Whereas, in its 2012 report on “The Inclusion in Governance of Faculty Members holding Contingent Appointments,” the American Association of University Professors concluded that, “The inclusion in governance roles of faculty who hold contingent appointments…is crucial to establishing strong faculty governance” and recommends that contingent faculty have voting rights and be compensated for serving on governing bodies such as Senate committees; and

Whereas, UC-AFT represents non-Senate faculty who teach approximately one-third of the undergraduate classes at the University of California, a responsibility that has shifted more and more away from Senate faculty to non-Senate faculty over time; and

Whereas, UC-AFT faculty teach, design, and assess much of the curriculum in writing, math, languages, and other disciplines and are professionally attuned to the needs and abilities of students; and

Whereas, UC-AFT represents a large, quantifiably excellent faculty whose expertise is valued by the UC to the extent that we are invited to serve — albeit without voting rights or pay — on Senate committees; and

Whereas, a robust governing body — parallel to the Academic Senate but representing non-Senate Academic personnel at UC Davis — exists called the Academic Federation of UC Davis; and

Whereas, joint efforts are underway at UC Merced between Senate faculty and UC-AFT faculty through the Diversity and Equity Initiative to expand shared governance of lecturers and librarians to include voting rights and service pay equity within an Academic Federation model; and

Whereas, UC-AFT faculty are conjoining organizing efforts across the UC campuses to research and enact best shared governance practices on their own campuses; and

Whereas, other institutions, such as USC, San Francisco State University, and Villanova University, acknowledge the essential contributions contingent faculty provide to the governance of their universities by securing all faculty the right to serve, vote, and be equitably compensated for work on academic committees; and

Whereas, AB 1725 (1988) confers shared governance rights on both full-time and part-time faculty in community colleges; and

Whereas, many UC-AFT faculty already enjoy wide-ranging programmatic governance roles (e.g. the Writing Programs of the two largest campuses — UCLA and UCB — are completely governed by non- Senate faculty), and helping develop the campus educational infrastructure also improves our teaching; and

Whereas, diversifying faculty perspectives is consistent with the UC’s expanding diversity missions, and UC-AFT faculty’s perspectives add to the intellectual texture of the institution;

Therefore, be it resolved, that the California Federation of Teachers shall advocate for expanded shared governance roles for UC-AFT faculty at the University of California and support UC-wide and campus specific organizing initiatives to this effect; and

Be it finally resolved, that CFT will advocate for legislation similar to AB 1725 for UC campuses to allow non-Senate faculty to serve on appropriate Senate Committees; have a vote on the Senate committees on which they serve; and be paid for committee service commensurate to the work of Senate committee members.
 

• Passed as Resolution 14 on March 25, 2018
• Submitted by the University Council-AFT