Davis Faculty Association

The Davis Faculty Association, Davis Division of the Academic Senate and Davis Division of the Academic Federation invite nominations of candidates for The Charles P. Nash Prize.

The Charles P. Nash Prize is designed to reward exceptional achievement and commitment in promoting shared governance and advocacy for faculty interests and welfare.

The Prize is awarded annually to a member of the UC Davis Academic Senate, the Davis Faculty Association, or the Academic Federation whose actions demonstrate an exceptional and extended commitment to shared governance and/or promoting faculty interests by ensuring equitable treatment of faculty. In the spirit of Charlie Nash, such activity must be above and beyond normal committee assignments or academic obligations, typically, spanning a period of time or one’s career.

Nominations are sought from any member of the academic community: students, faculty, staff, alumni, departments or units. Eligibility: All members of the Academic Federation, Academic Senate and Davis Faculty Association who have not previously won the award are eligible. Previous nominees who have not received the award may be renominated. Current Nash Prize Selection Committee Members are ineligible for nomination.

The Charles P. Nash Prize is designed to reward exceptional achievement in the spirit of Charlie Nash. Examples of Charlie Nash’s achievements include:

* Using the machinery of the faculty governance process, often invoking the mechanisms of Academic Senate committees, to achieve equity for individual faculty members

* Making certain that the machinery of shared governance works well, both structurally and functionally

* Contributing to analysis of shared governance, such as the “Mending the Wall” report (http://academicsenate.ucdavis.edu/documents/shared_governance_report.pdf)

* Working with others to craft the Nash-Goldman report which made recommendations for changes in the personnel policy for Academic Federation employees (http://academicpersonnel.ucdavis.edu/acadfed/nashgoldmanreport.cfm)

* Supporting legislation that allows faculty to assign their own texts and protect their intellectual property rights (www.ucdfa.org/nash.htm)

* Mentoring and advising faculty to guide them in “finding their way thru the merit and promotion briar patch,” as well as assisting them with their personnel cases within their departments and with the Academic Senate Committee on Academic Personnel

* Serving for many years on faculty committees to advocate for faculty interests, including:
- Chair of the Davis Faculty Association board
- Vice President of External Affairs on the CUCFA board
- Chair of the Davis Division Academic Senate (2 terms)

The annual prize will be awarded in a public ceremony and will include a $1,000 honorarium. There is no restriction on the prize recipient with regard to the use of the prize.

Nominations should be addressed to: The Nash Prize Selection Committee. Letters of nomination accompanied by a one-page list of relevant accomplishments must be submitted electronically. Send your nomination materials to the committee chair at apdragona@ucdavis.edu.

Deadline for Nominations: All nominations must be received electronically by 5:00 PM, Friday, February 3, 2012. Questions may be addressed to the committee chair (apdragona@ucdavis.edu).

The Committee will rely upon material presented to it; therefore it is important that the letter and list make the best case possible within the space limitation. The Nash Prize Selection Committee will review the nominations and will select a recipient from the original slate of candidates. The Committee is permitted to select one recipient for each academic year.

Sincerely,

2011-2012 Nash Prize Selection Committee
Aliki Dragona (Chair)
Robert Rucker
Ian Kennedy
Krishnan Nambiar

An upcoming event that may of of interest to DFA members:

Inequality, Educational Access and the Future of the University

Speakers: Senator Darrell Steinberg, Sue Dynarski, and Christopher Edley

Events across UC campuses this past fall remind us of the need to engage in discussions about the core challenges facing access to higher education in California. Our panelists will discuss how higher education can positively impact individual economic outcomes, and what strategies the University can employ to ensure all students can access higher education.

Friday Jan. 20, 2:30-3:50, 1002 Giedt Hall.

This event is part of the Center for Poverty Research Seminar series. For more information, contact: Adrienne Wonhof, aiwonhof@ucdavis.edu, 752-4024.

