Howard Gillman, the newly appointed Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost at UC Irvine, is coming to UCI from USC (where he was a recent dean) and is immediately facing opposition not just from an activist faculty group who went public with a
letter, but also, now, from the UCI student body leadership.
 |
| Howard Gillman Will Need to Reach Out to Critics |
On 30 May 2013 the ASUCI legislative council overwhelmingly voted to "condemn" the appointment and urged Chancellor Michael V. Drake to reverse himself, something not likely to happen.
The activist student group, ESCAPE (Ethnic Students Coalition Against Prejudicial Education), has issued the following press release:
Associated Students of UC Irvine Condemn the Appointment of Howard Gillman
May 30, 2013—-In a vote of 12-0-1 the Associated Students of UC
Irvine (ASUCI) passed a resolution condemning the appointment of the new
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
R48-75 “Condemning the
Appointment of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Howard Gillman”
demands that Chancellor Drake retract the appointment of Howard Gillman
and redo the selection process of the Executive Vice Chancellor and
Provost with more student voice and representation.
Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and
Sciences at the University of Southern California, has been appointed as
the new Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
Within the last few
weeks, various entities on the UC Irvine Campus expressed grave concern
and disappointment of the new appointment, including a coalition of
professors, the Irvine Faculty Association (IFA). The IFA released a
statement stating that “Dean Gillman’s fairness in handling personnel
cases, as well as his relationship with faculty in general and American
Studies and Ethnicity faculty in particular, have been called into
question by reports from USC.”
According to the author of the resolution
Summer Ko, “Given our current campus climate, UCI Administration is
handling the situation poorly. As the student voice on campus, we could
not allow for such a flawed process to be upheld.”
UC Irvine administration claims the selection committee was diverse and well-represented the student body; however, they fallaciously make these claims as there were only 3 students (1 undergrad, and 2 graduate) out of the 23 members, and the fact that that their diversity stems from the claim that racism was not present as there were “6 members of African descent”- a statement of blatant institutional racism.Thus proving, the process of selection was inherently flawed.
______
Subversities brings readers the complete resolution; the recorded vote below indicates the vote was 12-1-0.
REQUEST FOR ACTION BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
Item Number: 91 Legislation Number (B: Bill, R: Resolution): R48-75
Author: Summer Ko Second: Naaila Mohammad
Synopsis: Condemning the Appointment of Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Howard Gillman
Date of Presentation: May 30, 2013
Whereas, the University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) has had an interim Executive Vice Chancellor Provost (EVCP) for the 2012-2013 school year,
Whereas, Howard Gillman, former Dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California, has been appointed to be the new EVCP of UC Irvine,
Whereas, the Irvine Faculty Association (IFA) released a letter to Chancellor Drake to express their concerns regarding the appointment of Howard Gilman,
Whereas, the letter states that “Searches of broad concern to the campus should be conducted as openly as possible so that faculty from various areas and perspectives can raise issues that may not be evident to the necessarily few colleagues on any search committee”,[1]
Whereas the letter also states that “Dean Gilman’s fairness in handling personnel cases, as well as his relationship with faculty in general and American Studies and Ethnicity faculty in particular, have been called into question by reports from USC,”
Whereas, the letter also states that “...many Humanities chairs as well as many individual faculty who complained of his lack of support for their research and lack of respect,”
Whereas, the letter also states that “Many senior faculty left during his term despite USC’s able financial position, and there is a perception among USC faculty that Dean Gillman’s retention and tenure decisions were uneven, unclear, and partial,”
Whereas, in November, USC Professor Mai’a K. Davis Cross filed a federal discrimination complaint against the University of Southern California for denying her bid for tenure, arguing that the institution had a history of denying tenure to women and members of minority groups in the humanities and social sciences[2],
Whereas, Ms.Cross and her lawyer have contended that her tenure case included procedural violations by a former dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences—for example, that he, under the authority of the provost, made “cold calls” to scholars outside Cross’s field,[3]
Whereas, the committee said it had found "clear and persuasive" evidence that the "cold calls" the former dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences made to scholars to seek their views of Ms. Cross's work were procedurally defective and "materially inhibited" the tenure-review process,[4]
Whereas, she also filed a complaint in November with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, citing data she collected with a colleague in the political-science department,
Whereas, the data shows that 92 percent of white men who were considered for tenure from 1998 to 2012 in the university's social-sciences and humanities departments were awarded it,
Whereas, that compares with 55 percent of women and professors from minority groups who worked in the same departments during that period, according to documents filed with the EEOC,[5]
Whereas, the previous EVCP, Michael Gottfredson, threatened Ethnic Studies (Chican@/Latin@ Studies, African American Studies, Women’s Studies, Asian American Studies) in a needs attention memo released just last year, [6]
Whereas, the “Needs Attention” exercise threatened to affect the academic reputation of UC Irvine, becoming citable as evidence of administrative complicity in an inhospitable culture for minority students and faculty, [7]
Whereas, given recent blatantly racist incidents, and the campus climate, the need for the growth of Ethnic Studies is important more than ever,
Whereas, there has been no transparency, as there has been no public discussion regarding the selection of UCI’s new EVCP,
Whereas, UC Irvine’s values are as follows - respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation, and fun, [8]
Whereas, Chancellor Drake states on his website, “It is my goal to infuse our values into the core of everything we do at the University of California, Irvine. These values – respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation and fun – foster the creative process, build stronger bonds between people and inspire a shared sense of purpose. It is my hope that as dedicated members of the UC Irvine community, we will continue to live by these values and promote the highest standards of excellence in all that we do,” [9]
Whereas the appointment of Howard Gillman to be EVCP of UC Irvine does not reflect “the creative process, build stronger bonds between people and inspire a shared sense of purpose,”
Let it be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council condemns the appointment of Howard Gillman as the EVCP of UC Irvine, as his actions do not reflect the University’s values of respect, intellectual curiosity, integrity, commitment, empathy, appreciation, and fun,
Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council urges Chancellor Drake to revoke his appointment of Howard Gillman as EVCP and immediately begins a new search committee that is transparent and includes more than two students,
Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council urges Chancellor Drake to hold an open and public town hall to publicly address the concerns shared by undergraduates, graduates, and faculty,
Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council condemns Chancellor Drake for hosting a bow-tying workshop on May 9th instead of increasing awareness beyond a campus-wide email,
Let it further be resolved that ASUCI Legislative Council create an ad-hoc committee to be named “Transparency and Accountability of Administration Committee” that will consist of all members of ASUCI Legislative Council,
Let it finally be resolved that this committee will continue to the 2013-2014 year and will advocate the University administration to be transparent and that their actions rightfully reflect the interests of the students of UC Irvine and the values of UC Irvine.
[1] http://ucifa.org/2013/05/13/ifa-board-letter-to-chancellor-drake-concerning-appointment-of-new-evc/
[2] http://chronicle.com/article/Tenure-Decisions-at-Southern/135754/
[3] http://chronicle.com/article/Tenure-Decisions-at-Southern/135754/
[4] http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Southern-Calif-Urged-to/136493/
[5] http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Southern-Calif-Urged-to/136493/
[6] http://ucleaks.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/documentzero.pdf
[7] http://ucifa.org/2013/05/13/ifa-board-letter-to-chancellor-drake-concerning-appointment-of-new-evc/
[8] http://www.chancellor.uci.edu/values/
[9] http://www.chancellor.uci.edu/values/
Referred to: Committee on:
Vote Required: FINAL VOTE: Passed YEA: 12 NAY: 1 ABS: 0
.
