Tag Archives: Legal issues

U. of California at San Diego Settles Racial-Harassment Complaints

Posted on April 16, 2012 by | Comments Off on U. of California at San Diego Settles Racial-Harassment Complaints

U. of California at San Diego Settles Racial-Harassment Complaints

The University of California at San Diego has reached a settlement with the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education after an investigation of racial-harassment complaints on the campus.

The complaints stemmed from several incidents, including public displays of hanging nooses and a Ku Klux Klan-style hood, that began last year and seemed to take aim at African-American students. The incidents prompted student protests, and the president of the University of California system, Mark G. Yudof, responded to the apparent racism on his Facebook page. “It has no place in civilized society, and it will not be tolerated—not on this particular campus, not on any University of California campus,” he wrote.

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Posted in Diversity, Legal issues

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BCTF Finds Bias in BC Government Inside Appointment of Mediator

Posted on April 5, 2012 by | Comments Off on BCTF Finds Bias in BC Government Inside Appointment of Mediator

The BC Teachers’ Federation filed an application to the Labour Relations Board to quash the 28 appointment of Dr. Charles Jago as mediator in the current labour dispute.  “On April 2, BCTF President Susan Lambert wrote to Dr. Jago respectfully requesting that he step down as mediator, citing numerous factors that create an apprehension of bias. One day later, Dr. Jago wrote back, saying he declined to withdraw.”  Lambert argued that “this government has legislated a biased process and appointed a mediator who not only lacks experience, but evidently lacks impartiality as well.”  The BCTF is seriously concerned with insider connections to the BC Liberal Party.  In 2006, Jago was on commission to former Premier Gordon Campbell’s Progress Board.  The BCTF reports that Jago’s “findings clearly foreshadow positions taken by the BC Public School Employers’ Association at the bargaining table and also reflect policy directions laid out in Bill 22.” Lambert continued, saying “bbviously there is a strong linkage between Dr. Jago’s thinking, and the bargaining and policy objectives of this government.”  Jago also admitted to the BCTF that he was “given the opportunity to review and ‘to wordsmith’ a draft of” the draconian Bill 22 before it was tabled in the Legislature. “This was the very legislation he would later be expected to interpret impartially as a mediator.”   Jago was appointed on 28 March, shortly after the anti-labour legislation was passed.

Read More: BCTF News Release

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Posted in BC Education, Government, K-12 issues, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions, Working conditions

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Petrina named Expert Witness for Chan v UBC Racial Discrimination Case

Posted on March 31, 2012 by | Comments Off on Petrina named Expert Witness for Chan v UBC Racial Discrimination Case

Stephen Petrina has been named as an Expert Witness for Jennifer Chan in her racial discimination case against the University of British Columbia at the BC Human Rights Tribunal.  The BCHRT decided on 23 January 2012 to hear the Chan v UBC and others [Beth Haverkamp, David Farrar, Jon Shapiro, Rob Tierney] case and the Hearing is scheduled for: June 11 to 15, 25 to 29, and July 3 to 6 and 9 to 13, 2012

BC Human Rights Tribunal
1170 – 605 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

Chan initially filed her complaint on 10 May 2010 against the University of British Columbia, Beth Havercamp, David Farrar, Jon Shapiro, and Robert Tierney. A background to the case was recently published by the UBC student newspaper, Ubyssey, in a feature article.

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Posted in Administration, Chan Case, Employment rights, Equity, Ethics, Faculty, Human Rights

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Court rejects UIC union

Posted on March 26, 2012 by | Comments Off on Court rejects UIC union

Inside Higher Ed: Court Rejects Faculty Union

Almost a year ago, faculty members at the University of Illinois at Chicago filed papers to unionize. The drive at the university was seen as a major victory for academic labor, which has struggled in recent years to organize at research universities. And at a time when the treatment of those off the tenure track is an increasingly important issue to faculty leaders, the new union was to have combined tenure-track and adjunct faculty members. Since then, the union has been engaged in a legal fight with the university, which has argued that Illinois law does not allow joint units for tenure-track and non-tenure track faculty members. Along the way, the union won most of the skirmishes, but that ended on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/23/appeals-court-rejects-faculty-union-u-illinois-chicago#ixzz1qFOD1Hhh
Inside Higher Ed

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Posted in Legal issues, Organizing, Unions

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Chan v UBC Human Rights Tribunal Hearing Schedule

Posted on March 22, 2012 by | Comments Off on Chan v UBC Human Rights Tribunal Hearing Schedule

The BC Human Rights Tribunal has scheduled Hearing dates for the Jennifer Chan v UBC racial discrimination case for: June 11 to 15, 25 to 29, and July 3 to 6 and 9 to 13, 2012

BC Human Rights Tribunal
1170 – 605 Robson Street
Vancouver, BC

All are welcome to attend. For information on the case, see the recent UBC student newspaper, Ubyssey, feature article and the BCHRT for decision to hear the Chan v UBC and others [Beth Haverkamp, David Farrar, Jon Shapiro, Rob Tierney] case.

