Dear Chancellor Larive and Campus Provost and Executive Vice
Chancellor Kletzer,
We, the California Scholars for Academic Freedom,* a group
of over two hundred scholars throughout California, write with grave concern
about the Google form “Notification of Class and Section Disruption” sent on
February 7, 2020 to UCSC undergraduates in relation to the graduate student
strike demanding a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). This form asks students to surveil and report on
conversations occurring in the course of instruction. It sets a dangerous precedent of
surveillance that undermines the core principles of academic freedom.
The university produces knowledge and practice
critical to the operations of a democracy. The ideal of academic freedom is at
the core of the university in a democratic society.
Academic freedom is a cornerstone of education
in a free society. Its definition includes such items as what are called ‘the
four essential freedoms’ of a university, to determine, on academic grounds,
who will teach, what they may teach, how they teach and who may study.
Academic freedom requires that faculty and
students can participate in intellectual debate free of any censorship or
retaliation. Central to academic freedom is that the political, religious, or
philosophical beliefs of others, including politicians, administrators and
members of the public shall not be imposed on students or faculty.
California
Scholars for Academic Freedom call on you rescind the link to the Google form and refuse to use any data collected
through that mechanism as the grounds for disciplinary measures against faculty
and students.
On behalf
of California Scholars for Academic Freedom,
Susan Slyomovics
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
Walid
Afifi
University
of California - Santa Barbara
Professor,
Dept of Communication
Director,
Center for Middle East Studies
Craig Reinarman
Professor Emeritus of Sociology & Legal Studies
Rachel Carson College 338
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
831-459-2617
Sondra Hale, Professor Emerita
Anthropology and Gender Studies, UCLA. sonhale@ucla.edu
I'll be talking about the Asian American student-snitches groomed by Student Services and Counseling that lead to my forced resignation from the University of California, Davis after twenty-one years of tenured service. The UCD faculty union (and its outside "consultant") was complicit and infested with rats. Join me "McDuff interview with Professor Hamamoto. Professor Hamamoto battled "Big Pharm @ 8:00pm EST on February 27, 2020." https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAai8IYbDua9mujrNfIVbg
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