’s largest four-year university system, staged a massive walkout Monday, the first day of the term for most students.

    While faculty members marched in chilly rain throughout much of the state, students navigated a dizzying mix of instructions: Classes are canceled, classes are temporarily on Zoom, class is in session; assignments are online, assignments are scratched for a week. Official email communication with professors was cut, leaving some unsure if classes were taking place.

    Neither university administrators nor the union had an official tally of the number of shuttered classrooms. But students throughout the system said faculty did not show up to most, if not all, of their classes.

    The university said it did not cancel classes and clarified what it called “misinformation” about the status of instruction.

    “Classes are not canceled. Individual faculty members who decide to strike will cancel their own classes,” a message said Monday. “If students have not heard from their instructor that their class is canceled, they should assume that it is being held as scheduled and go to class.”

    The message said the two sides were “in communication with each other over the weekend” but did not share details.

    The strike by the California Faculty Assn., which represents 29,000 professors, lecturers, counselors, librarians and coaches, culminated months of increasing tension between the union and CSU administration. It was the latest California walkout in higher education and TK-12 school districts as faculty and other workers — many stressed or burned out after the pandemic years — have demanded higher salaries amid escalating costs of living.

    Just over a year ago, about 48,000 University of California academic workers, teaching assistants, researchers and postdoctoral scholars walked out for about five weeks, ultimately winning significant improvements in wages and working conditions. The Los Angeles Unified School District shut down for three days in March 2023, when teachers walked off the job in solidarity with school support staff, who won pay increases. A month later, L.A. teachers agreed to a contract that provides a 21% wage increase over about three years, averting a second strike.

    Union demands

    The CSU faculty union had pushed for an across-the-board, 12% wage increase for the 2023-24 academic year and wanted to raise the minimum salary for full-time faculty to $64,360 from $54,360. The union also sought improvements such as smaller class sizes, gender-inclusive restrooms and a full semester of expanded parental leave.

    The tentative agreement falls short of the full slate of demands. In addition to the retroactive pay, the agreement includes another 5% increase on July 1 that is contingent on state funding. It raises the minimum salary for faculty by $3,000, increases paid parental leave from six to 10 weeks and improves access to gender-inclusive restrooms and lactation spaces, the email said.

    It also extends the current contract, which was slated to end in June, by one year.

    “This historic agreement was won because of members’ solidarity, collective action, bravery, and love for each other and our students,” said Antonio Gallo, an associate vice president of lecturers, in the email. “This is what People Power looks like. This deal immensely improves working conditions for faculty and strengthens learning conditions for students.”

    Scenes on campus

    The one-day strike left CSU campuses nearly empty.

    About a dozen people lingered in the Cal State L.A. student union in the morning, as faculty members in red ponchos picketed outside. The normally crowded campus Starbucks was devoid of customers.

    “Normally the line would be out the door,” said Jordyn O’Connell, a student who works as a barista.

    All of O’Connell’s classes had been canceled because of the strike. The 20-year-old psychology major supported the strike but had been looking forward to resuming classes after the winter break.

    “I’ve been really eager to get back,” she said. “I just hope that we get this figured out. I’m ready to start the semester.”

    For some students, it was not clear which classes were canceled. Moments before heading into the student center at Cal State Fullerton on Monday, Leslie Segundo, an arts major, learned that a professor who had been scheduled to teach one of her classes had moved the start date to next week because of the strike.

    Segundo hadn’t heard from all of her professors and assumed that those who had not emailed her were going to hold classes.

    “I will attend the classes that are available,” said Segundo, who commutes to campus from Orange. “As far as the teachers that are on strike, they haven’t emailed me in clear detail about it. I don’t think I’ve been assigned any readings.”

    Around lunchtime, Karen Carrillo, president of the Associated Students Inc. at Fresno State University, said there wasn’t a typical rush at the campus food court. Three of her five professors canceled classes this week, a move she supported.

    “We are still learning, even if it’s not in the classroom,” Carrillo said. “We’re learning from professors how to lead by example and how to fight for what they believe is right.”

    Michael Lee-Chang, a second-year student at Sacramento State, said the campus looked like a ghost town. A friend sent him a picture of one class in progress; the only people in the room were the student and the professor. Lee-Chang said he feels that most students support the strike.

    Cal State officials had circulated online forms, asking students to report classes that were canceled. Lee-Chang said many were reluctant to “snitch on their faculty, because it’s faculty they know and care about.” Some students were filling in the forms with spam, reporting on the status of fictional classes such as “Evil 101.”