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Posted in Chan Case, Employment rights, Equity, Human Rights, Legal issues, Working conditions

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Student News on Chan v UBC Racial Discrimination Case

Posted on March 15, 2012 by | Comments Off on Student News on Chan v UBC Racial Discrimination Case

The Managing Editor for the Ubyssey, UBC’s student newspaper, reported in a feature article in this morning’s issue on the Chan v UBC and others racial discrimination case to be heard by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal (BCHRT) this summer. Jonny Wakefield reports:

The threshold to dismiss a complaint at the BCHRT is low. Since 2006, it appears that no cases against UBC have gone to a full judicial hearing. But one professor’s complaint has survived numerous attempts by the university to have it thrown out. The hearing, scheduled this summer, will be one of the very few times that the university has had to deal with a complainant in a public forum.

That discrimination complaint came from Jennifer Chan. Chan is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education. In May 2010, she filed a complaint of racial discrimination with the BCHRT, naming the university and four employees—among them senior administrators—as respondents. Chan, who is Chinese Canadian, alleges she was not selected for a prestigious research chair in part because of her race.

That appointment was to the Lam Research Chair in Multicultural Education. Chan was shortlisted for the chair in October 2009 and when it was announced that another candidate—a white woman—was given the appointment, Chan started to make complaints about bias in the process.

In short, Chan said the search committee of five members from the Faculty of Education broke every hiring rule in the book. It failed to keep any records of its procedures, including how the search was conducted and what criteria were used to determine merit. The committee also failed to consult Chan’s references, which included former Lam Chair holders. The Ubyssey contacted Chan’s references independently and confirmed that they had not been contacted regarding her application.

“A lot of my students would ask for references for their part-time summer jobs,” she said. “This endowment chair is a very prestigious position. Why were external references not contacted? Was it because the candidate was predetermined? Or was it because of some other factor?”

One of those factors, she argues, was her race.

See Ubyssey 15 March 2012 pp. 6-7 for more, and BCHRT for decision to hear the Chan v UBC and others [Beth Haverkamp, David Farrar, Jon Shapiro, Rob Tierney] case.

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Posted in Accountability, Chan Case, Equity, Human Rights, Legal issues, Students, Tenure & Promotion

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BC Ministry Proposes to Make Teachers Pay for Job Action

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | Comments Off on BC Ministry Proposes to Make Teachers Pay for Job Action

BCTF President Lambert (Photo by Rick Ernst, PNG)

As if Bill 22 could not get worse for labour, the British Columbia Ministry of Education proposed today to make teachers pay for past job action.  The BCTF rejected out of hand Minister Abbott’s proposal that teachers retroactively make up work lost to job action.  BCTF President Susan Lambert scoffed that “Minister Abbott is ignoring a commonly accepted labour relations principle: struck work is simply not done.”  Increasingly, the BC Liberals seem intent on decimating long-established principles of labour and, as UBC Professor Joel Bakan wrote in the Vancouver Sun, wanting to play fast and loose with labour law.  “Governments are obliged to govern according to law,” said Bakan. “That is what distinguishes democracies from tyrannies. As a fundamental democratic principle, the rule of law is seriously jeopardized when governments play fast and loose with constitutional and international laws, as this government is now doing with Bill 22.”

Attempting to slow the the rushed passage of the questionable legislation, the NDP’s John Horgan introduced an amendment today to delete most of Bill 22 and bring in a mediator to, although it will be defeated, introduce fairness into the process. The amendment states: “it is not in the best interests of the education system in British Columbia for the government to legislate teachers back to work when an independent mediator could be appointed by the government and the Labour Relations Board to resolve the collective bargaining dispute without legislation.”

Read more: Vancouver Sun

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Posted in BC Education, Employment rights, K-12 issues, Legal issues, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions, Working conditions

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BC Leg Bill 22 “Offences” Draconian

Posted on March 5, 2012 by | Comments Off on BC Leg Bill 22 “Offences” Draconian

BC Legislature Bill 22, undermining teachers’ / BCTF rights to fair bargaining and job action.  BOO !

Offences:

(1) An employee, the BCTF or an officer of the BCTF or of a local of the BCTF or a representative of the BCTF or of a local of the BCTF, who contravenes section 3 (1) (b), (c) or (e), as the case may be, commits an offence and is liable to the following:

(a) in the case of an employee, a fine amount of not more than $475 for each day on which the offence occurs;

(b) in the case of the BCTF, a fine amount of not less than $1.3 million for each day on which the offence occurs;

(c) in the case of an officer of the BCTF or of a local of the BCTF or a representative of the BCTF or of a local of the BCTF, a fine amount of not less than $2 500 for each day on which the offence occurs.

