The cover letter below, along with many pages of signatures, was sent to Governor Brown. A similar letter was sent to Senator Darrell Steinberg, the Chair of the Senate Rules Committee, as well as the other members of the Senate Rule Committee.
March 11, 2011
Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 445-2841
Fax: (916) 558-3160
Dear Governor Brown,
Attached is a petition opposing the nomination of David Crane to the University of California Board of Regents. The petition urges you to withdraw that nomination and appoint a candidate who respects the university’s many constituencies, including its unionized employees.
This petition was initiated by the Berkeley Faculty Association. As of this writing, it has been signed by over 1275 UC faculty and staff and is supported by the collective leadership of the campus Faculty Associations that make up the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA).
We strongly oppose your predecessor’s decision to nominate Crane to the Board of Regents. Crane’s outspoken hostility to public sector unions would make it far more difficult for the University to mobilize the internal and external support needed for dealing with its many economic and political problems. We hope you will replace that nomination with someone who has the knowledge, experience and regard for UC that will facilitate the Regents’ capacity to help steer UC well through these difficult times.
Sincerely yours,
Robert Meister,
Professor of Political and Social Thought at UC Santa Cruz,
and President of the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA)
We, the undersigned faculty and staff of the University of California, strongly support Senator Yee’s decision to oppose former Governor Schwarzenegger’s nomination of David Crane to the University of California’s Board of Regents.
We call on Governor Brown to withdraw Crane’s nomination to the Board of Regents immediately.
We urge him to nominate in his place a state leader who both respects – and has the respect of – all of the university’s constituencies, including its unionized employees.
(A full list of the signers as of the evening of March 10th was attached. The list of signers, including comments by some signers, is available at http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43586/signatures.html)