UC-AFT 1474 Irvine Chapter: No Confidence in Chancellor Howard Gillman

UCI teaching faculty and librarians have spoken loud and clear—with 73.39% of the votes cast in our recent referendum-—that they have no confidence in Chancellor Howard Gillman’s administration and its actions on April 29th and May 15th. 

In an approach totally inconsistent with UC policies and procedures regarding protest and civil disobedience as outlined in the Robinson/Edley Report, Chancellor Gillman invited hundreds of officers in riot gear from over 20 police departments in Orange County and multiple helicopters to break up a peaceful encampment. Thereafter, Gillman’s administration issued temporary suspensions to students arrested at the encampment, as well as students involved in negotiations with the university, effectively banning them from campus and their own housing, with no due process. The ACLU Foundation of Southern California and Peace and Justice Law Center found that “By imposing interim suspensions when they were not necessary to protect campus safety or prevent serious disruption, the university violated its own disciplinary rules.”

We, the Unit 17 librarians and Unit 18 lecturers of UC Irvine, took this vote of no confidence because a similar UCI senate faculty vote excluded our voices, and those of many others on campus. Our vote of no confidence makes clear that were a vote to be held including all teaching and research stakeholders on the UCI campus, the results would be decisively critical of the Chancellor’s actions. Indeed, despite our major role in the research and instructional mission of the University of California, the administration has long referred to members of our bargaining unit as “non-senate faculty” precisely in order to underline our disenfranchisement. Despite this, we feel a responsibility to denounce Chancellor Gillman’s decisions, insofar as they affect our workplace safety and the rights of everyone on this campus to assemble and demonstrate. 

As unionized faculty and librarians, we have a duty to also sound the alarm on the dangerous decisions this administration continues to make and the precedent they are setting to suppress labor actions, especially strikes, and other forms of free speech on this campus and systemwide. 

We demand a voice in how our campus is run, and we deplore Chancellor Gillman’s incompetence, inability to adhere to campus policies, abuse of office, and the shame his administration has brought to our community.

Signed,

Lora Mjolsness,  President and Unit 18 Co-Chair

Mitchell Brown, Unit 17 Representative and Unit 17 Co-Chair

Laura Klein, Vice President

Robert Wood, Secretary

Kat Lewin, Unit 18 Grievance Steward

Loren Eason, Grievance Collective Chair

Ben Garceau, Membership and Outreach Coordinator

Keith Danner, Community and Labor Coalition Liaison

Andrew Tonkovich, Retiree Member-At-Large