This grievance concerns a violation of CBA Article 13: Health and Safety.
We allege that the University, in a non-malicious manner, neglected to establish safety
measures and initiate accommodations to support ASEs who wish to make Title IX complaints
against Professor Gopal Balakrishnan (History of Consciousness) and other professors on
campus
On November 29, 2017, a letter written by anonymous campus students and graduate students
alleged that Professor Balakrishnan has participated in several acts of sexual harassment,
sexual assault, and other inappropriate behavior with students. He was subsequently
interviewed by ​The Chronicle for Higher Education​ and KION 5/46 News where he describes
those making allegations as “dangerous” and “nihilistic” and claims that they are taking
advantage of the recent public outrage about workplace sexual harassment and assault to make
spurious claims about him. Professor Christopher Connery (Literature) was also quoted by ​The
Chronicle​ as saying that “there has been an organized campaign to destroy Professor
Balakrishnan’s life.” Connery has also contacted several ASEs privately encouraging them to
remain silent about these issues, on their personal email accounts. This was done under the
guise of reaching out to both the GSA and UAW-2865. These statements are operating to
publicly undermine the experiences of those who - concerned for their future career prospects
and success as students and ASEs - have chosen to initially make claims anonymously and
results in a fear of increased and targeted harassment if one chooses to make formal
complaints through Title IX or Academic Employee Relations.
Title IX needs to expand their role in responding to these allegations of misconduct. We
recognize that they, as well as the university, have an interest in ending harassment on campus.
We believe these demands will further benefit the university, in addition to improving the safety
of ASEs on campus. In order to have safe working conditions for ASEs wanting to make Title IX
complaints regarding Professor Balakrishnan or others, we need the University of California
system, the University of California Santa Cruz and its Title IX Office to do the following:
(1) Release a public statement saying that the statements made by Professor Balakrishnan
and Professor Connery regarding the veracity and motivation of complainants is not
supported by any formal ruling nor does it reflect the opinion of the University of
California Santa Cruz;
(2) Prevent professors from the campus unit from making opinion-based statements
regarding the veracity of complainants to media;
(3) Prevent professors from the campus unit from intimidating ASEs who are reporting or
supporting those who claim harm via private or public communications;
(4) Title IX should establish safety measures and initiate accommodations to support ASEs
who wish to make Title IX and/or Academic Employee Relations complaints concerning
Professor Balakrishnan or other professors;
(5) Provide Title IX with all the resources necessary to conduct any investigation arising
from the reporting process, in a timely fashion;

 (6) Develop, with the input of UAW 2865, protocols and best practices for employees,
faculty, staff, academic departments, and students for responding to allegations of
sexual harassment and assault.