Response to Katehi's anti-divestment e-mail

As the time of publication this statement has not been endorsed by any organization or caucus, the views expressed represent only the views of the author. (Though hopefully the Davis UAW will be signing on to this statement soon.)

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On the morning of Friday January 30, Chancellor Katehi sent out an e-mail to the entire UCD community in regards to the previous night’s successful passing of a bill through the ASUCD senate that calls for the UC to divest its funds from companies that profit from human rights abuses in Occupied Palestine. We would like to deeply examine just what is being said in this letter and its implications.

Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right

**The views represented in this post represent solely the views of the author, and not of the UAW 2865, the AWDU caucus, or the BDS caucus.

December 15, 2014 two hit pieces were published against our unions work. One was a Zionist rallying cry against the now coming tide of BDS resolutions in the labor movement that the author predicts our union will initiate (let's hope they're right!!). The other is a laughable rant by the former leadership who lost our union elections by a landslide. I think there's articles speak volumes about the successes of our union in the last year as much as it says about their authors. I want to take a moment to discuss both articles, both in correcting some some of the (many!) (deliberate) errors in the articles, and to talk about what they mean for us.

Why Divestment is an Anti-Tuition Hikes Issue

This post will attempt to explain what divestment -- from Fossil Fuel companies, private prisons, and companies that profit off of the occupation of Palestine -- has to do with tuition hikes. I think there are numerous reasons for divestment (for example), and these aren't even the strongest. But I just wanted to illustrate how these issues are directly tied to tuition.

Briefly, the situation in the UC can be described like this: The state has significantly defunded higher education, and education more broadly. However, the UC administration has not prioritized education and research with its budget. Instead we have seen a massive explosion of full time administrators and skyrocketing executive pay. Yes the state needs to drastically increase funding, but the university needs to be restructured and spending on education needs to be a priority.

Fossil Fuel Divestment

Just a couple weeks ago I sat in a large auditorium with UC adminstrators engaging in a "dialog" about the proposed tuition hikes. A university lobbyist told us that it was unfortunate that the tax on gasoline was beaten, but that the big oil companies had just out lobbied and out-funded the university.

The sentiment and conclusion that they were hoping naive students would take away was that the well meaning university was fighting a battle with a big mean bully and it got beat, but it tried its hardest. 

The situation is actually much less heroic than that, and much more absurd. Because the university is run like a corporation, and growth is the main driving force of the UC it invests its endowment money in companies that make lots of money. Among these companies are fossil fuel companies. So the corporate model that is now our university has locked it into a situation where it is funding the very same companies that it is supposedly politically opposing. So the UC was spending money to lobby against a cause that was spending UC money to lobby. It was UC money vs. UC money. 

Big oil doesn't want to help pay for education, and so we are. 

Divestment from the Occupation

Companies are profiting from the illegal occupation of Palestine, and from human rights violations occurring because of this occupation. The state of Israel continually violates international law, yet is able to get away with it because it has the US backing it up -- and not just with moral support, but with billions of dollars every year in military aid. Israel is the biggest receiver of US foreign aid. 

UC money goes to companies that make bulldozers that demolish Palestinian homes to make land for illegal settlements, to security companies that help run prisons where human rights are violated, and more. So our money is coming into this situation in two ways, through our federal tax dollars, and through UC endowment money. All of this money could instead be used to fund education, but is instead being used to displace people from their land and their homes, to violate their rights, and take their natural resources.

So long as companies are making big bucks off of the occupation than they will continue to lobby the federal government to support the state of Israel, and as long as the state of Israel has the backing of the US the occupation will continue. By funding these companies UC money is going into a cycle which reproduces the occupation -- which means less federal funding for education.

More money for occupation means less federal grants, and more student loans instead. 

Divestment from Private Prisons

source: http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2010/edu/educ_prisons/web-images/SB_const%20amend_fmt.jpeg (if the graph doesn't appear then click this link)

This one is probably the easiest to understand. California has poured almost the same amount of money into prisons as it has taken out of public universities. 

In California about 10% of inmates are in private prisons. It is a booming industry, and it is one that lobbies for tough on crime laws to make sure that there is a demand for the "services" it provides.

Money that could be going to making education more affordable and accessible is going to prisons instead, and private prison companies are going to fight to keep it that way, their bottom-line depends on it.

Divestment and Affordable Housing

Reflections on the Fall 2014 UAW 2865 Joint Council Meeting: Or How Zionism Stifles Union Democracy

The views expressed in this blog post reflect the views and opinions of the individual poster and not any organization he is affiliated with, including but not limited to the UAW 2865, the Joint Council, the AWDU caucus, the Anti-Oppression Committee, the BDS caucus, and more.
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Summary: 1. Zionism and labor law (which I guess I didn't mention labor law as much as I should have) can restrict union democracy and force us into practices which are overly formal  2. it is these root problems that we must blame, not AWDU or the e-board or the BDS caucus for the way the Fall JC was conducted and 3. asking (because I don't have an answer other than "fight!") how can we move forward democratizing the union when the obstacle is much bigger than for example just an admin caucus in power, but is social conditions far greater in scope than the UC?


