400 CALIFORNIA PROFESSORS PROTEST GOVERNOR´S VETO OF UC LABOR PROGRAMS
Labor Desk
October 16, 2008
Over 400 California professors and other academic staff today sent a letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to protest his line-item veto of labor research and education programs at the University of California, and urge him to restore funding to these programs. "California working families are struggling to stay afloat amidst the current economic meltdown," said Professor Michael Reich, Director of the UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and one of the organizers of the letter campaign. "This is a time when research and training on how to create and improve jobs is more needed than ever in California. In this context, the Governor´s veto makes absolutely no sense."
In the letter, the professors said that the veto "threatens academic freedom by singling out, without any academic review, one program within UC for elimination." Governor Schwarzenegger´s veto cut $5.4 million in labor research and education funds for UC campuses across the state, otherwise leaving the $3 billion University of California budget untouched. "We understand the need to balance the budget in difficult times and that UC should expect to make sacrifices along with other state programs," the academics stated in their letter. But given the targeting of one small program and the "tiny amount of savings" involved, the letter continues, "it is hard to understand this action as other than politically motivated." Professor Chris Tilly, Director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and another organizer of the letter, added, "Ideologically driven politics should not be determining UC´s academic agenda."
The Miguel Contreras Labor Program vetoed by the governor, named after the late Los Angeles area labor leader Miguel Contreras, has funded research and education on labor and employment issues on UC campuses for eight years. The Contreras Program includes the Berkeley and UCLA Institutes for Research on Labor and Employment, the Centers for Research on Labor and Employment on the same two campuses, and the Labor and Employment Research Fund and Labor Studies Development Fund, which support labor-related academic work at all of the other UC campuses. These institutions carry out and sponsor a wide range of policy research and participate in undergraduate and graduate education on labor and employment issues. In addition, they educate and inform union leaders, corporate human resource officials, community organizations, and others on critical issues from immigration reform to green jobs. (For a fact sheet on the activities of the Miguel Contreras Labor Program, go to http://irle.ucla.edu/news/documents/AboutMiguelContrerasProgram.pdf .)
The 421 professors and academic staff signing the letter include over 350 from all ten UC campuses, as well as dozens of others from additional campuses in the state system, Occidental College, Pomona College, Stanford, the University of Southern California, and other higher education institutions. For a full list of signers, go to: http://www.irle.ucla.edu/media/Professors.letter.html
In the letter, the professors said that the veto "threatens academic freedom by singling out, without any academic review, one program within UC for elimination." Governor Schwarzenegger´s veto cut $5.4 million in labor research and education funds for UC campuses across the state, otherwise leaving the $3 billion University of California budget untouched. "We understand the need to balance the budget in difficult times and that UC should expect to make sacrifices along with other state programs," the academics stated in their letter. But given the targeting of one small program and the "tiny amount of savings" involved, the letter continues, "it is hard to understand this action as other than politically motivated." Professor Chris Tilly, Director of the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment and another organizer of the letter, added, "Ideologically driven politics should not be determining UC´s academic agenda."
The Miguel Contreras Labor Program vetoed by the governor, named after the late Los Angeles area labor leader Miguel Contreras, has funded research and education on labor and employment issues on UC campuses for eight years. The Contreras Program includes the Berkeley and UCLA Institutes for Research on Labor and Employment, the Centers for Research on Labor and Employment on the same two campuses, and the Labor and Employment Research Fund and Labor Studies Development Fund, which support labor-related academic work at all of the other UC campuses. These institutions carry out and sponsor a wide range of policy research and participate in undergraduate and graduate education on labor and employment issues. In addition, they educate and inform union leaders, corporate human resource officials, community organizations, and others on critical issues from immigration reform to green jobs. (For a fact sheet on the activities of the Miguel Contreras Labor Program, go to http://irle.ucla.edu/news/documents/AboutMiguelContrerasProgram.pdf .)
The 421 professors and academic staff signing the letter include over 350 from all ten UC campuses, as well as dozens of others from additional campuses in the state system, Occidental College, Pomona College, Stanford, the University of Southern California, and other higher education institutions. For a full list of signers, go to: http://www.irle.ucla.edu/media/Professors.letter.html
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