February 20 2020

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VOLUME 138, ISSUE 17 | THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2020

THEAGGIE.ORG

LECTURERS AND LIBRARIANS ARE WITHOUT A CONTRACT AFTER UC-AFT CONTRACT ENDED JAN. 31

RA B IDA / AG GIE

Lecturers say contract negotiations are about more than just raises — also about working conditions, student learning

NEW SCHOLARSHIP FOR MEXICAN-AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS MADE AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS AT DAVIS, WOODLAND HIGH SCHOOLS Recently-founded scholarship offered to honor Mary Ellen Dolcini’s legacy

BY SHR ADDHA J HI NGAN city@theaggie.org

tion that helps UC Davis students access food-assistance, counseling and housing resources. “Our mission is to help mitigate the effects of food and housing insecurity on students, while working to change policy, systems and environment that will affect long term change,” Aggie Compass’ website reads. Leslie Kemp, the director of Aggie Compass, spoke about the necessity of programs like those offered through Aggie Compass. “Students are a niche audience,” Kemp said. “And they’re our only audience here on campus.” Kemp also addressed the inherent difficulties in connecting students to food relief resources. “There’s so many scheduling conflicts for students,” Kemp said. “There’s class, there’s study time [and] there’s work schedules on top of that.” In 2016, UC Davis did a Student Food Access and Security Study which described how food insecurity affects students. “Of the some 8,600 UC Davis students who responded […] 24 percent said they sometimes ran out of food before they had money to get more, and 9 percent said it happened often,” the study reads. Kemp said that the problem of food insecurity was not the problem of any one individual or organization, but rather the problem of all involved. “If you’re talking about sustainability or too much food waste — it’s happening everywhere — not just on campus,” Kemp said. “The more we can collaborate with people on campus and with people in the community, the better and more varied resources we can provide to students.”

The Mary Ellen Dolcini Foundation recently announced it will begin presenting “higher education scholarships for graduating high school seniors of Mexican-American heritage,” starting with the Class of 2020, according to the Mary Ellen Dolcini Foundation website. High school seniors who are graduating from Davis and Woodland high schools will be able to apply for the scholarship. This applies to students who are graduating from one of the following schools: Martin Luther King High School, Davis Senior High School, Pioneer High School and Woodland Senior High School. The creation of the scholarship was inspired by Mary Ellen Dolcini, who “was a life-long resident and career educator in Davis, California,” according to the foundation’s website. Despite having been a long-time resident of Davis, she was also able to develop a connection to the culture and people of Mexico. Val Dolcini, Mary Ellen Dolcini’s nephew, commented on the inspiration for the scholarship. “It was inspired by my aunt who was a lifelong citizen of Davis and a lifelong educator,” Val Dolcini said. “And she started her career with the Davis School District in the 1950s and served in a variety of different functions, but she developed over the course of her life a real connection to Mexico and a love for the people of Mexico and Mexico’s culture.” The board of directors at the Mary Ellen Dolcini Foundation will choose four students to receive the scholarship after an online application process. Val Dolcini continued to explain the details of the application process. “The application period is open until the end of March and then the foundation board will review the applications and make awards based on what we receive,” Val Dolcini said. “I think we’re all optimistic that this is going to be a great way for her legacy to continue in our region [and] in her hometown of Davis — the hometown of several of us, [including] my brother and I.” Val Dolcini highlighted the role that the Davis community played in Mary Ellen Dolcini’s life. “It’s going to be a wonderful opportunity for her to continue to give to the community that gave so much to her over the course of her life,” Val Dolcini said. Cindy Pickett, the board president for the Davis Joint Unified School District, commented on the impact that such scholarships have on students and their academic achievements leading to their college education. “The scholarship recognizes these achievements and also sets the stage for having high expectations,” Pickett said. According to Pickett, pursuing a college education can be promoted through exposure to role models. Mary Ellen Dolcini was a well-known teacher in the Davis area who spent her childhood in Davis and later returned to teach. “I’ve lived in Davis all my life,” Mary Ellen Dolcini wrote on Nov. 16, 2000. “Oh sure, I went away to college, the University of California at Berkeley, and I taught away for 5 years. But my home and heart were in Davis, so I never really left it.” Although this is the first year that the scholarship is offered, the foundation hopes to continue to have a positive impact on education to honor Mary Ellen Dolcini’s legacy with this scholarship in future years, according to Val Dolcini.

