From the California Faculty Association CFA HEADLINES May 11, 2016 · Weekly news digest from CFA • CFA leaders thank members for hard work, success • Hunger strike continues at SFSU • From labor allies to community supporters, all helped and deserve thanks • Lingering questions about the tentative agreement? Learn more • Stay in the know! Stay connected with CFA Headlines, social media • Faculty Rights Tip of the Week: June Deadlines for Notification of Tenure

and Promotion • Links of the Week CFA leaders thank members for hard work, success

It’s been a marathon and a sprint this year as CFA worked toward securing salary increases for faculty, and many of our leaders and chapters are taking a moment to express gratitude to those who made the tentative agreement happen—our union members. In a letter to members, CFA President Jennifer Eagan said this year has been perhaps the most dramatic in this union’s history. “Thanks to you, we not only won

our Fight for Five, but also a longer term salary package that takes an important step toward normalizing our wages. And, perhaps more than that, CSU faculty demonstrated without a doubt that we are a force to be reckoned with; disrespect us at your own peril. We are prepared to do what it takes to ensure our ability to provide quality education for our students.

There are a lot of people to thank for our success, including our students, our incredible CFA staff, our supporters in the legislature, and our labor and community allies. They all played critical roles in advocating on our behalf.

One thing is for certain—without your activism and dedication, we would not have won this campaign.”

Nick Baham, Chapter President at Cal State East Bay, wrote to faculty, students, staff and the campus community in a letter published in The Pioneer last week. “This is not only a significant victory for each of us individually and for all of us in the CSU system –The People’s University- collectively, but it is also a significant victory for public higher education, the teaching profession, and even for the union movement generally speaking. At the end of the day, faculty and students alike, we are working people. As faculty we may be highly trained and specialized working people, and as students you are certainly aspiring to acquire specialized training and professional certification. But we are all working people nonetheless who are trying to maintain a hold on the middle class.

Our struggle is certainly not over, but we have earned a significant victory for the moment. Our movement is spreading across the country. The State University of New York (SUNY), City University of New York (CUNY), Chicago State University (CSU), as well as the City College of San Francisco (CCSF), are all engaged in similar struggles. There is a profound relationship between the exploitation of both faculty and students as our society continues to disinvest in public higher education. If public support for Sen. Bernie Sanders platform of free public higher education is any indication, we are all fighting back, and we will prevail!”

CFA members approved the Tentative Agreement during an online vote held late last month. The agreement must now go before the CSU Board of Trustees, and is scheduled to be discussed at the Board’s meeting May 24-25. To learn more about the Tentative Agreement, click here. Hunger strike continues at SFSU Tension is building at San Francisco State University, where four students are holding an indefinite hunger strike and helping spotlight attacks by university administration on the university’s College of Ethnic Studies. The students—Ahkeel Andres Mestayer, 20, Hassani Bell, 18, Sachiel Rosen, 19

and Julia Retzlaff, 19—are demanding investment in the College of Ethnic Studies. Two faculty positions in the college were recently cut from the university’s budget. The group, which calls itself the Third World Liberation Front, demanded that negotiations regarding the $8 million needed to advance the College of Ethnic Studies begin Monday, the eighth day of the hunger strike. If negotiations aren’t concluded by today they are threatening escalated tactics. Andrew Jolivette, Professor and Chair of American Indian Studies at SFSU, said the hunger strike is still ongoing, but students and administrators began negotiating Wednesday morning.

“They would like to see an equitable budget but one that really seeks to advance ethnic studies not one that cripples it,” he said. “They just want to see a meaningful commitment for next year.”

The hunger strike and situation at San Francisco State has drawn support from local elected officials and celebrities, who attended a press conference Monday on the lawn where the hunger strikers are camping. San Francisco State Alum Danny Glover told the crowd that it was the 1960s strike at SFSU that led to the creation of the country’s first-ever College of Ethnic Studies and “changed the narrative,” according to the San Francisco Examiner report. “That’s what the ethnic studies program is about. That’s what this strike is about,” Glover said. “Defending their right to an education.” Administrators assert that the university has been underfunded in recent years, the budget for the 2016-17 year hasn’t been finalized, and the reserve funding used to cover the college’s annual deficit has dried up. Ethnic Studies faculty said inadequate funding has been a problem for more than a decade and has reduced the college’s operations by 40 percent. Howard Bunsis, an Accounting Professor at Eastern Michigan University, authored an independent financial analysis of SF State compared to the rest of the CSU system. Despite the administration’s claims, San Francisco State is not operating at a structural deficit. “The idea of a college owing money or having a deficit is completely made up,” Bunsis said in a Golden Gate Xpress report. “There’s no empirical evidence for it. Show me where the revenues are and where the expenses are and where is that structural deficit.” Bunsis, who analyzed SF State’s assets, operating cash flow, enrollment rates and tuition costs, said all were at adequate levels compared to the rest of the CSU. Click here to view Bunsis’ report.

