Post-Strike News: Unsatisfied

You may recall that there was a one-day strike that coincided with the most recent Regents meeting. One of the issues in the labor dispute was outsourcing. The Regents did adopt a resolution saying essentially that any outsourced contracting would have to require equivalent wages and benefits to what UC employees would have received. However, AFSCME - the union involved in the strike - has indicated it is not satisfied with the Regents' action:

From the Bruin: The University of California promised to reduce the number of low-wage, outsourced contract workers it employs in a policy adopted Thursday. The UC’s largest employee union remains unsatisfied.

“A ‘policy’ isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on unless it is actually enforced,” read a statement issued the same day by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299.

AFSCME Local 3299 represents over 25,000 University employees, including service workers and patient care technicians.

The UC Board of Regents passed the new policy at its meeting at UC San Francisco a day after AFSCME Local 3299 held a strike to protest what it called the “unfair, unsafe and often illegal” practices the UC engaged in while outsourcing jobs.

UC President Janet Napolitano said in the regent’s meeting Wednesday that the proposed policy limits job outsourcing and fully adheres to California’s state laws and policies on the practice.

“The policy significantly limits the use of outside service contracts to specific, identified circumstances that are fully aligned with the state’s requirements and the California government code,” she said.

Further, in the case that a full-time employee of the UC is displaced by a temporary worker, the policy mandates that the employee be offered a comparable position within a 10-mile radius of their original job, Napolitano said.

AFSCME Local 3299 claims the University’s history with unions makes it clear that the only reliable steps the UC can take to limit outsourcing would have to be through legally binding contracts or state legislation...

Full story at http://dailybruin.com/2019/11/18/afscme-local-3299-unsatisfied-with-uc-board-of-regents-new-policy/

Whether the contracting out issue will remain a source of strike activity remains to be seen. It could be that given the Regents' action, UC might be willing to put the regental language into its labor agreement since in principle it is now UC policy. In that case, if the union viewed an instance of contracting out as violating the language, it could use the grievance system for enforcement.

Dropping the SAT?

From the LA Times: The chancellors of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, along with the University of California’s chief academic officer, said they support dropping the SAT and ACT as an admission requirement — stances certain to fuel the growing national movement against the tests as an unfair barrier to college entry for underserved students.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol T. Christ and UC Provost Michael Brown told a forum on college admissions Friday that research has convinced them that performance on the SAT and ACT is so strongly influenced by family income, parents’ education and race that using them for high-stakes admissions decisions is simply wrong.

“They really contribute to the inequities of our system,” Christ said at the Berkeley forum, sponsored by the Policy Analysis for California Education research center and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education.

Brown said he was not opposed to all standardized tests but objects to the SAT and ACT because their results compare students against one another in a way designed to produce high and low scores. He prefers standardized tests that measure students by how much they’ve mastered prescribed academic content. One such test is Smarter Balanced, which is used in California to assess 11th-graders on the state’s Common Core curriculum, but Brown said he would prefer a test more closely linked to the content of courses required for UC admission...

Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-23/uc-officials-recommend-dropping-sat-admission-requirement

Emeriti Awards for 2019

Prof. Ivan Berend

This past Wednesday, UCLA Vice Chancellor for Academic Personnel Michael Levine presented various emeriti awards at the Faculty Center. VC Levine was introduced by Emeriti Association President Ron Mellor:

Winner of the Goldberg award for academic service: 

• Prof. Rinaldo Casalis, Head and Neck Surgery 

Winner of the Panunzio award for scholarly work or educational service: 

• Prof. Lynn Hunt, History 

Prof. James Cherry

Winners of Dickson awards for research, scholarly work, teaching, and/or educational service: 

• Prof. Richard Abel, Law 
• Prof. Ivan Berend, History 
• Prof. James Cherry, Pediatrics

Professors Berend and Cherry both were present to receive their awards in person. (See the photos.) The other award recipients were traveling and out of town.

