CFA Sponsors Bill on Information Disclosures, Seeking to Expand on Our Settlement Win

On February 13, Senator Sasha Renée Pérez introduced the CFA-sponsored Senate Bill SB 1101, which would require the CSU and California Community Colleges, and request the University of California (UC) to notify faculty, staff, and students when their personal information is shared with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights a part of an investigative, compliance, or enforcement action.

If passed, the CSU, UC, and community colleges would notify faculty, staff, and students of subpoenas for personal information as soon as reasonably practical before complying. This could give people time to proceed with legal action to block the dispersal of information.

The bill would require all the public higher education institutions to share information with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights only when required by state or federal law. When they do disclose information, their notifications must include a description of the personal information shared.

The bill defines personal information as including but not limited to names, addresses, email addresses, social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, passport numbers, and gender.

CFA sees this bill as an expansion of the settlement agreement we reached with CSU in January regarding our lawsuit over the disclosure of CSU Los Angeles faculty’s personal information in response to a subpoena from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

“We will fight to pass this bill because we must continue to be on the forefront of this issue and push the CSU to do what is ethically right, especially after the win of our settlement,” said Margarita Berta-Ávila, CFA president and Sacramento State professor. “Our members need to feel like their academic freedom is protected from the Trump Administration’s witch hunt of faculty.”

The settlement agreement reached in January requires the CSU administration to provide notice to employees as soon as reasonably practical before complying with any subpoena for employees’ personal information related to the EEOC’s investigation of alleged antisemitism. CSU management also agreed to provide the same notice, unless prohibited by law or regulation, for personal information requests related to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights investigation of the CSU’s interactions with the PhD Project, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to diversify business education and the corporate workforce.

Molly Talcott, CFA representation committee chair and CSU Los Angeles professor, said she is grateful that CFA and Senator Pérez are advancing SB 1101.

“When Cal State LA management abruptly disclosed our personal information — including our home addresses, personal emails and phone numbers, racial/ethnic and gender data, and employment histories — to the authoritarian and Constitution-defying federal government, many of our faculty experienced the chilling effect of our employer’s complicity,” Talcott said. “This placed faculty at risk, harmed our campus morale, and further eroded trust. As we were not extended the dignity of being noticed before the disclosure, this legislation is critical.”