UC Academic Workers Launch Campaign: Pressure UC President to Eliminate Sexual Harassment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts: Irene Morrison, Southern Vice-President, UAW 2865, (415) 939-6271

Anke Schennink, President, UAW 5810, (510) 549-3863

UC Academic Workers Launch Campaign to Pressure UC President to Eliminate the Causes and Prosecute Instances of Sexual Harassment and Assault on Campus

Berkeley, CA - Today, UAW 2865 (the union representing more than 14,000 UC Teaching Assistants, Readers, and Tutors) and UAW 5810 (the union representing over 6,000 Postdoctoral Researchers) launched a petition calling on UC President Janet Napolitano to implement real and immediate changes to eradicate sexual harassment and sexual assault against students and workers. The petition comes in the wake of a sexual harassment scandal involving the prominent UC Berkeley professor, Geoffrey Marcy.

Following years of sexual harassment and assaults against students by Professor Marcy, the University’s lengthy investigation resulted in only a warning but no real punishment. Marcy was forced to resign by public outcry – not University Administrators – only after the facts came into the public sphere. Similar egregious cases have occurred at other UC campuses, frequently resulting in costly litigation and federal investigations.

“UC too often prioritizes protecting the harasser and their own institutional reputation when responding to allegations of sexual harassment,” said UAW 2865 Southern Vice President Irene Morrison. “We demand that President Napolitano and UC administrators act now to begin eliminating the causes of sexual harassment–such as gender inequality among faculty especially in STEM fields.”

“UC also must respond to unfortunate incidents of harassment in a more just, timely, and transparent manner, rather than protecting faculty harassers as they did in the case of now-disgraced UC Berkeley Astronomy Professor Geoff Marcy,” said UAW 5810 President Anke Schennink.

Both unions have made clear their willingness and commitment to help President Napolitano make the necessary changes. Napolitano has yet to take them up on their offer to help.