Inspections across UC campuses show little compliance with UCOP’s pledge to increase minimum wage

A recent review of audits conducted across UC campuses and medical centers has revealed that the UC system has shown inconsistent compliance with the Fair Wage/Fair Work Plan announced in 2015 by UC President Janet Napolitano. The plan was announced to the Board of Regents through the UC Office of the President in July of 2015 and pledged “that the minimum wage for its workers — both direct and service contract employees — will be raised to $15 an hour over the next three years.”

Part of the criteria to successfully implement this policy is mandatory audits independently performed on UC contractors employed for services exceeding $100,000. Contracts are required to contain language of the policy stated within and audits must be paid for and conducted by an independent auditor the supplier hires. Afterward, the contractor provides a certificate signed by the independent auditor to their respective campus proving their annual audit was performed.

Each UC campus’ Audit and Management Advisory Services reviewed its university’s processes, contracts and compliance with the Fair Wage/Fair Work Plan. The audits revealed that the systems in place to monitor universtiy agreements related to independent contracting were lacking. The purpose of a monitoring system is to ensure that contracts fall under the criteria relating to the Fair Wage/Fair Work Plan; however, the review showed that parts of the system were flawed. The review also found a recurring failure to conduct audits among service contractors and vendors who were plainly violating the Fair Wage/Fair Work policy with no repercussions.

“What these audits expose is [that the] UC has not been enforcing this Wage/Work plan,”  said John de los Angeles, the communications director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the largest UC employee labor union. “Contractors are skating under the radar and they themselves are not even sure which contractors need to be following this policy.”

UC Davis’ review showed that since the plan’s announcement two years ago, the campus and UC Davis Health are still trying to create effective systems to track independent contracting agreements. UC Davis is also trying to become stricter when it comes to certifying the authenticity of audits. Similar observations were recorded in audits at UC Merced, UC Santa Barbara, UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC San Diego and UC Berkeley.

“If UC prides itself in being an agent for social mobility for students, they might also think to serve that same function for low wage workers,” de los Angeles said.

Claire Doan, a UC spokesperson, responded to current issues with the Fair Wage/Fair Work Plan via email.

“As with any relatively new and expansive policy, implementation and compliance can take some time,” Doan said.

Doan also said that the UC is continuing to develop the plan by training occupational leadership to enforce policy, tracking contracts to make sure guidelines were followed and updating reference documents and online content for clarification. These developments are projected to be completed by Dec. 31, 2017.

Written by: Elizabeth Mercado — campus@theaggie.org

Probationary period for fraternity follows appeal of revocation of registration

Over the summer, the Theta Xi fraternity was cited for a disturbance of the peace complaint regarding fireworks being set off from its lawn.

Initially, Theta Xi faced revocation of its UC Davis chapter’s registration, however, the members decided to undertake a judicial and student housing appeals process. As a result of the successful appeal, there will be two years of conditional registration — essentially a probationary period.

Donald Dudley, the director of Student Judicial Affairs (SJA), spoke about how the appeals trial of Theta Xi was handled, explaining how conditional registration restricts the fraternity.

“The appeal process has been completed,” Dudley said. “The appeals committee reduced the revocation to two years of conditional registration. The conditional registration means if they violate campus policy, or local codes [and] state laws during that period, then registration would likely be revoked.”

With regard to what initially sparked the revocation, Dudley confirmed that it was based on an “incident related to disturbance of the peace conduct that raised concerns for health and safety.”

Jonathan Montes, a fourth-year psychology major and the president of Theta Xi as well as their Interfraternity Council representative, stated that the incident in question involved three individuals setting off “illegal fireworks” in the backyard of Theta Xi’s Chapter House. One of the individuals was a former member of the Theta Xi chapter. Montes said he was “disappointed at the outcome” of the appeal.

“The real perpetrators of the incident involving fireworks escaped without being charged while the chapter as a whole was punished for something it had nothing to do with,” Montes said. “The appropriate action for the University would have been to dismiss the original decision in its entirety.”

Courtney O’Connor, the assistant director of policy and conduct at the Student Housing Office, confirmed another incident involving a Theta Xi president reportedly trespassing onto the fraternity house’s neighboring funeral home in the fall of 2016. O’Connor said that this event was unrelated to this conditional registration enforcement.

“From what I heard, it was that noise complaints violate university policies,” said Megan Bull, the president of the Davis Collegiate Panhellenic Association. “If they break rules, then it goes to university trials. Why it was so strict, I don’t know, because I feel like two years is a long time.”

Bull said that she heard firsthand from Theta Xi members attending Panhellenic meetings that no members were living in the house over the summer when the firework incident is said to have occurred.

