UC - AFT NEWS

• UC-AFT Officer Candidate statements
• UCB Extension English Language Program to close
• Lecturers Bargaining archives
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• Spring, 2004 UC-AFT Perspective (1 MB pdf)
• Roddy and Klar meet with Dynes

 

Administration Abruptly Closes Berkeley's English Language Program

by Michelle Squitieri

31-Year Program is not "Berkeley-appropriate"

On Monday, January 26, 2004, University Extension Dean James Sherwood announced to stunned instructors and staff his plan to eliminate the ExtensionĂs 31-year-old English Language Program (ELP) at the Berkeley campus. All instructors will be laid off on May 14, nearly two months before their contracts expire.

As the only Extension instructors with full-time schedules, annual contracts, and benefits, ELP instructors are a lot like full-time UC lecturers. Many have taught in the program for decades. But due to a PERB decision years ago, Extension instructors are not covered by the lecturersĂ contract, and the Academic Personnel Manual (APM) does not define them as "faculty," only as "instructional appointees." Their rights to challenge administrative decisions are, therefore, much more limited than those of lecturers and other groups with collective bargaining rights.

Instructors acknowledge that Extension has serious financial problems, but point out that ELP, which offers full-time instruction in English to international students and visitors, is one of the Extension programs that consistently generates more revenues than expenditures. Why eliminate a well-respected program that is making money, in fact, brings in money from overseas? They wonder if, once theyĂre gone, the Dean might reintroduce English language instruction with part-time instructors hired on by agreement contracts, especially since some instructors are already being hired on such contracts to complete the work of ELP instructors whose contracts have been truncated. There is also a question about whether the closure decision is retaliatory, since it was announced shortly after ELP instructors filed several grievances as well as an unfair labor practice charge. Those complaints indirectly resulted from layoffs caused by the closure last summer of the San Francisco Extension and its ELP program due to financial losses. Not long before the DeanĂs announcement, an ELP administrator had assured the Berkeley instructors that the Berkeley ELP program might suffer cuts but would not be eliminated.

Dean Sherwood has said his decision was based entirely on his assessment that the ELP is not "Berkeley appropriate." But at a meeting to discuss the closure on March 17, he told the instructors that he had produced no written report substantiating that claim. Strangely, in a written review of the program conducted last summer according to the procedures laid out in the ExtensionĂs new Strategic Plan, the ELP scored high on all criteria. When asked about that review, the Dean replied that he had decided not to use it. ELP instructors say they were never informed of the undocumented program review on which Dean Sherwood says he based his decision to close the program, and therefore, never had an opportunity to provide meaningful input, as required by the APM.

Moreover, it appears that the Dean may have failed to consult the Senate about the closure decision beforehand in violation of the Academic Senate bylaws, and the Senate UEXT committee is currently investigating the decision.

Berkeley ELP instructors and staff held a march and rally on campus March 4 to protest the closure. Instructors are filing a grievance, and amending their Unfair Labor Practice charge. There is a summary of the issues along with links to newspaper articles, a letter from the ELP faculty to the Senate UEXT Committee Chair, and Dean Sherwood’s explanation of his rationale for closing the program: to view these documents, click here.