CFA is fighting hard to protect rights, privacy and jobs for faculty against the push for adopting AI at CSU. Yesterday, a hearing with the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) began between CFA and management over CSU’s failure to meet and confer over the AI Initiative it launched in February 2025. The hearing is scheduled to continue on July 23.

Once the formal hearing is over, we will await a proposed decision from the administrative law judge, which may be followed by appeal by either party depending on the decision. We’re hopeful that a ruling in our favor can bring about a more thoughtful approach toward AI in the university. But CFA is not just fighting with the PERB hearing. We’re fighting to protect faculty rights on AI in bargaining, legislation, and in the media.

CFA is fighting at the bargaining table. We are pushing for a new stand-alone article on AI that affords faculty protections and opportunities. Our proposal includes ensuring the instructor of record be limited to human faculty members, protections for using or refusing to use the technology, professional development resources to assist faculty in understanding AI, further protections for faculty intellectual property, and refusing AI’s use in personnel issues including evaluation, tenure, and hiring. We are further demanding that no faculty member (including those in the tenure/tenure-track, lecturers, Counselors, Coaches, and Librarians) be replaced by AI.

CFA is fighting with legislation. Yesterday, CFA sponsored bill SB 928 passed out of committee with a unanimous vote, which defines a faculty member as a real person, preventing them being replaced by AI, and requires that an instructor of record for a course be a real person. CFA members have testified in legislative hearings on the issue as well.

CFA is fighting in the press. CFA’s fight for faculty protections regarding AI at CSU has been picked up by state and national news outlets recently, including The New York Times, NPR and the Sacramento Bee. CFA members are quoted giving their perspectives on AI use in the CSU:

  • A University System Went All in on A.I. Now It’s Tearing Itself Apart, The New York Times
  • This Big University System Is Embracing AI. Students and Faculty Aren’t All on Board, NPR
  • $39 Million for 3 Years: CSU System Renews Contract with OpenAI, The Sacramento Bee
  • California State University Renews Controversial Systemwide Contract with OpenAI, EdSource

Whether at the PERB hearing, at the bargaining table, in the California Legislature and in the media, CFA is continuing to fight for our members. Together, we will continue our fight for faculty rights regarding AI.

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