You can hear an audio recording of the award presentations and the remarks of recipients at the links below:


or direct to:
https://archive.org/details/eaawarddinner112019

UC contracts with Catholic hospitals allow religious limits

UC contracts with Catholic hospitals allow religious limits on medical staff, students

By Michael Hiltzik, Nov. 21, 2019,  LA Times

Religious restrictions on healthcare have been developing into a public health crisis of the first order. New disclosures show how deeply these restrictions have infiltrated an institution that should be a bulwark against them: the University of California.

Clinical and educational training contracts with Catholic hospital chains have placed religion-based constraints on UC personnel and students at every one of UC’s six medical schools, as well as some nursing, nurse practitioner, physician assistant and pharmacy programs.

The contracts remain in force at medical and professional schools at UC San Francisco, UCLA, and UC Davis, San Diego and Riverside. At UC Irvine, a 2016 contract with Providence St. Joseph Health expired at the end of May.

The [Directives] are problematic because they’re not based on science, or medical evidence, or the values and obligations of the university as a public entity.

Most of the contracts are with the Catholic hospital chain Dignity Health. The contracts typically require UC personnel and student trainees to comply with Catholic Church strictures on healthcare while practicing or doing field training at Dignity facilities. The restrictions don’t apply when UC personnel and students are working or studying at UC facilities such as its own medical centers or clinical sites not operated by Dignity.

In some cases the restrictions could prohibit UC personnel at Dignity facilities from even counseling patients about medical options that conflict with church doctrine, such as contraception and abortion. UCSF also has training agreements with Providence St. Joseph in Oregon and Washington state.

The most restrictive church rules are specified by the Ethical and Religious Directives on Catholic Health Care, known as the ERDs, a document issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that bars almost all abortions, sterilization procedures such as tubal ligations, and provision of contraceptives. The directives are in place at many of the hospitals named in the UC contracts, even though UC is prohibited by the state Constitution from allowing religious considerations to govern its operations.

The contracts were obtained by the ACLU of Northern California via a Public Records Act request. The documents raise new questions about whether UCSF officials were candid with university regents in testimony this spring over a proposed affiliation between UCSF and Dignity Health. UCSF abandoned the plan in May in the face of a public uproar and professional rebellion at the school.

In defending the proposal, UCSF officials suggested that UC providers would be able to circumvent many of the religious strictures by transferring patients to hospitals with less restrictive rules, and sometimes through subterfuges such as falsifying patient records.

But as the ACLU observed in a Nov. 15 letter to UCSF officials, “even at the time of these assertions, UCSF ... already had entered into contracts with Dignity Health that explicitly tie the hands of UC providers and require them to comply with Dignity Health’s religious doctrine.” (Emphasis in the original.) ...

Full column at https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-11-21/uc-religious-restrictions-catholic-medical-schools

Is this the canary in the coal mine for the Hawaii telescope?

Or is there now a bargaining chip? There is a potential for a significant loss of telescope-related spending and jobs if the TMT telescope - in which UC has a role - is moved from Hawaii to the Canary Islands. See below from AP:

The director of a Spanish research center said Wednesday that a giant telescope, costing $1.4 billion, is one step nearer to being built on the Canary Islands in the event an international consortium gives up its plans to build it in Hawaii. Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute Director Rafael Rebolo told The Associated Press that a building permit for the telescope has been granted by the town of Puntagorda on the island of La Palma.

“There are no more building permits needed according to Spanish legislation,” he said in an email.

The international consortium backing the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) wants to build it atop Hawaii’s tallest peak. But some native Hawaiians consider the Mauna Kea summit sacred and their protests have stopped construction from going ahead since mid-July. The Spanish island of La Palma, which already hosts several powerful telescopes at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, was chosen as a back-up site for the telescope in 2016.

As point man for the alternative site, Rebolo said he maintains regular contacts with the consortium and Spain’s ministry for science. Rebolo is optimistic that Spain could end up welcoming the telescope.

