In an open letter to UC (University of California) faculty members, the American Association of University Professors supports calls for collective action–most recently a system-wide walkout of all UC faculty. Such action, the AAUP believes, would send a clear message that disinvestment in colleges and universities reduces the quality of education and does harm to students, faculty, and the public interest.
The walkout calls come as a consequence of the UC administration’s rejection of the unanimous recommendation of the Academic Council about furlough implementation. “The rejection of faculty’s unanimous voice,” says Gary Rhoades, general secretary of the AAUP, “is at best unwise and at worst dismissive of a cornerstone of the UC system’s strength, its faculty.”
The AAUP supports the University of California faculty and faculty nationwide as they mobilize to reverse long standing trends in higher education:
- defunding public universities;
- shifting shares of institutional expenditures from education to administration;
- raising tuition and fees; and
- decreasing the proportion of tenure-track faculty.
Collective faculty votes and actions, the AAUP argues, serve the best long-term interests of students, faculty, the universities, and society. The faculty’s voice is central to the quality and future of the nation’s educational institutions.
For more information, please contact Gary Rhoades . The text to a letter to UC faculty is also available on the AAUP’s Web site.