Newman stated, 'There is an absolute direct connection from Antigua and what was going on there to the slave trade at Harvard. We should really start looking into this Antigua thing, because there's some teeth here.' His insistence on exploring these connections was met with silence from his colleagues.
I thought they wanted to know how my research could fit into those systems. I went in and found it was not just the dean and the research director, but the director of human resources was there, too. As part of the reorganization effort, the university was sunsetting the goat program, on which Temu worked. They also terminated his tenured position, effective immediately.
I think it's really a best case scenario. What I can say is that it was evident that the picket that we held on Thursday was absolutely instrumental in getting us over the finish line. The unions, which are units of the United Auto Workers, represent academic student employees, student services and advising professionals, as well as research and public service professionals across the U.C. system.
Cuts that hurt are obvious: layoffs, program closures, college closures, furloughs, deferred maintenance, pay freezes, travel freezes, etc. It's a well-worn playbook at this point. Most of the moves in this category involve either attacking employee compensation, which causes obvious pain, or putting off necessary investments and living with gradual declines in quality.
According to the policy, administrators may, with the provost and general counsel's written permission, record classes or access existing recordings without telling faculty in order to "gather evidence in connection with an investigation into alleged violations of university policy" and "for any other lawful purpose, when authorized in writing by the provost and the office of university counsel, who will consult with the chair of the faculty."
While faculty at the state's public research universities-Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma-will keep their tenure, new teaching staff at the 23 affected colleges will shift to renewable contracts tied to "teaching effectiveness, student completion, job placement, and economic alignment."
