UC Berkeley makes lecturers exempt from hiring freeze
UC Berkeley officials abruptly changed course and will exclude more than 750 lecturers from a campuswide hiring freeze, which went into effect April 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The move, announced Wednesday in a letter from Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Paul Alivisatos to deans and department chairs, creates a clearer path for lecturers with six years or less of experience to return to their roles for the fall semester.
Reviews of lecturer appointments were “proving burdensome,” according to Alivisatos’ letter. The reviews also “revealed that they were all for positions important to fulfilling our educational mission,” university spokeswoman Janet Gilmore said.
This counts as welcome news for the 771 “precontinuing” lecturers on the Berkeley campus (those with six years or less of experience). The lecturers, already frustrated by a lack of job stability, viewed the hiring freeze as essentially a precursor to layoffs.
UC Berkeley reappoints most precontinuing lecturers on a yearly basis, and some
times semester by semester.
“We are glad the hiring freeze no longer applies to lecturers,” said Tiffany Page, a global studies lecturer and member of the union’s bargaining team. “We are still calling on UC to respect the terms of our contract by issuing appointment letters by June 1, so lecturers have time to prep their courses and don’t lose health benefits over the summer.”
There also are 338 “continuing” lecturers (those with more than six years of experience) on campus. They have more job protections and were never affected by the hiring freeze.
Lecturers teach 42% of undergraduate credit hours at UC Berkeley. This raised concern that the hiring freeze might force school officials to cut classes for the fall semester.