Dive Brief:
- Several University of California faculty groups have accused the system of violating their free speech rights, chilling academic instruction and retaliating against those who participated in pro-Palestinian protests or voiced pro-Palestinian viewpoints online.
- The Council of University of California Faculty Associations, along with faculty organizations from seven system campuses, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the California Public Employment Relations Board against the University of California regents Thursday.
- In the 581-page document, the associations alleged the system interfered with academic instruction and denied faculty promotions and access to their work locations.
Dive Insight:
The University of California system, like many higher ed institutions, has struggled to balance free speech with campus safety as student protests over the Israel-Hamas war proliferated during the spring semester.
The system — home to about 296,000 students across 10 campuses — drew criticism over the violence that broke out during demonstrations and how administrators responded to protests.
In the unfair labor practice charge, the associations accused the system of conducting "a relentless campaign" to stop faculty from teaching about the war "in a way that does not align with the University’s own position."
"The administration’s actions made clear that faculty do not have the academic freedom to speak about Palestine," the charge said.
The faculty groups seek a cease and desist against the system. A complete list of the charging parties includes:
- CUCFA.
- San Francisco Faculty Association.
- UC Berkeley Faculty Association.
- UC Davis Faculty Association.
- UC Irvine Faculty Association.
- UC San Diego Faculty Association.
- UC Santa Cruz Faculty Association.
- UCLA Faculty Association.
CUCFA said the new charge builds on a similar filing from the UCLA Faculty Association.
In June, that group filed a complaint with the state's employment relations board accusing the system of retaliating against its members over their participation in pro-Palestinian protests.
The complaint came after violence erupted on the University of California, Los Angeles campus on April 30, when counterprotesters attempted to remove a pro-Palestinian encampment, according to a New York Times investigation.
The university called police onto the campus, but officers did not arrive for several hours. And when they did, they did not immediately intervene despite continuing violence, The New York Times found. Law enforcement ultimately arrested over 200 people.
Hundreds of university employees promptly called for then-UCLA Chancellor Gene Block to immediately resign. Block had already announced plans last summer to step down in July, a timeline he kept.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the University of California referred a request for comment to the system's response to the initial charge filed by the UCLA Faculty Association.
"Our position on the similar issues raised in this amended filing remains the same," the spokesperson said.
In that July response, the University of California said that protesters at the encampment — including faculty — were not engaging in protected activity because they were not complying with UCLA's protest rules.
"The protest encampment had become a dangerous disruption, and the University had no choice but to take action to protect its campus and its community," the system wrote at the time.
The University of California further tightened its policies around protests and demonstrations prior to the start of the fall semester. The system — motivated in part by the threat of a loss of state funding — directed its member institutions to set rules banning encampments and unauthorized structures, as well as demonstrators wearing masks to conceal their identities.
“UC’s actions to suppress speech about Palestine on our campuses, which represents an illegal content-based restriction of faculty rights, sets an alarming precedent,” Constance Penley, president of CUCFA, said in a statement Thursday. “Our unfair labor practice filing demands they change course and follow the law, and make whole the faculty who have been harmed.”
