The University of California Board of Trustees believes that some faculty may use the university website to be arbitrary and Political remarks, such as opposition to Israel's war in the Gaza Strip.
The proposal would prohibit faculty and other academic units from using the home page of their department's website to make “discretionary statements.” The proposal defines this as commentary on “local, regional, global or national” events or issues and is not related to the day-to-day department. operate.
In the days leading up to the meeting, the UC system's Academic Senate asked regents to reject or at least postpone the vote and expressed concerns that the proposal would limit free speech.
The policy was scheduled to be voted on Wednesday at a joint meeting of the regents' Academic Affairs and Compliance and Audit committees. But the regents voted to postpone a final decision until their next meeting in May. Before the meeting, they plan to gather additional input from the Academic Senate and other regents.
“People will submit any problems they have. The Academic Senate will do their job. We listen to everyone. If any corrections are needed, I will do so. And maybe we can personally commit to voting on it at our next meeting,” said Regent Jay Sures, one of the regents who pushed for the proposal. Sures is Vice Chairman of United Talent Agency, a powerful entertainment and sports company.
UC system-wide President Michael Drake also supported delaying the vote, saying he believes the policy isn't over yet and that the university “needs to have the right policy in place” before moving forward.
The policy does not address any specific issues, but many faculty see it as an attempt to limit what can be said about Israel's war in Gaza. Consideration of the policy, which has been months in the making, comes after UC's Ethnic Studies Faculty Council and several faculty members blamed Israel for the war. Additionally, when the policy was first discussed at the January regents' meeting, Regent Hadi Makarechian said the council was considering this policy “because some people are making political statements related to Hamas and Palestine.”
UC leaders who support the policy said it was necessary to ensure faculty opinions were not misunderstood as representing the university as a whole.
It's unclear whether the policy will get enough support from the board for a vote. Some regents expressed concerns Wednesday about the possible impact of the proposal.
Merhawi Tesfai, a UCLA graduate student and student regent, said at the meeting that he did not believe regents should set system-wide policies.
“I think each campus should be free to decide what policies to use and what guidelines to set on this issue,” he added.
Another regent, Keith Ellis, said he was concerned the policy could be used as a “weapon” against faculty.
If other academic units, such as faculty or research centers, wish to assert their opinions, we also allow proposals to be posted elsewhere on UC web pages other than the homepage. These statements must also include a disclaimer explaining that the opinions do not represent the University as a whole. The policy also allows faculty and faculty groups to post their comments on personal websites.
Last week, the Academic Senate formally asked the regents to reject the proposal, or at least postpone the vote. The Senate Academic Committee voted unanimously 19-0 to make that request to the regents. Academic Senate leaders said in a letter to the regents that the policy had the potential to “restrict free speech and undermine academic freedom.”
The policy was updated after the Senate submitted comments and included some changes that address concerns raised. For example, the latest draft of the policy included definitions of the types of statements that were prohibited, whereas previous versions did not.
In an address to the regents, Academic Senate President James Steintrager said the latest version was a step in the right direction, but lamented that the Senate only had two days to review the latest version before meeting. He urged the regents to postpone the vote and send the draft policy to the Senate for further consideration.
Trevor Griffey, a UCLA instructor and vice president of the union representing UC non-tenure-track faculty, said: wrote on social media On Wednesday, the union said it was concerned about how the policy would be implemented. The union “believes that enforcement of this vague standard cannot be achieved consistently and is likely to increase interest group pressure on faculty,” Griffey wrote.
Griffey also said the regents are attempting to bypass the Senate on the issue. Instead of approving the new policy, Senate leaders asked the regents to adopt recommendations put forward by the Senate in 2022.
At the time, the Senate decided that UC faculty had the right to “publish a statement on a university-owned website” as long as the statement did not take a position in an election. Like the regents, the Senate recommended that the statement include a disclaimer that the department does not speak for the university as a whole. However, the Senate did not prevent the statement from being published on the department's website.
“These recommendations are based on comprehensive consultations with faculty from all 10 campuses and UC legal consultants. This is intended to guide departments whose members choose to publish the statement to do so in a manner that minimizes downside and does not violate academic freedom,” Senate leaders wrote in a letter to regents last week.
Since last fall, some faculty members have included statements critical of Israel on their websites. The homepage of UC Santa Cruz's Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Department website features a statement urging “scholars, researchers, organizers and administrators around the world” to take action “to end Israel's genocidal attack on Gaza.” there is.
In a letter last fall, the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council criticized UC leaders for making public statements following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The committee said UC's statement lacked context because it did not acknowledge Israel's violence against Palestinians, including “75 years of settler colonialism and globally recognized apartheid.” The faculty also said UC's statement “irresponsibly invokes terrorism charges.”
of course, The regents, who support the proposal, responded with their own letter, saying the council's letter was “filled with lies about Israel and seeks to legitimize and defend the horrific brutality of the Hamas massacre.” He also promised to do “everything in my power” to protect “everyone in our extended community from inflammatory and out-of-touch rhetoric.” Faculty members criticized Surez for not condemning Israeli violence and called on him to resign.