Last Friday, the BFA Board met for its Winter Meeting. It was a full agenda, but here are some of the highlights.
We began by welcoming two new board members: Cori Hayden (Anthropology), and Poulomi Saha (English).
Eric Hays, the Executive Director of the Council of UC Faculty Associations to which the BFA belongs, reported on the sorry state of public funding for the University of California in Sacramento. Last year, UC faced a last-minute $300 million cut from the state budget; this year, only $100 million of that $300 million has been restored. As we face cuts and mounting debt due to COVID-19, we are still enrolling more students. State funding per student is half of what it was 20 years ago—and falling. On a more positive side, the $66 fix plan we’ve advocated—a small progressive tax that would restore state support to the level it was in 2000–has attracted the interest of Progressive Democrats of America. They are promoting the idea in their monthly California meeting on February 21st at 4p.m. Wendy Brown and Chris Newfield will be presenting on behalf of UC faculty. You can register to attend here.
We had reports from Board members who serve on Senate Committees, and learned that one big issue on the horizon is Berkeley’s possible absorption of the financially strapped Mills College – its land, its faculty, its students, and its debt. How and when this might happen –and what kind of support UCOP and the state might offer–is still undetermined, but it’s being pursued seriously. We also discussed the absence of a paid family leave policy that covers all UC employees and what to do about it.
We face two big issues that potentially concern BFA directly. The first is our stance on reform vs. abolition of the campus police, an issue that is attracting a lot of debate across the UC system. The Board is not united on this issue and we welcome input from our members. The other issue of the moment concerns our relations with the UC-AFT and how we can support our overworked and underpaid lecturer colleagues. The future of our university will pivot around the well-being of our lecturers – we all have an interest in securing their best possible conditions. They’ve been in negotiations with UC administration for over a year without any end in sight. We are supporting their call for 100 faculty to attend the next bargaining session as witnesses. The session is scheduled for Friday, February 26, from 1:45-2.30 p.m If you can be there, please sign up here: bit.ly/ucaftbargaining
We hope to have a members’ meeting this semester to discuss these and other issues.
Michael Burawoy and Celeste Langan for the Board of the Berkeley Faculty Association.