Faculty Plans Boycott of Graduation Exercises
Lingering emotions over bitter contract talks have led to an informal faculty boycott of today’s Cal State Fullerton graduation ceremonies, faculty leaders said Friday.
Although the 19,600-member statewide California State Faculty Assn. approved a three-year contract this week, the head of the Fullerton chapter said some professors will skip today’s ceremonies at the campus to protest the presence of Chancellor Charles B. Reed.
“A significant number will boycott,” said Gangadharappa Nanjundappa, a sociology professor and president of the Cal State Fullerton faculty union. “They are still very resentful.”
Reed, scheduled to deliver the keynote address, infuriated faculty members during the protracted contract negotiations with what they took as provocative statements about faculty work ethics.
Yet Jane Hall, president of the Cal State Fullerton Academic Senate, said the dissatisfaction with Reed extends beyond the rhetoric of contract negotiations.
“It’s more a matter of the faculty’s sense that Reed does not grasp what faculty really do, and the depth of the interaction with students and with the community,” said Hall, an economics professor.
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