    The rain did not keep Stevie Ruiz, a Cal State Northridge professor in the Chicana and Chicano studies department, from protesting. He said the vast majority of students stayed away from campus. Ruiz added that about half of Northridge’s student body is Latino, and many are the first in their families to attend college.

    “This is a working-class struggle. We’ve been really amazed by the outpouring of support from students. What happens to us affects them,” he said. “They care about us, and we care about them.”

    [ad_2]

    Debbie Truong, Gabriel San Román, Howard Blume

    Source link

  • Shooting of UCLA student with a BB gun being investigated as a hate crime

    Shooting of UCLA student with a BB gun being investigated as a hate crime

    [ad_1]

    The UCLA Police Department is investigating a recent incident of violence as a hate crime. A student walking on the Westwood campus early Sunday was shot in the face with a BB gun.

    A police report said the incident occurred about 1:30 a.m. when a white four-door sedan approached the student, who was walking on De Neve Drive near Rieber Hall, a dormitory in the northwestern part of campus.

    A passenger in the back seat of the car yelled a homophobic slur, according to the report, then brandished a white BB gun and shot at the victim, striking the individual in the face and narrowly missing their eye.

    The victim sustained a minor abrasion below the eye.

    The driver of the vehicle was described as a male wearing a black ski mask, and the passenger who fired the BB gun was also a male, according to police.

    The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

    Police offer safety tips

    After the incident, police reiterated safety tips for students on campus.

    • In the event of an emergency, call 911; for non-emergencies, call the 24-hour UCLA Police Department line at (310) 825-1491.
    • The department says students should always be alert and aware of their surroundings. They should try to avoid poorly lighted or deserted areas when walking at night.
    • Students, as well as faculty and staff, can utilize the UCLA SafeRide service, which provides free transportation among campus buildings, on-campus housing and nearby residential areas. On-demand rides can be requested Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. to midnight, excluding holidays and seasonal breaks. Rides can be booked using the TripShot app available on Google Play or the App Store.
    • The continuous ride service SafeRide Loop operates in the evenings, arriving at designated stops around campus Monday through Friday from 6:45 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. — a map of the route is online.
    • The department also has community service officers who can escort students, faculty, staff or visitors 365 days a year from dusk until 1 a.m. Students in need can call (310) 794-9255. They should reach out 15 minutes prior to departure time. A police dispatcher will ask for the person’s name, location, the address where they need to go and a call-back number.
    • Lastly, the Police Department advises students to secure their residences by locking all windows and doors. They’re advised not to leave doors to buildings propped open, including entrances to campus buildings.

    [ad_2]

    Karen Garcia

    Source link

  • Publication Academy Receives Contract to Provide Publishing Training for Global Good Fund Fellows

    Publication Academy Receives Contract to Provide Publishing Training for Global Good Fund Fellows

    [ad_1]

    Press Release
    –

    Jul 13, 2022


    RESTON, Va., July 13, 2022 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Publication Academy is excited to announce its new contract to provide best-in-class online training for Fellows of the Global Good Fund, a nonprofit social enterprise that identifies high-potential business leaders who stand to achieve greater social impact with executive mentorship, professional coaching, and capital. Global Good Fund Fellows will receive access to their choice of Publication Academy’s over 50 video-based On Demand courses on publishing peer-reviewed research, grant writing, and technical communication. Each Publication Academy course has been carefully designed to meet evidence-based best practices in eLearning, resulting in programs proven to significantly increase scholarly productivity across professions, cultural backgrounds, and business verticals. Fellows will benefit from being taught by world-renowned publishing experts from prominent institutions including Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, UPenn, NASA, the Smithsonian, PBS, and the Discovery Channel.

    “We are delighted to partner with Publication Academy because of its ongoing and empirically supported efforts to help entrepreneurs grow their high-impact businesses through increased brand awareness as well as building the scholarly credibility of their products or services,” stated Danielle Kroo, Vice President of Operations for the Global Good Fund. Dr. Jay P. Singh, CEO & Founder of Publication Academy, said, “We are honored to have been selected by the Global Good Fund to upskill its outstanding fellows and support their mission of using entrepreneurship to solve key social issues.” 

    The benefits of business professionals enrolling in Publication Academy’s programs are supported by the latest market research, which has found:

    1. Academic publications increase a company’s market value beyond the effects of R&D or patents alone through enhancing human capital and sending credible signals to the market. 
    2. Academic publications are one of the largest predictors of receiving grant funding from foundations and government agencies.
    3. Academic publications in English-language journals are a signal that a company’s assets are of higher value than assets published in non-English-language journals.

    Source: Publication Academy Inc.

    [ad_2]

    Source link