An Active Year for the Berkeley Faculty Association Prompted by the furloughs announced in summer 2009, a small group of faculty met to reactivate the BFA to protect faculty interests, broadly construed, amidst the current crisis. An October 2009 election brought in a new BFA Board of Directors and officers, after which the BFA swung into action. In the fall, we set up a new website, ran a membership drive, and connected with other groups of faculty, students, and staff concerned with current and future threats to the integrity of the University of California. In the spring, BFA began to work on the state political front. BFA officers met with several California legislators to discuss the endangered future of UC. [...]
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Recently, the Berkeley Faculty Association sent a letter to UC Berkeley Chancellor Birgeneau opposing cuts to campus child care for the infants and toddlers of low-income students. You can download the letter by clicking here: BFA Opposes Cuts to Early Childhood Education The letter reads, in part: “The Berkeley Faculty Association strongly opposes the elimination of this program. Responsibility for children can be a huge barrier to UC access. Indeed, it can be as much an obstacle to low income parenting students, especially female students, as low income itself. We therefore urge the administration to restore to the budget of the campus childcare programs the subsidy for the infants and toddlers of low-income students. With tuition skyrocketing and the state [...]
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BFA has prepared a brief report on the picture of UC’s future that we believe emerges from a combination of the initial recommendations forwarded by the Working Groups of the UC Commission on the Future (UCOF, aka “the Gould Commission”) and the proposal for a Cyber Campus recently described by Law School Dean Edley. As you will see, we find this picture to be a gravely troubling one. Both faculty governance and the standards and integrity of a UC education are at stake. We hope to convene a BFA symposium on these matters in early fall. In the meantime, please read the attached BFA report on Gould Commission and urge your colleagues to do the same. BFA report on Gould [...]
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Berkeley Faculty Association members: A vote is now proceeding on a resolution introduced by Prof. Schwartz to the Berkeley Academic Senate for an inquiry into UC administration. The voting period is May 7 – May 21, 2010 To vote, go to: http://academic-senate.berkeley.edu/vote/resolution.html Use your CalNet ID and passphrase. The BFA board urges members to vote Yes, even though we have certain reservations about the wording and timing of the resolution. We are concerned that a No vote could be taken as a statement against faculty involvement in administrative affairs at a time when there is real urgency to get more faculty input into university management and reform. With the Gould Commission reporting out by early Fall, the faculty need to [...]
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