Background on the UAW 2865 Joint Council Vote to Call for a Membership Vote to Join the BDS Movement

This summer, especially in light of the massacre in Gaza, my union, UC Student Workers Union UAW 2865 - which represents academic student employees across the entire UC system, voted to support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement in solidarity with the Palestinian people and particularly in response to the call from Palestinian unions and civil society to engage in these actions to help stop human rights abuses and hopefully eventually bring justice and end the occupation of their land (and all that is implied with that - the system of apartheid or Jim Crow style 2nd class citizenship that Palestinians living in Israel must live with, the lack of a right of return to the millions of refugees who were cast out of their home by the Israeli military, the stealing of land and resources, and more). This vote was made by the Joint Council, the body of all elected officers, and which is the largest and most representative body in the union.

UCD Pepper Spray: State of the UC Two Years Later

This is a (version of a) speech I gave at the 2nd anniversary of the UC Davis Pepper Spray incident on November 18th 2013 on the UC Davis quad.
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I'd like to give a brief background on what happened on Nov 18th and why and then talk about what has changed (or not changed as it happens to be) since then.

In fall of 2011 the UC Regents were considering a tuition hike of over 80%. The occupy movement reinvigorated campus activism and students were organizing to oppose tuition hikes and other forms of inequality. At UCB on Nov 9 UC police beat students and workers with batons for standing peacefully arms linked around tents on their campus lawn. What happened at Davis was a response to both the proposed tuition hike and the police brutality at Berkeley. We occupied Mrak Hall overnight and a couple days later put tents on our own quad to start Occupy UCD. In an effort to remove then tents and discipline protesters the UC Davis police pepper sprayed peacefully sitting students.

Videos and images went around the world and there was a huge political fall out for the UC because of this disgusting police brutality.

Since then the administration has payed a lot of lip service to making our campus a safer space for free speech for students and workers. However things have only gotten worse. This is the direction our university is going:

• Tuition continues to rise, keeping our university inaccessible to many. The rise in UCSHIP (Student Health Insurance Plan) fees are do to gross mismanagement by UCOP (Office of the President) to the tune of about $57 million in debt over just 3 years. It was their mismanagement but they wanted students to pay for it!

• From 1993 to 2007 here at UC Davis, the number of full-time administrators per 100 students jumped 318%, while the university actually reduced its full-time instructional, research, and service staff by 4.5%. 

• Between 2007-2012, the number of UC employees making more than a quarter million dollars a year grew from 1,538 to 3,094.

• Class size is on the rise. TAs are teaching and grading for more students for less pay. Quality education is declining. Undergrads are paying more for a worse education.

• Campus workers (AFSCME 3299, UPTE, and CNA) are facing pension and wage cuts. UC has forced these cuts on workers without consent, making a mockery of their right to collective bargaining. most of these workers make very little money and are eligible for some kind of public assistance.

• We have a brand new "welcome center" on campus. This interactive touch screen wall cost $311,000 and the cost of installation and related work was $125,000. But I have to ask, who are they welcoming? I have read numerous reports in the media lately about who the UC is welcoming and who it isn't. 
• For instance nearly 60% of African-American students accepted at UCB are choosing to attend other colleges - often because they don't feel welcome.
• And it was just announced that UCLA has more NCAA championships than black male freshmen

• The University has a $78 Billion endowment and other funds that it invests. Does it choose to invest in helping students and workers here and off campus? No. the only affordable family housing on campus, Orchard and Solano Park, are facing demolition in the next couple of years, to be replaced by privatized housing with much higher rent.

• But it does invest in:
• Private prisons: The UC is financially supporting these corporations by investing in companies that invest in them, such as Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Lazard, Blackrock Inc, and Morgan Stanley, all of which own over 2/3 of the Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group.
• The occupation of Palestine: The UC is financially supporting the occupation and colonization of Palestine by investing in companies that profit off of the occupation, such as Caterpiller, Cement Roadstone Holdings, and Hewlett Packard. These companies have assisted the Israeli military in the illegal demolition of Palestinian homes and the creation of an illegal separation wall.
• Fossil Fuels: The UC is invested in coal, oil, and natural gas and is effectively subsidizing the destruction of the environment.

• The new "free speech rules" officially codify our lack of free speech and assembly. the Davis Faculty Association has raised numerous concerns with its focus on restrictions of supposedly free speech then on its commitment to maintaining this right.

• The Regents chose top cop Janet Napolitano, who set records for overseeing most deportations in US history, as the new UC president. This also signifies the continuing militarization of the campus.

These aren't all just mistakes or bad choices. The university is being run this way because the people running it benefit from selling off pieces of our university to their own companies or their buddies companies. They aren't interested in free public education because they won't get rich off of that.

The University is run by a board of Regents, who are members of the business class - 

Monica Lozano sits on the board of Bank of America, so she benefits from increased student loans when she hikes our tuition.

Richard Blum owns a private education company, and construction companies that are building student housing in Irvine.

We see their vision, and it isn't working for us. Its time to fight for our vision of an accessible and welcoming university that takes care of the community instead of investing in oppression and destruction.

But the only way to do that is to exercise control over both the budget and the daily running of the university. A democratic UC is our only hope for turning this into a place of justice.