Over 400 Professors Send Letter to Governor Schwarzenegger Protesting UC Labor Studies Cuts in Budget

Last month's state budget cuts left few key services unscathed, but one of the hardest hit were the University of California's labor research and education programs. And by hardest hit I mean obliterated by one of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's line-item vetoes after surviving legislative cuts.

In response, 421 Califonria professors have sent an open letter to the Governor urging him to restore funding to the programs.

"We are deeply disturbed by your veto of funding for the University of California Miguel Contreras Labor Program," the letter begins. "[I]t threatens academic freedom by singling out, without any academic review, one program within UC for elimination."

"It has generated high quality research on labor and employment on all of the UC campuses," the letter continues. "This research is widely used by those in labor, business, and public policy who work to create and improve jobs in California, as well as scholars the world over."

Signatories include Professor Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize winning economist at Stanford University, Professor George Lakoff, a prominent author and linguistics professor at UC Berkeley, Professor William Gould, a Stanford University law professor and former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, Professor Sanford Jacoby, a UCLA Anderson School of Management professor and top scholar on the history of US corporations, and Professor Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, one of the nation's most respected sociologists studying Latino life in the United States and a University of Southern California professor.

A full list of signatories can be found here. More information on the Miguel Contreras Labor Program can be found here.

The complete letter:

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:
 
We are deeply disturbed by your veto of funding for the University of California Miguel Contreras Labor Program.  This veto removes funds for programs that fulfill critical needs for working families and businesses across California.  Moreover, it threatens academic freedom by singling out, without any academic review, one program within UC for elimination.
 
The Miguel Contreras Labor Program, which includes the Institutes for Research on Labor and Employment and Centers for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley and UCLA as well as the UC-wide Labor and Employment Research Fund, deserves state support on its own merits.  It has generated high quality research on labor and employment on all of the UC campuses.  This research is widely used by those in labor, business, and public policy who work to create and improve jobs in California, as well as scholars the world over.  The Contreras Program also runs educational programs in UC and in the labor and business communities.  Financial support for graduate students has helped to train new generations of labor and employment professionals and scholars, magnifying the statewide impact.  As you well know, working families are struggling and the workplace is being transformed by dramatic, sometimes worrisome trends from offshoring to technological change.  The work of the Contreras Program is thus more needed than ever.
 
We understand the need to balance the budget in difficult times and that UC should expect to make sacrifices along with other state programs.  However, out of the $3 billion UC budget, the only item you vetoed was the $5.4 million Contreras Program.  Given the tiny amount of savings, it is hard to understand this action as other than politically motivated.  We see this as unwarranted political interference in the academic activities of the University of California.  It violates the basic principle of the freedom to speak out and conduct research even on controversial topics; this freedom is a cornerstone of the vital, world-class university California needs. 
 
We strongly urge you to restore funds to the University of California Miguel Contreras Labor Program this year, and support its funding in the future.

Image courtesy LA CityBeat.

Print this report | Send to a friend

About Donald Lathbury | All Reports by Donald Lathbury

---

Browse in :

All > Reports > Legislative Bodies > State Assembly All > Reports > Legislative Bodies > State Senate All > Reports > Schwarzenegger Any of these categories - All of these categories

There are no comments attached to this item.

Ratings