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Posted in BC Education, Employment rights, K-12 issues, Legal issues, Strikes, Strikes & Labor Disputes, Unions

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Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Race-Conscious Admissions at U. of Texas

Posted on February 22, 2012 by | Comments Off on Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Race-Conscious Admissions at U. of Texas

The Chronicle: Supreme Court Takes Up Challenge to Race-Conscious Admissions at U. of Texas

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it would take up a lawsuit challenging race-conscious admissions at the University of Texas, setting the stage for it to reconsider affirmative-action policies that it had ruled constitutional in 2003, before its composition significantly changed.

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Posted in Legal issues, Students

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Michigan Senate Approves Bill to Block Unions by Graduate Research Assistants

Posted on February 22, 2012 by | Comments Off on Michigan Senate Approves Bill to Block Unions by Graduate Research Assistants

The Chronicle: Michigan Senate Approves Bill to Block Unions by Graduate Research Assistants

A Republican-sponsored bill that would bar graduate research assistants at Michigan’s public universities from unionizing has been approved by the State Senate. Consideration of the bill coincides with debates over whether research assistants at the University of Michigan should be classified as students, not as employees entitled to collective-bargaining rights. The bill, which now heads to the House, threatens to upend a case pending before an administrative-law judge, who is scheduled to deliver her recommendation to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission on March 13.

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Posted in Legal issues, Organizing, Students, Unions

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Rights tribunal to hear UBC prof’s racial discrimination complaint

Posted on February 16, 2012 by | Comments Off on Rights tribunal to hear UBC prof’s racial discrimination complaint

Vancouver Sun: Rights tribunal to hear UBC prof’s racial discrimination complaint

The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal has agreed to hear the case of a University of B.C. professor who claims she was passed over for a research chair position because of her race.

Jennifer Chan, an associate professor in the faculty of education at UBC, filed a complaint alleging that the university and four administrators discriminated against her with respect to the appointment of the David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education in 2009. UBC denies any such discrimination took place and applied to have the complaint dismissed.

In her submission, Chan argues that she was better qualified for the position than the successful applicant and points out that only one member of the selection committee was a visible minority. She also alleges systemic discrimination which she claims is evidenced by being “forgotten” in her tenure and promotion schedule and the fact that visible minorities are almost entirely absent from leadership positions. Chan, who is of Chinese descent and immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 2001, was the only visible minority candidate to be shortlisted for the position.

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Posted in Chan Case, Equity, Human Rights

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Petition: Ginsberg v North Carolina State University

Posted on January 23, 2012 by | Comments Off on Petition: Ginsberg v North Carolina State University

At North Carolina State University (NCSU), shortly after Dr. Terri Ginsberg made supportive political comments at a screening of a Palestinian film in 2007, she went from being the favored candidate for a tenure-track position to being denied even an interview.  Her efforts at redress were summarily rejected by NCSU and two courts.  A jury should be permitted to decide whether NCSU’s real reason for firing Dr. Ginsberg was its hostility to her political views, but this legal right has been denied.  We urge the Supreme Court of North Carolina to review Dr. Ginsberg’s case and to reverse the lower courts’ decisions to dismiss it.  On this basis, faculty at NCSU and elsewhere may finally exercise their legal right to academic speech on the topic of Palestine/Israel and, as such, to their full human rights as scholars, teachers, and intellectuals in the academic community.

To support this request to the NC Supreme Court, we invite academic faculty and students worldwide to sign our Open Letter as an e-petition at this URL:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/open-letter-to-nc-supreme-court-ginsberg-vs-ncsu.html

We expect to submit the Open Letter with all signatures received by February 7, though signatures received later would still be helpful.

You are also encouraged to send your own letter to:

Supreme Court of North Carolina

Clerk’s Office

P.O. Box 2170

Raleigh, NC 27602-2170  USA

 

British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) http://www.bricup.org.uk/

U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI) http://www.usacbi.org

Center for Constitutional Rights http://ccrjustice.org

Jewish Voice for Peace-Westchester http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jewish-Voice-for-Peace-Westchester-Chapter/201574026528540?v=info

WESPAC Foundation http://wespac.org/

Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ) http://www.codz.org

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Posted in Academic freedom, Legal issues

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U.S. Appeals Court to Weigh the Speech Rights of Public-College Faculty Members

Posted on August 12, 2011 by | Comments Off on U.S. Appeals Court to Weigh the Speech Rights of Public-College Faculty Members

The Chronicle: U.S. Appeals Court to Weigh the Speech Rights of Public-College Faculty Members

In a case emerging as a major test of the free-speech rights of faculty members at public colleges, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit is being asked to decide whether Northeastern Illinois University could legally punish a professor who advised student activists by deeming her own statements of protest to be job-related.