From labor allies to community supporters, all helped and deserve thanks From our massive march and rally at the CSU Chancellor’s Office in Long Beach on November 17, 2015 to the preparations leading up to the 23-campus strike, CFA had an outpouring of support and help from labor allies and community supporters. To all of those who supported our efforts, walked beside us, volunteered their time, lent their influence and expertise, and participated in our events, thank you. We couldn’t have done it without you and your generosity. Click here to see a list of support from within the CSU, affiliate unions, academic, labor and the community. Lingering questions about the tentative agreement? Learn more

The Tentative Agreement regarding faculty salary increases has been approved by CFA members, but for those who may still have questions, we have answers. The CFA website has a host of information related to the Tentative Agreement, including FAQs, the

Tentative Agreement language, and an online salary estimator tool to help faculty calculate their new salary under the agreement, including Service Salary Increase (SSI) eligibility. Click here to read more about the Tentative Agreement today. Stay in the know! Stay connected with CFA Headlines, social media

It’s never too early to think ahead, and this fall term, you’ll want to stay connected to CFA for the latest news and information.

There are several ways to get news from CFA, but one of the best ways is to self-subscribe to CFA Headlines, our weekly e-newsletter. Subscribing is free, takes just a few clicks and each week, news from CFA will be delivered to your email inbox. Easy! Click here to sign up for CFA Headlines. Another way to stay connected is to follow CFA on Facebook and Twitter. Get news from CFA in your news feed, post comments, and share photos. We want to see what you’re up to this summer and when the school year begins! Be sure to check out our app as well. From your smartphone, go to www.calfac.org. The mobile version of the site will automatically load. To add the CFA App button to your home screen, with the app open, tap the export box on the bottom of the screen. Then tap “Add to Home screen.” Faculty Rights Tip of the Week: June Deadlines for Notification of Tenure Note to readers: This week, we are repeating a previous Faculty Rights Tip due to its timeliness and importance.

Under Article 13: Tenure in our Collective Bargaining Agreement, June 1 is the contractual deadline for local campus administrators to notify probationary faculty of the final decision regarding retention, appointment with tenure, or appointment to a final terminal year.

Under Article 14: Promotion, June 15 is the contractual deadline for promotion decisions.

(February 15 is the date required for non-retention of probationary faculty who are on the job less than two years, and Promotion.)

Some campuses set earlier dates, so check your campus calendar.

Usually, the notice will come from the campus president or his or her designee. Faculty should check your local campus RTP policies to see who issues the final decision on a particular campus.

During this busy time of the academic year, probationary faculty should check your campus mail regularly. If you receive a negative letter regarding reappointment or tenure, you should contact your CFA Faculty Rights Representative immediately. You have 42 days from the date you receive the notice to file an appeal through the grievance process. Do not wait until the last minute; contact your CFA faculty rights representative immediately.

• If you’d like to learn more about HEERA or have a faculty rights questions contact your campus CFA faculty rights representative.

• See previous Faculty Rights Tips on a range of topics in our contract. • If you have questions about a faculty rights tip or would like to suggest a tip

please write us with the subject line “Faculty Rights Tip.”

Links of the Week Day 8 Of SFSU Student Hunger Strike To Save Ethnic Studies Department CBS Local Four San Francisco State University students will continue a hunger strike Monday to call attention to alleged attacks by administrators against the university's ethnic studies department. Hunger strikers call to rally today 12:30 – SF State hunger striker Hassani Bell speaks on cuts to Ethnic Studies ... San Francisco Bay View On Day Eight of our hunger strike, we remain wholly disappointed in San Francisco State University President Leslie Wong and Provost Sue Rosser. On May 6, students offered a chance for the president to show a gesture of good faith. Actor Danny Glover supporting SFSU students protesting cuts to ethnic studies  KGO-TV  Glover was a student protester in 1968 during a five-month long strike, which eventually led to the establishment of the College of Ethnic Studies - the first in the nation. Racial Gap In Tenure Remains High The LumberJack (Humboldt State) Out of 226 tenured professors working at Humboldt State since 2015, only three of them are Native American. Correction: Cal State Faculty-Contract Story ABC News In a story May 3 about California State University faculty approving a tentative three-year contract, The Associated Press reported erroneously that one provision would extend tenure vestment from five to 10 years for employees hired after July 1, 2017. The provision actually applied to retiree health benefits. A corrected version of the story is below… Brown preps California budget revision amid tighter revenue Associated Press As Gov. Jerry Brown prepares to release his revised state budget this week, he's hearing a chorus of calls … urging him to significantly boost spending to help California's poorest residents. Ken Burns uses Jefferson Lecture to defend the humanities and the role of narrative Inside Higher Ed Ken Burns, the documentary maker who brought the Civil War, the histories of baseball and jazz, and the biographies of the Roosevelts to film, had a chance Monday night to honor the National Endowment for the Humanities, which supported much of his work. He praised the NEH for both its grants and its standards, and thanked the endowment for naming him to deliver this year's Jefferson Lecture, the nation's highest annual honor in the humanities. Skelton: Bernie Sanders' idea for free tuition at public colleges deserves an A Los Angeles Times

Bernie Sanders wants everyone to be offered a tuition-free college education and he’s called crazy. America can’t afford it, naysayers scoff. He’s just pandering to young voters. But too many of us in California forget: This state did provide tuition-free college for generations. Minnesota Faculty Senate ponders policy making free speech ‘paramount’ Inside Higher Ed The University of Minnesota at Twin Cities is considering a set of statements on free speech that, if passed, could be the strongest such affirmation seen on any campus. Yet the statements’ future is uncertain, given concerns -- especially those from students -- about free speech being “paramount” to other values. * * * Join CFA’s Facebook page For the latest news, follow CFA on Twitter Check out CFA YouTube