Wednesday, February 4, 1998
Community Briefs
BRIEFS:
Study examines ideas of former students
African American graduates of prestigious colleges are
politically more radical than blacks in general, a recent study has
found.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, through a mail-in
survey, found that among the seven highest-ranked U.S. colleges,
black alumni had views that differed greatly from those of the
general black population. The journal would not disclose which
colleges they deemed to be "prestigious."
The journal found that 77.1 percent of respondents held the
belief that the white students they went to school with felt they
were mentally inferior. One respondent, a black attorney, felt the
white students’ alleged view, when held after college, is
advantageous to the black student because the white man will drop
his guard and provide him with an opportunity to "move in for the
kill."
At least 65 percent of the total respondents believe that their
economic opportunities have been restricted due to the color of
their skin.
This survey contradicts the commonly held belief that most young
people tend to become more politically conservative as they advance
in age and move up the educational and economic ladder, according
to the journal.
UC Davis found guilty of labor violations
An unfair practice case filed by the University Professional and
Technical Employees union against the University of California came
to an end last week, after a decision made by a Sacramento judge
found the University guilty of violating a series of labor law
practices.
UPTE, which represents all technical employees within the nine
UC campuses, filed the charges in December 1996 in response to the
employment of two summer student firefighters hired within the UC
Davis Fire Department who worked under new employment terms and
conditions that had not been agreed upon by the union.
According to a case report issued by the State of California
Public Employment Relations Board, the complaint alleged the
university had changed its hiring policy by employing two
individuals and paying them rates that had not been approved by the
union.
In addition, the complaint alleged that certain medical,
vacation and retirement benefits were not awarded to the two during
their employment.
More specifically, according to Dave Henderson, president of the
UPTE campus union, the two hired were not classified as having
either full-time firefighter or student firefighter status. Due to
this ambiguity, he said, the university paid the individuals with a
rate that was "somewhere in the middle," despite the fact that both
were working 40-hour weeks.
"They weren’t student firefighters, meaning they weren’t in the
student firefighter program and they weren’t in the full-time
firefighter program," he said.
By unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of employment
of a classification of firefighters, UPTE also charged that the
university failed to give notice of the changes to the union,
Henderson said.
"We were in the process of union negotiations for a new contract
with the university and during that time, according to state law
and the HEERA, we were in a status quo period where things can’t
change," Henderson said. "(UC) was under legal obligation to keep
doing everything they had been doing, (such as) hiring, work
emphasis, the whole thing."
Ken Ealy, collective bargaining manager for the department of
human resources, said the university will not appeal the judge’s
decision and UCD has already taken the appropriate measures in
complying with the orders.
Compiled from Daily Bruin wire reports.