The dispute involves a lawsuit filed against the university by Loretta Capeheart, a tenured associate professor of justice studies who has advised the university’s student Socialist Club and was denied promotions and a faculty award after clashing with administrators over her protest activities. The American Association of University Professors is concerned enough about the potential ramifications of a ruling against Ms. Capeheart that on Thursday it filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the appeals court to hold her speech to have been protected under the First Amendment.

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Posted in Free speech, Legal issues

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4 Former Professors Sue Bethune-Cookman U. Over Their Dismissal

Posted on June 16, 2011 by | Comments Off on 4 Former Professors Sue Bethune-Cookman U. Over Their Dismissal

Orlando Sentinel: 4 Former Professors Sue Bethune-Cookman U. Over Their Dismissal

Four former professors are suing Bethune-Cookman University, claiming they were fired because they confronted the college president about a host of problems on campus, including embezzlement.

They say university president Trudie Kibbe Reed didn’t want them to embarrass her or undermine her authority so she began a course of retaliation that ended with their dismissal.

Reed, however, said the lawsuit is an effort to divert attention away from the real reason the men were let go in 2009 — allegations of sexual misconduct with students.

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Posted in Faculty, Legal issues

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Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstates collective bargaining law

Posted on June 15, 2011 by | Comments Off on Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstates collective bargaining law

Journal Sentinel: Supreme Court reinstates collective bargaining law

Madison – Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the reinstatement of Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial plan to end most collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers.

The court found that a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state’s open meetings law, and so did not violate that law when it hastily approved the collective bargaining measure in March and made it possible for the Senate to take it up. In doing so, the Supreme Court overruled a Dane County judge who had halted the legislation, ending one challenge to the law even as new challenges are likely to emerge.

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Posted in Unions

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UBC education prof files complaint of racial discrimination

Posted on April 20, 2011 by | Comments Off on UBC education prof files complaint of racial discrimination

The Georgia Straight: UBC education prof files complaint of racial discrimination

An associate professor of education at UBC believes that the university discriminated against her because of her race.

Jennifer Chan, a Canadian of Chinese descent, claims that the denial of her application for the prestigious David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education in the faculty of education forms part of a pattern of discrimination against her.

“There was systemic racism all throughout my career,” Chan told the Straight in a phone interview today

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Posted in Diversity, Legal issues

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Professor files complaint against UBC for ‘racial bias’

Posted on April 20, 2011 by | Comments Off on Professor files complaint against UBC for ‘racial bias’

Globe and Mail: Professor files complaint against UBC for ‘racial bias’

An associate professor at the University of British Columbia has accused the institution of “racial bias” because she was denied a promotion and her complaint about unfair treatment was later rejected by an internal review.

Jennifer Chan, an associate professor in the department of educational studies, said in a statement released Tuesday that she has now filed a complaint with the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.

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Ward Churchill loses appeal of his firing

Posted on November 24, 2010 by | Comments Off on Ward Churchill loses appeal of his firing

Denver Post: Ward Churchill loses appeal of his firing

The Colorado Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court decision denying University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill’s effort to get his job back.

The court ruled that Denver District Judge Larry Naves was right to direct a verdict in favor of the university and to find that the university was entitled to “quasi-judicial immunity.”

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Posted in Academic freedom, Legal issues

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Nova Southeastern U. Contractor Is Ordered to Rehire Janitors Fired Over Union Activities

Posted on September 8, 2010 by | Comments Off on Nova Southeastern U. Contractor Is Ordered to Rehire Janitors Fired Over Union Activities

Miami Herald: Fired NSU janitors must be rehired, federal agency says

Three Nova Southeastern University janitors will get their jobs back after a federal panel ruled they were illegally targeted.

Three former Nova Southeastern University janitors who lost their jobs during a unionizing drive at the school in 2007 must be reinstated to their old posts, a federal labor agency has ruled — and each will also receive tens of thousands of dollars in back pay.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/04/1807712/fired-nsu-janitors-must-be-rehired.html#ixzz0yyv7ohlv

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Posted in Legal issues, Organizing, Solidarity, Unions, Working conditions

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Aide says convicted U of Louisville dean had money funneled to Illinois center

Posted on August 24, 2010 by | Comments Off on Aide says convicted U of Louisville dean had money funneled to Illinois center

Courier-Journal: Aide says Felner had money funneled to Illinois center

The executive assistant to former University of Louisville education dean Robert Felner testified Monday that Felner stood over her shoulder and dictated information for her to type on invoices meant to funnel money from the university to an Illinois center set up by a longtime associate.

Becki Newton told a U.S. District Court jury that she recalled seeing the associate, Thomas Schroeder of Port Byron, Ill., at U of L’s College of Education and Human Development several times a year.

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