“I think it is possible. The Canary Islands offer a very good solution so that the TMT can be built quickly and be a successful project for cutting-edge science,” Rebolo said.

After protesters mounted a blockade of Mauna Kea's access road this summer, the consortium decided to go ahead and ask for a building permit in Spain in case the Hawaiian site becomes untenable. The Spanish observatory site had already passed environmental impact evaluations. The summits at Mauna Kea and La Palma are considered among the best sites in the world for deep-space observation thanks to their prime weather and air conditions. The large size of the planned telescope's mirror means it would collect more light, allowing it to see faint, far-away objects such as stars and galaxies. Astronomers hope to peer into the deepest reaches of the universe and examine the time immediately following the Big Bang.

Source: https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/post/spain-has-permits-build-giant-telescope-blocked-hawaii#stream/0

Avoiding Bad Apples at Davis and San Diego

From Science: ...In California, ..the desire to avoid hiring faculty found to have committed harassment (at a previous institution) has spurred two UC campuses to change their approach to vetting finalists for tenured faculty positions.

At UC Davis, a pilot project begun in July 2018 asks those candidates to allow their current employer to share with the school any findings of harassment against them. Anyone who doesn’t sign the waiver allowing the disclosure of such information, which is normally kept confidential, is considered to have an incomplete application and is removed from consideration. The new policy appears to be having its desired effect, says Philip Kass, the university’s vice provost for academic affairs. Every one of the 21 finalists for tenured positions whom UC Davis has investigated since the policy was implemented has come up clean (based on responses from 30 of the 31 institutions that the university queried). His theory is that those with a negative finding in their files have chosen not to apply, and he’s not worried that self-winnowing will limit the talent pool available to the university.

“I’d rather err on the side of excluding someone with a history of harassment rather than allowing someone to sneak through,” Kass says. At the same time, he notes, discovering a finding of past harassment wouldn’t automatically trigger a rejection. UC Davis typically asks institutions to go back roughly 10 years into personnel records, on the assumption that rehabilitation is possible. “It’s not a case of one strike and you’re out forever,” Kass says. “If someone has admitted they made a mistake and learned from it, that’s a positive sign.”

This summer, UC San Diego (UCSD) launched a similar pilot. It was spurred by a “false alarm” involving allegations of past harassment by a newly hired faculty member, says Robert Continetti, senior associate vice chancellor for academic affairs. After completing the investigation, Continetti says, “We found ourselves without any policy to guide us going forward.”

The new policy applies only to tenured positions, Continetti says, because “it’s a laborious process to remove someone with tenure.” In contrast, those seeking “tenure-track appointment are already on probation,” meaning any harassment finding could lead to a denial of tenure. Overall, UCSD officials expect the 3-year pilot will affect roughly 20% of the 75 to 80 tenured faculty searches that the university conducts in a typical year.

UCSD officials worked closely with the faculty senate in designing the pilot, Continetti says. One concern they addressed is that the additional vetting could slow recruitment to the point that the best candidates might choose to go elsewhere. “We’re committed to taking no more than 5 days” for the background information requests, he says, “so we don’t think it will be an impediment to making an offer.”

Kass and Continetti believe the new procedures will weed out bad apples while maintaining an employee’s right to privacy. “It’s not going to be 100% perfect, but it is such a common sense approach that I’m surprised more universities haven’t adopted it,” says Kass, who this June testified before Congress at a hearing on ways to stop harassment in science...

Full article at https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/nsf-unwittingly-hired-professor-guilty-bullying-highlighting-pass-harasser-problem

$20 million

We recently took note of a $10 million donation to UCLA that did not involve a brick-and-mortar structure because we like gifts that aim at teaching, student support, and research.*

Here is a $20 million donation that also falls into that category.