The following “Faculty Fact Sheet” responds to the “Fact Sheet on Recent Campus Demonstrators” issued by the office of the Chancellor on November 27, 2011. This document was not prepared by the DFA but is rather the work of several individual faculty, as specified in the document. It is posted here for the information of our members:

http://ucdfa.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/facultyfactsheet.pdf

For comparison, the Chancellor’s “Fact Sheet” is at:

http://chancellor.ucdavis.edu/local_resources/pdfs/20111129_Fact%20Sheet-FINAL_crx.pdf

On December 1st, a University-wide email was sent out by VR Election Services on behalf of the University of California, demanding faculty follow a link and electronically sign their names to an amendment to the 1997 UC Patent Agreement.

While the systemwide Academic Council seems to consent to the changes, they indicate UC should not require all faculty to sign:

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/reports/RA_LPrepatentagmt_FINAL.pdf

Several faculty members have blogged their concerns about the contractual changes:

http://ucsdfa.org/uc-patent-amendment-to-sign-or-not-to-sign/482

http://rtei.org/blog/2011/11/30/sample-language-for-my-uc-friends/

We note that the deadline that UC has set for the current signature gathering effort is not until February 29.

We recommend that all faculty put off signing this patent amendment until independent counsel has had a chance to advise us on the issue.

On November 19, 2011, in the immediate aftermath of the pepper-spraying of non-violent UC Davis students protesting tuition increases, the DFA board issued a statement calling for the immediate resignation of Chancellor Katehi, and calling for an end to “the practice of forcibly removing non-violent student, faculty, staff, and community protestors by police.”

http://ucdfa.org/2011/11/19/dfa-board-calls-for-katehis-resignation/

In the last two weeks, we surveyed the DFA membership for their opinions of the board’s action.  Sixty-four members responded (out of a total membership of 145).  On the first question, regarding our call for an end to the policy of using the UCD police to suppress demonstrators, 58 members approved and 4 did not approve.  On the second question, regarding our call for the Chancellor’s resignation, 34 members did not approve, and 29 approved.  (A few respondents did not answer both questions.)  The opinions expressed in the comment portion of the survey varied widely.  Some members expressed enthusiastic support for the Board’s action, praising the DFA for assuming a leadership role in this pressing issue.  Some others expressed strong disapproval of the Board.  In particular, some members claimed the Board’s decision was “premature,” suggested that the membership ought to have been surveyed first, or noted the fact that some media outlets reported that this was an action of the DFA in general.

Several members asked for more information about the Board’s process.  It should be noted that the DFA acts by majority vote of its Board in accordance with the organization’s by-laws.  In this specific case, on the Saturday following the pepper spray incident, the Board debated its response via email.  A majority voted to release the statement on the DFA website, in response to what we deemed an extremely urgent and quickly-evolving situation.

In making this decision, the Board majority took into strong consideration the initial statement of Chancellor Katehi in which she blamed the protestors for the violence, as well as her second statement in which she acknowledged ordering in the police.  We also took into consideration a similar, less publicized event that took place in 2009 where UCD police in riot gear were sent in to Mrak Hall to remove peaceful protestors of tuition increases and faculty and staff furloughs, resulting in several injuries and 52 arrests.

http://www.kcra.com/education/21669598/detail.html

Finally, we were especially mindful of the brutalization of students and faculty at another peaceful demonstration at UC Berkeley nine days earlier.  In the wake of this event, it seemed to us that the Chancellor had every reason to anticipate something similar here, and that, under these circumstances, her decision to order armed police onto the campus in the context of a peaceful demonstration was absolutely unacceptable.

The DFA Board’s action, was, to our knowledge, the first explicit statement of faculty solidarity with the students involved, and was portrayed in the initial wave of press reports as representing faculty support for their students.  Some reports simply ascribed the statement to “the DFA,” whereas the statement itself clearly notes that it comes from “the board of the DFA.”  It should be noted, however, that according to our by-laws, the elected board does have the duty to act for the Association.

The Board has met twice to evaluate developments since its statement on November 19.  A majority continues to stand by its initial statement to uphold its support for the student movement in general. We are not encouraged by the Chancellor’s statements and apologies, which appear to have shifted according to the needs of the moment, nor by the revelation of a new Chancellor’s “advisory board” filled with corporate CEOs.  Chancellor Katehi has already publicly stated that she is fully responsible for the pepper-spraying incident.  We agree, and therefore continue to call for her resignation.