“Theta Xi came into one of our meetings for Panhellenic,” Bull said. “They said that it was an alumni, that no one in Theta Xi lives in the chapter house over summer. It was an alumni that came in and caused the noise complaint. [Afterward], they were essentially getting kicked off of campus, they were on bad registration, and they appealed it. They [were able] to have a trial and go and talk to the university, explain their side of things, and the university said, ‘That’s OK, we get it, but now you’re on conditional registration for two years.’”

Montes confirmed that no current member of the fraternity living in the chapter house had “a right to enter the property during the summer.” However, three current members were living in the house.

 “The owner of the property hired [three] members of the chapter to do maintenance work at the property during the summer and those individuals lived on the property pursuant to an extension of their lease agreements,” Montes said. “However, none of those employees were present or involved in the incident.”

Besides the prohibition of Theta Xi-related misconduct for two years, the fraternity has also been barred from sorority events. Bull explained the logistics of having good standing in the eyes of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and the university.

“One of our rules is that we can only do events with sororities or fraternities in good standing,” Bull said. “They’re not in good standing because they’re conditional — anything that isn’t good standing, technically, is in bad standing.”

In the spring of 2017, a Theta Xi member faced sexual assault allegations. Bull confirmed that the probationary ruling had nothing to do with last spring’s assault allegations. Speaking for herself, however, Bull speculated that “there could be some correlation” between the past sexual assault allegation and the severity of the response to the noise complaint.

When asked how the fraternity is being punished, Bull said that the only tangible change other than higher scrutiny is that they must follow the enforced sorority ban.

“There are no holds on them,” Bull said. “They’re allowed to have alcohol, they’re allowed to have events, they just are restricted from associating with sororities, because of our national policies.”

Additionally, Bull said Theta Xi “came into Panhellenic meetings and we gave them a list of things they need to fix if they ever want a chance to do things with sororities again.”

Specifically, the Panhellenic Society laid out a contingency plan composed of sexual assault training, bystander intervention and TIPS certification.

Written by: Aaron Liss — campus@theaggie.org

UC Davis Police Department found no threat present

On Oct. 12, the UC Davis Police Department issued a Campus Timely Warning marked as a “Hate Incident.” The incident that was reported concerned anti-Islamic and anti-fraternity/sorority fliers found in bicycle baskets and seats near the International Center. The police soon discovered these fliers had been posted around town and on campus, near the Chipotle in downtown Davis, the ARC and Mrak Hall.

Sergeant Danny Sheffield wrote the Timely Warning and was part of the investigation. Sheffield maintained that the fliers did not target the International Center.

The police found a link to a YouTube video on the fliers — a 20-minute video of “the same rhetoric that was expressed in the fliers,” Sheffield said.

”It was Christian-based rhetoric and it was verbiage that indicated the distaste [and] dislike for Jesuits, sororities, freemasons [and] the Islamic religion,” Sheffield said. “[They] are taking false oaths and that’s against God’s word — that sort of rhetoric.”

Sheffield said that after the investigation of reviewing the fliers and the linked video, there was no specific threat. He said it was “religiously motivated.”

“It was all pretty general stuff, there was no specific threats or anything like that,” Sheffield said. “It really was just expressing distaste and displeasure toward those groups.”

Sheffield said that the pictures of the fliers will not be available to the public. He defended the legality of the fliers on the basis of free speech, reaffirming the Supreme Court’s position that hate speech has no legal grounds for punishment.

“When we have incidents like this, we generally don’t put that specific information out to the public,” Sheffield said. “Basically, it amounted to free speech, albeit free speech that was offensive or that someone didn’t like — we don’t want to cause undue targeting or repercussions to the person who may have provided that information.”

The Timely Warning was labeled as a “Hate Incident”; however, Sheffield stated that the fliers were “not harmful and not attempting to incite violence.”

  “It was documented because it was reported to us and some people took offense,” Sheffield said. “But it really amounted to free speech, because it didn’t direct any hateful language. There [were] no slurs or epithets that were used toward any group.”

Sheffield said he thought it was nothing more than a “benign” group and that “it sounds like a religious group was leafleting.”

On behalf of the International Center, Vice Provost and Associate Chancellor of Global Affairs Joanna Regulska responded to the fliers with concern.

“Across Global Affairs and at the International Center, we are committed to the UC Davis Principles of Community, which reflects the ideals we seek to uphold in creating an inclusive and vibrant community — and describes the principles we are pleased to see here most often,” Regulska said via email. “We do not support intolerance of any kind, including on fliers. Instead, [we] encourage discussion among our diverse UC Davis community, one that we are proud is comprised of individuals having many perspectives, and coming from a variety of backgrounds.”

The Islamic Center of Davis also responded, taking a stance against “hate and intolerance.”

