The DFA board recently became aware of new University of California Office of the President disciplinary guidelines that apply to Senate faculty, which also are one of the alleged unfair labor practices on which UAW 4811 are currently striking. The board found the third guideline in the new policy particularly concerning. It mandates that “Any member of the university community who is arrested for unlawful behavior or cited for a violation of university policy must go through the applicable review process, such as student code of conduct or employee disciplinary process.” This means that going forward, any faculty member who is arrested for any reason at any location will be subject to evaluation for campus discipline. In response, the board sent the following letter to Academic Senate Chair Palazoglu.
May 31, 2024
Academic Senate Chair Ahmet Palazoglu
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Delivered via email to: aschair@ucdavis.edu
Dear Chair Palazoglu,
The Board of the Davis Faculty Association (DFA) recently became aware of new UC Office of the President guidelines on disciplinary actions for UC employees, issued on May 9 (https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/university-california-campus-guidelines-determining-disciplinary-actions). The DFA board finds the third of the five UCOP guidelines particularly concerning. It states:
“Any member of the university community who is arrested for unlawful behavior or cited for a violation of university policy must go through the applicable review process, such as student code of conduct or employee disciplinary process.”
This guideline states that Senate faculty who are arrested for any reason at all and possibly anywhere in the world must be subject to the UC employee disciplinary process. We find this deeply concerning for three reasons. First, in its present iteration, this guideline’s application will necessarily be racist, ableist, and discriminatory. Studies consistently show that communities of color, immigrant communities, and people with disabilities and mental health conditions are likelier to experience more aggressive policing as well as harsher sentencing. Does the University of California really wish to add another obstacle to the path of hiring, retaining, and advancing faculty colleagues from underrepresented groups on campus? Requiring Senate faculty who experience arrest to automatically become subject to an employee disciplinary process would compound the discriminatory burden these faculty already carry.
Second, the UCOP guideline reassigns an essential university disciplinary role to law enforcement. It does not specify where the arrest must occur or what arrests will trigger this mandated disciplinary review. The guideline fails to distinguish between arrests, criminal charging, and conviction of any crime, and fails to account for whether police policies or patterns are consistent or fair. If implemented, this is an extraordinary outsourcing of disciplinary standards to law enforcement that immediately threatens faculty welfare.
Finally, the UCOP guideline represents a direct threat to the free speech and academic freedom rights of Senate faculty. The guideline’s context and apparent intent is to facilitate employee discipline of Senate faculty who are participating in peaceful demonstrations on multiple UC campuses. We are alarmed at the prospect that UC Davis faculty who participate in peaceful protest might be met with arrest, and if so, they will also be subjected to a mandated employee disciplinary process.
Would you please tell us whether the UCD Academic Senate and/or its Academic Freedom and Responsibility Committee has plans to respond to these new guidelines and if so, how it plans to respond?
Thank you very much for considering this inquiry,
The Board of the Davis Faculty Association.