UCLA to launch institute to advance scholarship on Armenia and its diaspora

Jennifer Wheelock | November 19, 2019

UCLA plans to launch The Promise Armenian Institute, an entity that will establish a world-class research center and platform for public outreach about Armenia while integrating and expanding the university’s existing Armenian studies offerings and connections to that country.

“This institute will be UCLA’s new hub for all initiatives and research related to Armenia and the diaspora,” said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. “It will energize the teaching of Armenian history and culture in addition to reaching out to Armenians and Armenian institutions through research and public programs.”

The first initiative of its size and scope, the interdisciplinary institute will have a home in the UCLA International Institute and will focus activities around two pillars. The first pillar is the Center for Armenian Studies, which will attract top faculty and visiting lecturers, support graduate and postdoctoral research on Armenian studies and provide funding for language classes. Building on an in-depth study of Armenian society, culture and history — including scholarship about the 1915 Armenian genocide and the worldwide diaspora — the center will provide the academic foundation for the institute’s second pillar, Programs for Public Impact.

Programs for Public Impact will coordinate new and ongoing projects in archaeology, the arts, business and law, engineering, health policy and medicine, information technology and social policy, leveraging UCLA’s expertise to strengthen communities in Los Angeles, in Armenia, and throughout the diaspora. Among existing UCLA efforts that already contribute to this mission are the Armenian Genome Project, which includes the study of genetics and familial diseases; faculty collaboration with the Armenian Health Ministry to improve the country’s public health; and cultural heritage partnerships with the National Library of Armenia on digital projects. Ongoing and future cultural programs include art exhibitions, film screenings, music performances and other events featuring Armenian artists.

The institute, which has been in the planning phase for several years, is being created with a $20 million gift from the estate of well-known philanthropist and entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian. Before his death in 2015, Kerkorian financed and served as executive producer of the film “The Promise,” a personal passion project raising awareness of the 1915 Armenian genocide. When the movie opened in 2017, proceeds and gifts inspired by the campaign around the film supported a number of charitable causes, including The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law.

“The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA, which will support students, alumni and faculty for generations, is a testament to Mr. Kerkorian’s generosity and extends his unparalleled legacy,” said Dr. Eric Esrailian, chief of UCLA Vatche & Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases, a producer of “The Promise” and close friend of Kerkorian. “With this new institute, the university will continue to keep the promise to remember Armenia’s history, to recognize the impact Armenians are making at UCLA and in our community, and to facilitate scholarship and collaborations around the world in perpetuity.”

“The Promise” and the Emmy-nominated companion documentary “Intent to Destroy” have been used extensively in educational campaigns over the past two years, and in October, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution recognizing the Armenian genocide.

“The film ‘The Promise’ was Mr. Kerkorian’s gift to the Armenian people and the world. The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA will continue the legacy,” said Kerkorian’s close friend and personal attorney Patricia Glaser, an executive producer of the film. “The Armenian genocide needs to be acknowledged and the Armenian culture needs to be allowed to flourish.”

“Kirk would be proud and thankful to UCLA for the fulfillment of The Promise Armenian Institute,” said Anthony Mandekic, Kerkorian’s estate executor, close friend and another executive producer of the film.
Campus and community leaders announced the new institute at a reception Tuesday. Attendees included businesswoman Kim Kardashian, “The Promise” actor Christian Bale, writer-director Terry George, producer Mike Medavoy, and tennis icon and philanthropist Andre Agassi.

“The new institute builds on a 50-year history of Armenian studies at UCLA, which started in the 1960s, and the university’s first endowed chair in the field in 1969,” said Cindy Fan, vice provost for international studies and global engagement. “Joining the International Institute’s other research centers on world regions and global issues, The Promise Armenian Institute will be a model of UCLA’s engagement with our global and local communities. This generous gift will benefit all of UCLA and beyond.”

The gift is part of the Centennial Campaign for UCLA, which is scheduled to conclude Dec. 31.

Source of media release: https://international.ucla.edu/armenian
====
*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2019/11/10-million.html