“Our action in light of incidents like this is to educate people about us and about tolerance,” the Islamic Center wrote via email.

Written by: Aaron Liss — campus@theaggie.org

Interim senator confirmation interrupted by member of public

On Thursday, Oct. 19, the ASUCD Senate gathered at the Memorial Union for its weekly meeting.

Director of Athletics Kevin Blue gave a presentation to the Senate about Intercollegiate Athletics, which has partnered with ASUCD in several capacities. Blue said UC Davis Athletics upholds the university’s Principles of Community — for example, training on sexual assault and violence is now mandated and speakers have given presentations on implicit bias.

Vice President Adilla Jamaludin asked Blue about his plans for decreasing Athletics’ reliance on student fees; Blue said he does not have a specific plan.

Next, third-year political science major Kevin Butt was presented as a candidate for an open interim senator position. President Josh Dalavai, who conducted interviews for the position, said Butt was a “phenomenal candidate.” Butt previously held the positions of senator and student body president at his community college. In response to questions from senators, Butt said he wants to make changes to the ASUCD bylaws and work with the Bike Barn.

A motion was made to approve Butt as an interim senator, but a member of the public interrupted the vote. The member of the public, later revealed to be Jesse Foster, a former colleague of Butt’s on the ASUCD Student Senate for Community College and a current fourth-year biological systems engineering major, stepped out of the office with Senator Jose Meneses to discuss his concerns with the approval of Butt.

Senator Meneses returned to the meeting with additional questions, specifically regarding Butt’s decision in the past to write in the candidate “Rosa Hitler Trump” as a political statement on an election ballot. The senators unanimously voted to hear direct testimony from Foster.

According to Foster, Butt wrote in “Rosa Hitler Trump” in July because he was displeased with the candidates for the executive board of the Student Senate for Community College. Foster said Butt deleted posts from colleagues in a Facebook group and “tried to hide the information over and over again.” Foster maintained he had proof with him to back up his claims.

At this point, the Senate decided to re-evaluate the situation later in the meeting.

In the meantime, Jeff Flynn, the new director of Unitrans, announced that Unitrans will be launching a new website this month. In addition, Unitrans will be celebrating its 50th birthday. When asked whether Unitrans will provide increased accessibility for people with disabilities, Flynn replied that drivers are trained to accommodate those with disabilities.

After Flynn’s presentation, a motion was made and seconded to move into Internal Affairs Commision confirmations. Each candidate discussed why they applied for the commission and answered questions posed by the table.

In light of the upcoming Senate elections, the meeting then moved into elections updates. Naeema Kaleem, the elections committee chair, announced that applications for election committee vacancies were accepted until Oct. 23. To promote the election, the library and Student Community Center have been supportive in changing all the IT computers’ backgrounds and homepages to say “elections,” and the library has agreed to host tabling events. Entertainment Council will take part in election promotions, and Kaleem also contacted Canvas to display an elections banner.

After the elections update, the Senate resumed discussion of Butt and the interim senator position. Butt expressed that if he could go back he would not have done what he had done, but he insisted that he stood by his principle that nobody should be forced to vote. Several senators expressed their discontent over Butt’s emphasis on the defense of his actions instead of immediately apologizing.

After some questioning, a motion was made to vote on whether the committee should re-evaluate the nomination for the interim senator candidate. The motion to re-evaluate was confirmed.

Next, the meeting moved to confirm Ethnic and Cultural Affairs Commission candidates. The candidates discussed their ideas and backgrounds and answered questions posed by the table. Both candidates were confirmed.

Next, there was a presentation from The Green Initiative Fund. TGIF is a “student-led fee referendum” that passed in the winter of 2016. $200,000 is now available for grants to support undergraduate students to construct and conduct projects and research regarding sustainability. A representative from TGIF said that the fund is in the process of conducting outreach to promote the grants and opportunities available.

The unit director for Housing Advising for Undergraduate Students was confirmed. The meeting took a 10 minute break and resumed at 9:19 p.m.

Dalavai then nominated Becca Nelson, the gender and sexuality commission chair, and Julienne Correa, the ethnic and cultural affairs commission chair, to be on the Volunteer Award Committee. Nelson accepted the nomination.

New legislation was then discussed — legislation included a resolution taking a stance against the rehiring of former Chancellor Linda Katehi as a faculty member and a bill to dissolve the Undergraduate International Committee.

Dalavai gave a public announcement and said the third floor of the MU is set to be renovated, with construction starting as soon as the summer of 2018. KDVS is also set to be moved to a new, permanent location.

After ex-officio reports were given, the meeting adjourned at 10:18 p.m.

Written by: Clara Zhao and Hannah Holzer — campus@theaggie.org