JUSTICE FOR JOSIAH: It has been two years since Humboldt State student David Josiah Lawson was killed at a party near campus in 2017. On Monday, a candlelight vigil was held to honor Lawson, and once again urge resolution in his murder, which remains unsolved.
Faculty at CSU campuses across the state will be kicking off a CFA Unity Campaign April 22 to May 3.
The statewide campaign, led jointly by Lecturer and tenure track faculty, is focused around activities that highlight commonalities between all faculty groups, and specifically demonstrate how issues facing Lecturers and professors are interconnected.
Students for Quality Education (SQE) chapters throughout the state will be holding actions April 15-19 to bolster awareness of their “No Harm, Disarm” campaign and in recognition of the two-year anniversary of a Humboldt State student’s murder near campus.
A CFA-sponsored bill to amend the legal standard of police use of deadly force in California passed the Assembly Committee on Public Safety Tuesday during a hearing that drew massive crowds to the Legislature.
CFA activists and members of Students for Quality Education spoke to the need for more tenure-track faculty, improved mental health counselor-to-student ratios, and increased student access during an April 2 Legislative hearing on the CSU budget.
Public outrage continues to swirl over the recent news that wealthy parents have been buying their unqualified children access to the nation’s elite universities, but there’s an arguably more disturbing scandal that continues to plague higher education: lack of access for qualified students.
Despite CSU Trustees adhering to time-keeping that resulted in public speakers’ microphones being turned off, the message still came through loud and clear—the fight for justice for David Josiah Lawson is not over, nor are efforts to improve safety for students of color on all campuses.
CFA hosted a rally in support of gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom on Friday, Nov. 2 at San Diego State.
The event drew hundreds of students, faculty, and community allies to the East Commons, where the crowd heard more about Newsom’s commitment to protecting quality public higher education.
The right to free speech is guaranteed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. It’s also guaranteed in Article 1 of the California Constitution. Moreover, faculty enjoy Academic Freedom to express ourselves in our work both on and off campus.
Our CFA Affiliate, AAUP, is the leading authority on the topic and passed the must-read 1940 State of Academic Freedom. For further reading, we recommend the AAUP’s article on Academic Freedom and the First Amendment.
CFA’s 89th Assembly also included dynamic presentations by award-winning poet Richard Blanco and a panel discussion on academic freedom by CSU faculty.
Richard Blanco, selected by President Barack Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, read several of his moving poems, including “One Today,” which he read at the inauguration in 2013. Delegates took back to campus copies of his latest book How to Love a Country.
CFA is standing in solidarity with educators and university workers who are planning to strike this week.
In the UC system, AFSCME 3299 members have been fighting for a contract for two years, and the ULP Committee has unanimously decided to call for a strike on April 10 at 17 campus and medical center locations throughout the state. Click here to get involved.
BUDGET TALKS: CFA members and students spoke to California senators about the need for improved mental health support for CSU students, increased enrollment, and more tenure-track faculty during a budget hearing Thursday.
The Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee 1 on Education hearing focused on the CSU, which would receive an additional $562 million in funding under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal.
Click here to read more about CFA’s budget advocacy.
IN SOLIDARITY: Last week, CFA issued a statement of support for colleagues in the UC system, who went on strike March 20 to protest job outsourcing and unfair salaries.
