Dear colleague,

As you probably know, the USF Board of Trustees voted during an “emergency” meeting on December 19, 2001, to recommend that President Genshaft withdraw tenure from Associate Professor Sami al-Arian and terminate his employment at USF. Later that afternoon, President Genshaft sent Dr. al-Arian a Notice of Intent to Discipline as the first step in carrying out the Board’s recommendation. The purpose of this letter is to let you know what the union has done and intends to do in response to these actions.

AT THE MEETING

Clearly the Board hoped to time the “emergency” meeting so as to “avoid as much disruption as possible” as the Chair said. They also announced the meeting as late as they possibly could – perhaps illegally so – in order to hold down attendance. Nevertheless, I and a few other members of UFF managed to find out about it and attend. Unlike the Board’s regular meetings, this one included no opportunity for UFF to speak. Dr. al-Arian was not allowed to attend and no one spoke on his behalf. Indeed, no one was allowed to speak except those who work for the Board and/or could confidently be expected to support the Board’s intended action. We observed and took notes. After the meeting I responded to some reporters’ questions, then met privately with President Genshaft at her request.

IN THE PRESS

Because good press relations are important to the effective functioning of the union, I almost never turn down a request for an interview or refuse to answer a reporter’s questions. I followed that policy during the holiday hiatus, but I did not initiate any publicity and did not attack the Board or the administration as vigorously as I might have done. The reason is that I consider this situation to be too important, complex, and controversial for any one person or small group of individuals to decide what ought to be said on behalf of the faculty. Since the Board’s manipulative timing precluded any organizational meetings or mass responses, I resolved not to fan the flames of public controversy until the union membership had a chance democratically to determine what our response should be.

IN THE GRIEVANCE PROCESS

One of the primary functions of the union is to provide a systematic procedure for resolving grievances in accordance with the contract. By Florida law, UFF is legally bound by a Duty of Fair Representation to provide each individual in the bargaining unit with equal access to and support in the grievance process, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or political opinion. In addition, UFF has a long-standing policy that any grievance based on the dismissal of a tenured professor will be taken all the way to arbitration. Therefore there never was any question that we would file a grievance on behalf of Dr. al-Arian if he requested that we do so. (The reporter who quoted me as saying I was not aware of any immediate grounds for a grievance failed to grasp that I was at the time talking about a Chapter Grievance, which alleges that the union itself has been harmed, not an Individual Grievance.)

WITH DR. AL-ARIAN

Shortly after receiving the Notice of Intent to Discipline, Dr. al-Arian called both me and UFF Grievance Chair Mark Klisch. I arranged to meet him (for the first time, incidentally -- we had not known each other before) and we discussed his situation. I put him in touch with the office of Legal Affairs of our state affiliate, the Florida Education Association, and they helped him find an attorney. We also called the UFF state office and our two national affiliates, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to request advice and assistance to guarantee that we do the best possible job in this difficult case.

WITH THE ADMINISTRATION

Dr. al-Arian told me that he was concerned that his allotted ten days would not be enough to develop an adequate response to the Notice of Intent to Discipline because of the problem of people being gone on holiday. Accordingly, I called the administration and requested that they stipulate that the usual year-end moratorium in grievance processing apply to this deadline as well. To her credit, President Genshaft agreed (without arguing about whether or not she was legally obliged to) so that those of us involved in the grievance system could spend a bit more time with our families before joining the issue.

IN A WORK GROUP

Primarily through e-mail we developed a working group of UFF members who felt strongly about this issue and wanted to contribute to a prompt and forceful response. The enclosed Fact Sheet is a product of that work group. It has not yet been presented to UFF for official consideration and so is not legally UFF policy. I include it here in the same spirit as the enclosed editorials, for your information.

IN THIS COMMUNICATION

This is intended to be a balancing communication, not a balanced one. The administration has used the resources of the university and the press to present their side of the issue. No one has yet made a systematic effort to present the other side. This letter, these editorials, and the Fact Sheet are a first attempt to redress that imbalance so that the individuals we represent can have a better chance to reach a considered and reasonable judgment.

IN THE UNION MEETING

Thursday, January 10, 2002, at 6:00 p.m. there will be a meeting of the UFF membership at CDB’s Pizza to discuss this issue and to democratically establish our policy and a plan of action. In accordance with the fine old American traditions of “No representation without taxation” and “No free lunch” the meeting will be open only to UFF members. But since I believe that increased UFF membership would be good for everybody, there will be a stack of membership forms at the door and they will be considered to go into effect immediately.

IN THE FUTURE

Our academic freedom at USF is legally established and enforced only in the UFF/Board of Regents Collective Bargaining Agreement (“the contract”). Since the BOR is gone, our successor agreement will most likely be negotiated with the university. At the very least, the Board and the administration have not indicated that they are likely to voluntarily choose to preserve and expand collegial governance and faculty rights. Our ability to convince them that they should nevertheless do so will be strongly dependent on our membership and the level of involvement of people on campus. We can no longer hope that the state union will get us a good contract and the BOR will protect us from the legislature. The Board of Trustees is clearly the creature of the governor and intends to run USF “like a business” rather than like a real university. Our only countervailing force is our collective strength.

In solidarity,

Roy Weatherford

President

UFF/USF