University of Arizona faculty senators are calling on President Suresh Garimella to rescind an interim policy on political activity by employees and to develop a new policy with faculty input.
The interim policy, established in 2020 and last revised in September 2024, states that UA employees have the right to participate in political activities “on their personal time using their personal resources.” At work, they must not allow their political ideologies to influence their teaching. It also states employees must clarify their political opinions in any situation to be their personal ideologies and not representative of the UA.
“The Faculty Senate expresses strong opposition to the political activity policy,” said faculty senator Ted Downing, a research professor of social development and a former Arizona legislator. “The interim policy imposes sweeping restrictions on faculty and staff political freedoms that conflict with U.S. and Arizona constitutions as well as with the statutes it proposes to regulate.”
He did not say why he alleges the interim policy conflicts with constitutional rights.
However, Faculty Senator Keith Maggert later told the Arizona Daily Star that the policy — which was initially reviewed by the Academic Personnel Policy Committee chaired by him — had misstatements, confusion about the requirements placed on faculty, and what the committee called a dubious imposition on speech.
Maggert also said any university policy should not be interim for four years and must be made with active involvement by the faculty, according to state law.
The Faculty Senate approved Downing’s resolution by a 32-4 vote Monday, with two abstentions. It asks Garimella to develop a new policy that “aligns with political rights under the U.S. and Arizona constitutions and state law,” and to actively involve elected faculty representatives.
UA spokesperson Mitch Zak later countered in a statement to the Star: “The policy is clear and consistent with the Arizona Constitution, state law, and Arizona Board of Regents policies.”
Under the interim policy and state law, Downing said he is currently under probation by university administration as a faculty member for his interaction with UA Chief State Lobbyist Sabrina Vazquez in the Arizona Senate Lobby in Phoenix on March 21, 2024, in which he was accused of approaching her in an “intimidating” manner and speaking to her with a “raised voice.”
Ted Downing
Downing acknowledged yelling at her but said he was at the Senate office on his own time and wasn’t representing the university.
After the incident, Downing was subject to an extrajudicial procedure involving administration including former UA President Robert C. Robbins’ office and former Interim Vice President Elliott Cheu.
“We need a clear policy on what political activities are permitted,” said Downing. “I have a right to speak to the state Legislature on my own time, which I did. I can do that without fear of punishment or fear of retribution.”
Faculty Senator Caleb Simmons brought up a concern that the UA would be without a policy if the interim one were to be rescinded before a new one was written.
Maggert responded that the university hadn’t had a policy in approximately four and a half years and that it was interim all along, saying they could dispense with the current interim policy until a new one was written because state law still existed.
“If this policy were to be rescinded, then we would have state law to prevent us from inappropriately using university resources or fraudulently claiming to be representatives of the university,” Maggert said.
Separate ‘emergency meeting’ sought
Separately, the Faculty Senate also passed a resolution Monday seeking an “emergency,” in-person meeting with Garimella, who wasn’t present at the meeting, to discuss shared governance issues between faculty and administration.
“It’s time to call a meeting so that we get the right people in the room, they’re talking directly to us, and we can stop decisions from being made and maybe undo some things,” said Marlys Witte, a faculty senator and a professor in the College of Medicine.
She was piggybacking off of a “litany of issues” discussed at the meeting under “old business,” including budget cuts due to the deficit; hiring and workload issues; spending authority caps; restrictions on the use of unrestricted state funds; and the effects of centralizing human resources and information technology processes.
The motion was approved by a vote of 27-20, with one senator abstaining.
“At this moment, we face really big challenges in higher education,” said Secretary of the Faculty Katie Zeiders. “We have one of the strongest shared governance structures across the state, maybe even the U.S. And so, I think it’s a critical time for us to be using these strengths to help resolve the issues.”
The university has reduced its initial deficit, estimated in late 2023 at $240 million under Robbins’ watch, to $65 million, while reducing its workforce by 328 positions. Issues of spending cuts and restrictions, increased workloads and inadequate compensation persist, Zeiders said.
“These are very complicated problems, there’s a litany of them, they’re affecting everybody, and they’re traceable back to bad decisions made without shared governance,” Witte said.
“We have to have the president come in and hear globally what these problems are, what they stem from, and work together with him before these decisions are made, to avoid irreparable harm and a clearly negative trajectory of this flagship university,” she said.
Zak later responded, “Under the leadership of President Garimella and university-wide collaboration, the U of A was able to not increase resident undergraduate tuition, will offer salary increases for employees, and will begin the next fiscal year with no deficit.”
Garimella, who began his role at the UA on Oct. 1, has attended two Faculty Senate meetings and promised changes in the UA’s financial state at both. In several other meetings and forums, he has vowed to eliminate the $65 million deficit in fiscal year 2025, which ends July 1, and to offer university-wide raises in fiscal year 2026. He has also pledged to “tighten the belt” on the administrative side first.
Witte, speaking of university leaders representing the administration in Faculty Senate meetings over the years, said they had been giving reports contrary to what was happening at the university while the financial crisis, revealed by Robbins in November 2023, was developing.
“I’ve seen a lot of committees meet and a lot of talk, and the problems are still in place,” said Faculty Senator Lucy Ziurys. “I really would like to see action. I think that reflects a lot of the researchers who (are) tearing their hair out because they can’t hire off their grants because of HR centralization, etc. etc.”
Faculty Senator Russell Witte said Garimella “needs to really understand what’s going on, and I really do think it’s leftover from the previous administration’s policies and actions and we really need to bring everybody to the table as quickly as possible.”