COOKINGCOMMUNITY on 11

INCLUSIVE on 11

Members of UC-AFT and others rally outside of Mrak Hall on Feb. 3, 2020 in Davis, California. (Photo by Janelle Salanga / Aggie)

BY JA N EL L E M A R I E SAL ANGA campus@theaggie.org The contract that covers over 6,000 UC librarians and lecturers represented by the University Council-American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT) ended on Jan. 31. With the no-strike clause that is contained in their expired contract no longer applicable, lecturers, librarians and students gathered for a rally in front of Mrak Hall on Feb. 3. During the rally, dozens of attendees sang a modified version of “Solidarity Forever” and chanted “Hey, hey, ho, ho, UC greed has got to go.” Speakers at the rally included Katie Rodgers, a UWP lecturer and the president of the UCAFT Local 2023 as well as Don Palmer, the president of the Davis Faculty Association (DFA) and ASUCD Vice President Shreya Deshpande. Palmer said the DFA stands in solidarity with UC-AFT and Deshpande said ASUCD also supports the lecturers and librarians. “UC is treating public education as a privilege, not a public good,” Deshpande said.

At the rally, Michael Gunnarson, a first-year aerospace engineering and music composition double major, said one of his best music teachers was a lecturer on contract. “He just graduated, and he still doesn’t have a job,” Gunnarson said. “With music, most teachers are lecturers. Tuition’s rising and the cost to hire paid faculty goes up, so people just hire lecturers — it becomes a gig economy.” UC-AFT is a union that has represented non-tenure track faculty, or lecturers, and librarians at the UC since 1983. According to an FAQ and bargaining update on the UC-AFT website, the union’s negotiating team has been in talks with UC since April 2019 to revise the current contract, which took effect in February 2016. The update, written by UC-AFT Chief Negotiator Mia McIver, did say going out of contract had affected negotiations “very positively.” “Negotiations between the University of California and UC-AFT are ongoing, and the University is working hard to negotiate a fair agreement as quickly as possible,” said a statement from the UC Office of the President (UCOP) that was provided to The California Aggie.

The contract offered to the UC-AFT Unit 18 faculty, which includes lecturers, would have increased the compensation for Unit 18 members by 3% each year from 2020 to 2022, followed by 2% adjustments during 2022 to 2025, among other salary increases offered. “We believe you deserve to vote on our offer, and to be fairly recognized and compensated for the contributions you make to the University and our students,” stated a letter written by Peter Chester, the UC’s Executive Director of Systemwide Labor Relations, sent to the UC-AFT chapters. On Feb. 1, the day after the contract expired, the UC-AFT bargaining table team released a statement explaining why they did not accept the university’s offer, which they called “an incomplete, take-it-or-leave-it, bundle of articles with little to no movement.” Their reasons for rejecting the contract included the UC’s use of “salary as a wedge” meant to reduce “commitment to major improvements in job security and workload,” offering other

AFTRALLY on 11

DAVIS CO-OP STARTS SERIES OF FREE COOKING CLASSES FOR THOSE IN NEED Davis relief organizations address food insecurity

The Davis Co-Op is launching a program on cooking at the community wide level, which aims to engage low income students and others who need food bank resources. (Photo by Zoë Reinhardt / Aggie)

BY RAC HEL HEL E VA city@theaggie.org Five organizations in Davis have partnered together to provide relief for those who are in need, specifically students, with a series of free instructional cooking classes. These organizations are the Yolo Food Bank, Homeless Outreach through Prevention and Education (HOPE) at UC Davis, CommuniCare, The Davis Food CoOp and Aggie Compass.

The Yolo Food Bank identifies students as a demographic within Yolo County that is “disproportionately affected” by food insecurity. The Yolo Food Bank website discusses how food insecurity affects members of Yolo County. “Despite being known for an abundant agricultural economy, food insecurity is an everyday concern for many Yolo County residents, with as many as 17% of the overall county population affected,” the website reads. Aggie Compass is a campus-based organiza-

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