Support the Curricular Autonomy of UCLA Faculties

Dear UCLA Faculty,

We are writing to express our concern over an unprecedented vote about to take place at UCLA. A group of anonymous* UCLA faculty has requested that a curriculum change developed and supported by the students and faculty of the UCLA College of Letters and Sciences be voted on for a fifth time, but this time by the entire UCLA Senate Faculty regardless of their School or College affiliation.

This extraordinary action opens the door for faculty in any School or campus to determine curriculum matters of other units and challenges the legitimacy of the Legislative Assembly and the foundations of shared governance at UCLA.

On November 20, 2014, the UCLA Legislative Assembly (LgA) voted to approve “Amendment to Divisional Regulation A-458(C)a” which would include a diversity-related course to the curriculum for undergraduate students in the College of Letters and Science, echoing the votes of the College Faculty, the College Faculty Executive Committee, and the Undergraduate Council, all of which supported the proposal. Through this action, the College of Letters and Science joined the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture, our sister UC campuses, and over one hundred peer universities around the country in recognizing the critical importance of including diversity in the undergraduate curriculum.

Unhappy with the outcome of the LgA vote, a group of 61 anonymous* faculty submitted a petition to Senate Chair Aberbach on December 11th, 2014 in which they invoked a little used Senate Bylaw to force a vote of the full UCLA senate faculty in an attempt to overturn the result. Although this curriculum change is only for undergraduate students in the College of Letters and Science, petitioners include numerous faculty from the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, Law School, Anderson School of Management, Fielding School of Public Health, David Geffen School of Medicine, and Jules Stein Eye Institute. We address this letter to the petitioners and all UCLA faculty.

The proposal to include a diversity course in the undergraduate curriculum in the College of Letters and Science was developed in recognition that our society and campus are becoming increasingly diverse, and the ability to negotiate and thrive in diverse communities, schools and workplaces is foundational knowledge for our students. The proposal was developed by a committee that included faculty representing all four College of Letters and Science divisions as well as undergraduate students. There were many opportunities for faculty and students in the College to provide input on the proposal. Information on the proposed curriculum change was distributed via FEC emails and a CCLE website, where the pro and con arguments were presented, evaluated, and debated. The College faculty voted on October 31, 2014 to approve the proposal, and the Undergraduate Council followed suit.

The LgA is charged with voting to approve amendments to Divisional regulations. Although these votes are typically procedural, the November 20th Legislative Assembly meeting invited faculty and students to publicly articulate their positions on the proposed curriculum change in the College. After weighing the arguments, the LgA voted strongly in favor of its adoption, 85 to 18, with 4 abstentions. A motion on the floor to require a mail vote of all Senate faculty was entertained, but overwhelmingly voted down by the LgA.

The rules and bylaws of the Academic Senate were written to provide checks and balances, ensuring that matters before the Senate and LgA are properly developed, debated, and carefully considered. The November 20th LgA approval of the proposal to include a diversity-focused course in the undergraduate curriculum for the College of Letters and Science was the culmination of such a process and a model of collegiality and shared governance. Despite this, the anonymous petitioners ask that this decision be revisited, not because of procedural errors or lack of debate, but because they are unhappy with the outcome of four different votes.

This petition action is extremely controversial. First, a significant number of petitioners are from outside the College of Letters and Science, even though this issue doesn’t impact their programs or curricula and even though their representatives in the legislative assembly overwhelmingly endorsed the proposed curricular change. Second, there is disagreement on whether or not petitioners must all be members of the LgA—in fact, only 4 signatories are LgA members, showing minimal support amongst its membership. Third, the decision of Senate leadership to allow the petitioners to remain anonymous has no basis in Senate Bylaws or precedent. Moreover, this anonymous* petition action disenfranchises our students who for decades have advocated publicly for the inclusion of a diversity course in the undergraduate curriculum. Lastly, and most disturbingly, this petition asserts that tiny fraction of UCLA’s approximately 3400 faculty can challenge any and all LgA actions, including those involving curricular actions taken by independent academic units by sending them to a full faculty vote.

The functioning of each of UCLA’s Faculties depends on their autonomy and sovereignty over their curricula. The faculty of the College of Letters and Science, the Faculty Executive Committee, and the Undergraduate Council, approved of a curricular change determined to be in the interest of the students we are charged with teaching and developing into the leaders that will shape our future. We strongly believe that Medical, Law, Engineering, Public Health, and Business faculty know best how to educate their students, and argue that, similarly, Faculty in the College of Letters and Science should be able to make curricular decisions for students in our charge. The UCLA General Catalog states, “The College and each school with undergraduate programs establish their own degree requirements." Stripping faculty of this fundamental right and responsibility sets a dangerous precedent.

The proposal to amend the undergraduate curriculum in the College of Letters and Science has been exhaustively debated and analyzed for its feasibility. Faculty have already submitted syllabi from more than 150 classes to be considered among the list of acceptable courses, thereby providing students a tremendous breadth of course offerings, and ensuring this curriculum change will not impact time to degree. Faculties from many other campuses, including virtually all of the UC campuses, have successfully added an undergraduate diversity component to their curricula, and the UCLA College of Letters and Science is capable of the same. Students have advocated for a diversity requirement for years. The College Faculty, Undergraduate Council, and LgA have voted to approve the requirement. Senate faculty should let this decision stand.

We the undersigned respectfully request the following:

To the Academic Senate and Legislative Assembly:
Matters before the Senate should be discussed openly and transparently. There is no justification or precedent for anonymous* petition actions. As such, Senate Chair Joel Aberbach and the Senate leadership should make this petition with the signatures available to all Senate Faculty**.

To the petitioners:
UCLA Faculties must have the autonomy to make curricular decisions that best serve their students without interference from other campus Faculties. Faculty in the David Geffen School of Medicine, Law School, Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, Fielding School of Public Health, Anderson School of Management, and Jules Stein Eye Institute should not seek to overturn curricular decisions in the College of Letters and Science. As such, we respectfully ask you to reconsider your position and accept the vote of the Legislative Assembly as final. However, if you choose to move forward with this petition action, we encourage you to do this through public discourse so that you can fully articulate your opposition to the principle of curricular autonomy of UCLA academic Faculties.

To all Senate Faculty:
Whether you support an undergraduate diversity course requirement in the College of Letters and Science or not, we hope that you all believe strongly in the autonomy of your Faculty and that your Faculty should be at liberty to make curricular decisions for itself. As such, should this petition action proceed, we ask that you use your vote to express your unconditional support of the principle of autonomy of UCLA Faculties by voting to uphold the decision of the College of Letters and Science Faculty to amend our curriculum to include an undergraduate diversity course requirement.

*Update, January 29, 2015. The original petition was submitted by the petitioners and accepted by Senate Chair Aberbach under conditions of anonymity. Public access to the petition and list of signatories required a Freedom of Information Act request by numerous faculty. The petition and signatories was subsequently published in the Daily Bruin on January 23, 2015.

** Update, Feb 2, 2015. Although the petition was originally excluded from the Legislative Assembly meeting notes released on January 29, 2015, as of February 2, 2015, the meeting notes have been updated to include the petition.