This post was updated Sept. 19 at 2:57 p.m.

UC employees rallied Thursday to announce the filing of an unfair labor practice charge against the UC for its treatment of faculty during pro-Palestine protests.

The charge – filed by the Council of University of California Faculty Associations and faculty associations from seven UC campuses – was built upon a May ULP charge from the UCLA Faculty Association, which claimed that the UC had unlawfully retaliated against members for expressing their free exercise rights during pro-Palestine protests. The associations announced the charge at 12 p.m. on Thursday.

[Related: UCLA Faculty Association files unfair labor practice charge against the UC]

The CUCFA alleged in a Thursday press release that similar acts of retaliation occurred across the entire UC – including arrests, disciplinary proceedings, bans from campus and surveillance by university staff – following faculty members’ involvement in pro-Palestine protests.

“UC’s actions to suppress speech about Palestine on our campuses, which represents an illegal content-based restriction of faculty rights, sets an alarming precedent,” said CUCFA President Constance Penley in the press release. “Our unfair labor practice filing demands they change course and follow the law, and make whole the faculty who have been harmed.”

Penley said at a press conference announcing the charge that she believes the University has exposed faculty to homophobia, xenophobia and racism as well as physical violence from law enforcement. She added that the University has infringed on academic freedoms.

“We’ll hear about (the) UC’s relentless campaign to chill faculty’s exercise of their academic freedom and to deter them from teaching about the war in a way that is not aligned with the university’s positions,” she said. “Those positions result from pressure from politicians, donors, alumni, outside organizations and the regents, who have failed mightily in their mandate to protect the University from undue political interference.”

Penley added that tenured faculty – particularly women and people of color – have faced “unprecedented surveillance” of their syllabi and have been forced to meet for hours with investigation teams.

The ULP charge claims the UC illegally discriminated against its employees for exercising free speech rights guaranteed by the Higher Education Employee-Employer Act. According to the press release, violations of HEERA began in October, when the UC administration allegedly sent communications to faculty warning them they could be punished for “indoctrinating students” and teaching outside the scope of course material.

Members of CUCFA further alleged in the ULP charge that violations of HEERA continued into late Spring 2024 toward faculty members who participated in encampments and protests across the UC by allowing for the “brutal removal” of faculty. 

Furthermore, the ULP claimed the University failed to defend faculty experiencing threats, harassment and violence from “anti-Palestinian” protesters. On April 30, counter-protesters attacked the first Palestine solidarity encampment at UCLA, but police did not intervene for over two hours.

[Related: Pro-Israel counter-protesters attempt to storm encampment, sparking violence]

“At every moment this spring, UC made choices that endangered its students and faculty,” the press release said. “When a mob armed with bear spray and wood and metal projectiles marauded across the UCLA campus in April, beating students and faculty, UC held back police from intervening to protect them.”

Noah Zatz, a professor of law and labor studies at UCLA, said the charge will likely lead to an investigation by the California Public Employee Relations Board, which also has the power to hold a hearing and “apply remedies.” 

Anna Markowitz, an associate professor at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, said at the press conference that the associations are not looking for monetary compensation as remedies but are instead looking for the University to drop charges against faculty, reinstate a faculty member whose employment was terminated and safeguard faculty protections created by HEERA.

The UCLA Faculty Association had previously filed a ULP against the University on June 3, but it will now be amending that filing, Markowitz added. It alleged that the university violated HEERA by allowing a jumbotron set up by pro-Israel counter-protesters to display graphic imagery, arresting faculty and denying promotions to professors.

Although ULP charges are often filed by labor unions, any organization that represents employees can file such a charge, Zatz said. He added, though, that such charges are rarely brought by faculty associations, making this filing unusual.

“What’s unusual is that it’s being brought by Faculty Associations all across the system and by the Council of Faculty Associations as well,” Zatz said. “It’s a coordinated effort across the UC system, reflecting the fact that there’s been this systematic repression all across the system.”

The ULP also condemned the UC’s actions toward faculty during the United Auto Workers Local 4811 strike in May. The union – which represents academic student employees, graduate student researchers and academic and postdoctoral researchers across the UC – struck after filing multiple ULP charges against the UC, claiming it violated its responsibility as an employer when allowing police to use force against members during the May 2 sweep of UCLA’s first Palestine solidarity encampment.

At the time of publication, UCLA Media Relations and UCOP media relations were yet to respond to requests for comment.

According to the ULP charge, the UC issued new restrictions during the strike that prohibited faculty from speaking to students or employees about the strike or other union activities. 

“Any reasonable employee would interpret UC’s directives as an instruction not to exercise fundamental rights guaranteed by HEERA, including the right to engage in protected concerted activity, such as by speaking with other faculty association members about union activities and the strike,” a summary of the ULP said.

Contributing reports by Sam Mulick, features and student life editor.