Fellow union members,
As you know, The Scholz/Moffitt administration plans to send rushed layoff announcements sometime during the week of September 8. We need YOU to take several actions THIS WEEK to push back against the administration’s disastrous plans.
Urgent, Time-Sensitive Actions for This Week:
- Send out mass faculty Canvas Announcements on Thurs, Aug 28 at 12pm
- Circulate our our mass petition and show up to deliver in person to leaders at Johnson Hall on Fri, Aug 29 at 10am
- Write your UO Senator and zoom into the emergency open Senate meeting on Fri, Aug 29 at 12pm
To ensure we get as many signatures as possible prior to Fri Aug 29, please schedule a Canvas announcement for Thurs, Aug 28 at 12pm using this template. You can send this announcement to any classes you have access to on Canvas (from last year or this year). You can also keep circulating our petition and letters using strengthenuo.org/take-action.
If you are in the Eugene area, please put on your UA shirt and come in person to Johnson Hall at 10am on Friday, Aug 29. UA leaders will speak on the current situation, we will deliver our signatures to Johnson Hall, and speak with the media about the impact of cuts. If you are an impacted faculty member willing to speak to the media, please come give your perspective on the real human impacts of the proposed layoffs.
The UO Senate Exec has also announced an emergency virtual meeting scheduled for Friday, Aug 29 at 12pm: https://uoregon.zoom.us/j/99524312478. The meeting is open with limited participation from viewers at the discretion of Senate leadership; please attend to show our collective investment in real shared governance. Please look up your Senator and email them in advance of the meeting to express your desire for transparency regarding the newly established “Senate Task Force on Budget Reductions”.
Bonus Action! Public Flyering: An informal group of UA members will be flyering and talking to members of the public outside the 5th Street Market on Fri, Aug 29 at 5:30pm. There may also be an effort to flyer outside the football game the following day (Sat, Aug 30). Please join our members-only Slack and check the #general channel for updates if you’d like to join these efforts. You can get printed flyers in the UA office or print at home using our Cuts Action Kit.
Board of Trustees: Can You Get to Portland on Sept 16?
Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for September 15-16 is currently set to be held on the Portland campus.
Regardless, our union will still be turning up at the next Trustees public comments session at 9am on Tuesday, Sept 16. We want to get faculty voices in front of the board so they can understand the impacts of their decisions. If you aren’t able to travel, you can still deliver public comments over zoom.
If you are able to travel, United Academics is organizing carpools to Portland. We want to do our best to help impacted faculty get there. If you could drive a carpool, or if you are looking to join a carpool, please fill out this form as soon as possible.
To sign up for a public comment, email trustees@uoregon.edu with your name, university affiliation, and topic of your 3-min comment. Sign up at least 24 hours in advance of public comments (scheduled for 9am on Sept 16). See our Cuts Action Toolkit (tinyurl.com/UO-cuts-action-toolkit) for talking points!
Other Priority Action Items
- Placing Op-Eds: We are continuing to solicit op-eds from our members to place in national, state, and local media. If you’d like to write for UA, we have Basic Op-Ed Guidance and a tracker of existing op-eds that we can share with UA members. You can join the #cat-contract-action-team slack channel to coordinate with our press team (tinyurl.com/UAMembersSlack).
- Press Interviews: If you are an impacted faculty member willing to take media interviews with your name attached, please email info@uauoregon.org so we can add you to our press list.
- Contact Donors & Trustees: If you have an existing relationship with prominent donors or any of the Trustees, please reach out to ask them to advocate for a slower cuts process and shared governance. Join the CAT channel on Slack if you need support doing this. See our Cuts Action Kitfor talking points.
- Public Letters of Support: You can continue soliciting letters of support from your professional organizations, parents, students, donors, and other community members. See strengthenuo.org/support-letters for templates and existing public letters.
For more actions and info related to cuts, visit our campaign homepage: strengthenuo.org.