Davis Faculty Association

The rally yesterday on the UC Davis quad went very well and was extremely well attended. One of the speakers at the event, Nathan Brown (that is him with his arm raised on the speaker’s stage at the rally yesterday), is also a DFA board member. The text of his speech has been posted to the Keep California’s Promise web site.

The DFA board reiterates its support of the Occupy Cal call for a strike on November 15 to protest the use of police brutality to stifle the important debate about the current course of the University.

While we believe the short notice for this strike will result in less response than a well organized action would have, we do still call on students, staff, and faculty to support the Occupy Cal strike to the extent that you feel legally or contractually allowed and that you believe is appropriate to recent events at the Berkeley campus and the changing structures of the University and its relations to the larger society.

Rally, 12 noon, Quad:

We encourage everyone to attend a rally that will be held starting at 12 noon tomorrow on the quad. Please advertise the rally widely among your colleagues and students.

Here is a short list of links with background information about the strike which we encourage you to share among your students and colleagues:

DFA’s Endorsement of the Strike:
http://ucdfa.org/

A list of other endorsements, including other campus faculty associations:
http://reclaimuc.blogspot.com/2011/11/update-on-strike-endorsements-and.html

UCD Rally Event Page on Facebook (by far the most helpful link for students):
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=246092445449061

UCD Student Movement Page with Strike Information:
http://bicyclebarricade.wordpress.com/

UCB faculty member Celeste Langan’s “Why I Got Arrested with Occupy Cal–and How”
http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-i-got-arrested-with-occupy-cal-and.html

Videos of the use of police brutality to suppress faculty and student protest at Berkeley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_f06VQOkI4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHXuf6qJas&feature=player_embedded

CUCFA President Bob Meister’s excellent article on why tuition increases are the problem, not the solution:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9806378/Meister%20-%20Can%20the%20Financial%20Industry%20Save%20Public%20Universities.pdf

Teach the Budget page, containing helpful information, charts, and graphs to share with students:
http://teachthebudget.com/

The board of the Davis Faculty Association has voted to endorse the strike called for by Occupy Cal to occur on November 15.

After a mass rally and march of over 3,000 people, and repeated police assaults on the encampment, the Occupy Cal general assembly decided — with over 500 votes, 95% of the assembly — to organize and call for a strike and day of action on Tuesday, November 15 in all sectors of higher education. We will strike in opposition to the cuts to public education, university privatization, and the indebting of our generation. [source]

Re-Fund California Coalition, which the Council of UC Faculty Associations has endorsed, has now produced a statement that provides more background and context to this issue:

Today we announce a student strike at UC Berkeley on Tuesday, Nov. 15th to reject the excessive police force used against our protests to make Wall Street — and the corporate elite on the boards governing our universities — pay for refunding public education. Some faculty are expected to join the student strike, and the actions will add to the growing momentum for statewide convergences at the CSU Trustees meeting in Long Beach and the UC Regents meeting at UCSF Mission Bay on November 16th.

There is a crisis today for California’s students and their families, but not for the Wall Street and corporate elites who control the economy and dominate the governing boards of California’s universities.

California leads the nation in tuition increases with nearly 100 percent rise in tuition costs since 2008, inflating student loans to $1 trillion nationally. We keep paying the price while Wall Street and corporations are left off the hook. We didn’t cause the economic crisis — they did.

That’s why we call on the board members and executives of our universities to sign the ReFund California pledge to support real solutions to fund public education and improve the economy for California families. They should join the community whose interests they say they represent instead of irresponsibly using police force to silence our freedom of expression.

Again, more information about this issue will be posted here as it becomes available.

Students at UC Davis and college campuses around the state are planning to walk out tomorrow, at least long enough to hold noon information meetings leading to protests planned at next week’s UC Regents’ meeting.

Although such activities on the Davis campus currently seem to have less traction than on some of the other campuses, that may change as the focus on the costs of athletics and related matters become more transparent (e.g. discussions regarding the replacement of athletic director Greg Warzecka and the current administration’s athletic aspirations). As you may be aware, student costs are higher at UCD than at most of the other campuses, because of their contributions to the costs of athletics in its current configurations (e.g. through the Student Activities and Services Initiatives Fees).

More information about the call for protests at UC Davis tomorrow and at the Regents’ meeting on the 16th is available at various web sites, including:

http://www.makebankspaycalifornia.com/refund_public_education_action_week

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=149401828492122

http://www.dailycal.org/2011/11/02/bill-nicholas/