'That's Appalling': Eric Burlison Reacts To University Of California Employee Responses To Protests

3 months ago

During a House Education and Workforce Committee hearing, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-MO) questioned witnesses about the impact of protests on campus and universities' responses.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:03Professor Keating, I understand that the local United Auto Workers chapter of the UAW 4811

00:12voted to strike in protest that your university and the police removed the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel

00:19protesters and their encampment.

00:24The UAW alleged that workers' rights were violated in their handling of the anti-Israel

00:29protests and the individuals were, even though these individuals were violating policies,

00:37the union is demanding amnesty for the employees and students to basically fight for their

00:43right to be anti-Semitic, I guess.

00:47Professor Keating, are you aware of the UAW's strike on the campus?

00:51Yes, sir, I am aware of it.

00:53In fact, our teaching assistants in my classes, and I teach, I've taught thousands of students

00:58over the years, they are effectively forced to be members of the United Auto Workers union

01:03as part of their contract and their collective bargaining agreement.

01:06So even though it's a university, they're forced, is it a public university or are they?

01:13Yes, it's a public university.

01:14So is this a government system and yet people are being compelled to pay, be a member?

01:22I believe that, I can't speak if they're literally forced to do it.

01:25I know that you have to resign and, in fact, many of the graduate student teaching assistants

01:29submitted their testimonials to me, in fact, had to meet with their unit representative

01:34in order to resign from the union actively based on their partisan advocacy for the,

01:40in support of the anti-Israel demonstrators receiving full rights.

01:43Again, why they want to receive full rights to a diploma from a university that they claim

01:48is genocidal, complicit, et cetera, et cetera, and hold constant boycotts against is beyond me.

01:54However, I should point out that none of the students that I teach, which I remind

01:58you are physics students, astronomy students, et cetera, including devout Muslims who work

02:03with me and for me, and I've always had a proud tradition of educating people from around

02:07the world, they refused to strike and they, in fact, they told me, we stand with Israel

02:12and for them to be sort of have to proactively tell me that because otherwise I might have

02:18had to take over all their responsibilities.

02:21When there's a faculty organization which is not officially sanctioned by the university,

02:25they call themselves the San Diego Faculty Association that, again, was encouraging protest,

02:30encouraging walkouts, encouraging the graduate students who are employees, and in fact, one

02:35employee of the union, a teaching assistant, broadcast to his undergraduate students that

02:41they have a right, a moral obligation to protest the university's complicit nature with the

02:48activities of Israel in Gaza and beyond.

02:51So he was using an intimidation tactic on the students whose grades he's partially responsible

02:57for to advocate for political speech.

03:00That's appalling.

03:01So what were the policies of the university that they were violating on campus?

03:07Because if pro-Israeli students were protesting and violating these policies, one might expect

03:17there to be equal treatment.

03:18What were the policies that were being violated?

03:21So these were encouragement to not, to cease work.

03:25They were operating, the graduate students did go on strike two years ago to advocate

03:29for higher wages and as, you know, living in La Jolla is not an inexpensive endeavor.

03:34So I support, you know, their right to advocate for, so this was an unauthorized strike in

03:40the sense that they weren't authorized by their own union rules to go on strike for

03:44political purposes.

03:45They can go on strike for whatever reason.

03:47So they violated a labor practice?

03:49That was the consent, I have to defer to legal experts, but I believe that was the, that

03:53was the decision.

03:54In fact, California state courts ruled that that strike was no longer supported, was in

03:58violation of the union's contract.

04:00So they did go back to work eventually.

04:02Do you think most members of the UAW understand that there's a, there's a segment of their,

04:10of their labor union that is, that is actively making sure that people have a right to be

04:15anti-Semitic?

04:17I think in, uh, they claim to represent 58,000 members of the University of California.

04:23As Congressman Kiley said, it's an enormous employer in the state of California.

04:26That's not an insignificant fraction of the employment of the state of California.

04:30And yet I don't believe they represent more than a few percent.

04:33Well, and what I find striking is that, uh, you know, they're supposed to represent all

04:37workers' rights and yet did you see any activity that they were, um, expressing that indicated

04:43that they cared about the Jewish students and workers?

04:46No.

04:47In fact, uh, one, one graduate student teaching employee, she stated that she met with the

04:51union organizing unit, uh, command, uh, unit chair and they suggest, they said that we

04:57sometimes advocate for political reasons.

05:01Thank you.

05:02Um, my time has expired.

'That's Appalling': Eric Burlison Reacts To University Of California Employee Responses To Protests

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