Ayala Case Raises Troubling Questions about UC Irvine Disciplinary Process

Chancellor Gillman at Emeriti/Retiree
Annual Reception 16 October 2018.
Photo copyright © 2018 Daniel C. Tsang

The case of renowned geneticist Francisco J. Ayala, who resigned from UC Irvine because of official sexual harassment findings against him, reached into an annual gathering of UCI Emeriti and Retirees last week when a member of the audience  had his question picked about the case, and posed to UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman, who was taking questions after a keynote address at the Pacific Ballroom in the UCI Student Center.

Asked to comment on the case, Dr. Gillman, in apparently his first public comments since June 28, 2018, when he announced the findings of a UCI investigation that led to Dr Ayala's resignation, told the gathering at a ballroom in the UCI Student Center that since Dr. Ayala “chose” to resign, the university never had to sanction him.  He suggested that Dr. Ayala, a major donor, agreed that his name would be removed from two buildings, the School of Biological Sciences and the Science Library.  Dr. Gillman lauded the way UCI conducted the process leading to Dr. Ayala's departure.

He did not address the effective "ban" from the campus on Dr. Ayala nor did he address publicized concerns from faculty about the way the process was handled. In August, 2018 Science magazine published a letter signed by over 60 faculty at UC Irvine and elsewhere protesting what they viewed as a draconian penalty as well as a flawed process, ending in "sanctions" that were "enacted in haste".

Dr. Gillman comments on Dr. Ayala's case 16 October 2018 (video)

At the risk of being accused of "himpathy" (see that OC Weekly piece supporting the complainants), let's explore why we agree the process was flawed and UC Irvine overreached when it denied Dr. Ayala his Emeritus status and banned him from participating in any future university activities.  

We come to that conclusion after a lengthy conversation with a senior UC Irvine faculty member who requested anonymity.  This faculty member believes contrary to what the Chancellor stated last week, Dr. Ayala was in fact "coerced" into resigning and giving up his Emeritus status, as well as having his name removed from two campus buildings.  

While UCI faculty had intervened earlier in the process so that his initial mandatory leave (while the investigation was going on) was changed earlier this year to voluntary leave, with which the faculty privilege and tenure committee had concurred, this faculty member understands that the University had threatened Dr. Ayala with "severe" consequences should he not resign immediately after the investigative findings were issued.  Dr. Ayala, according to this faculty member, took it to mean he would lose his pension and his campus residence unless he resigned.  If that is the case, it was hardly a "voluntary"  decision to resign. Accepting he had to resign, Dr. Ayala was able to retire after his long, if marred, service to the University and keep his home.

Faculty facing disciplinary actions in fact have the right to bring their case to the Privilege and Tenure committee, before the University finalizes any sanctions.  In the Ayala case, given what surely looks like a coerced departure, he was not able to complete the process.  Thus the process was made flawed by the University's insistence that he resign.

Given the fait accompli, supporters of Dr. Ayala are considering initiating a campus petition to ask the University to give Dr. Ayala the Emeritus status denied him when he resigned abruptly.

With the removal of Dr. Ayala's name from two campus buildings 
UCI will now have two new chances

Before  Ayala was sanctioned. 
Photo copyright © 2015 Daniel C. Tsang

to solicit "naming opportunities" for the two buildings from other major donors.  In fact the library administration was not notified before UCI announced in 2010 that Dr Ayala's name would be placed on the Science Library. (I am now told that neither was the dean of Biological Sciences.) As a working librarian I recall being surprised, as were the rest of my library colleagues, when UCI issued a 22 April 2010 press release about that.  That was the first any of us in the libraries on campus heard about it, thus denying the libraries its own naming opportunity. 

At the time I thought the building naming was done rather arbitrarily and by administrative feat.  The campus Administration apparently gave Dr. Ayala  the power to name his own building, when none of the money from his Templeton Prize went to the libraries.  But today in the aftermath of the "findings", the Administration no longer listens to Dr. Ayala. His tremendous sway has surprisingly evaporated, rather quickly.  Like in Communist countries, he has become a non-person.  Even the name of his spouse, Hana, has been removed from the list of donors, as if she is responsible for her husband's acts. And the UCI libraries has already amended the finding aid for the documents relating to the then Ayala Science Library architectural plans, noting that UCI Chancellor had now removed "Ayala's name" from the two buildings.  -- Daniel C. Tsang.

New UCI Provost Hiring Condemned by ASUCI

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