At 3:52 p.m. Feb. 25, Wayne Linklater received an email from the Sacramento State Provost\u2019s Office addressed to all faculty. The email said that, as state employees, are not allowed to use class time to promote political campaigns or distribute campaign materials.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my six years at Sac State, almost seven years now, I don\u2019t recall a similar message ever being sent,\u201d Linklater said.<\/p>\n
Linklater is a professor in the environmental studies department and said that he was interested in why the message was being sent now and what prompted it.<\/p>\n
The message cites California Government Code 8314<\/a>, last updated in 2004, as the reason for the requirement. Under the code, it is unlawful for state employees, including faculty, to use class time for campaign activities.<\/p>\n Linklater said anyone sending reminders about political campaigning must recognize how ambiguous they can be and how messages may be interpreted.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, the email gives the appearance of reasonableness,\u201d Linklater said. \u201cBut in the current political moment, it might also be viewed as a warning under the guise of reasonableness.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Faculty roundtable is met with mixed responses<\/a><\/p>\n The message was sent from the Provost Erika Cameron, and the Vice Provost Lorri Santamar\u00eda. The provost\u2019s office oversees Academic Affairs, the University Library and several other offices, according to the university\u2019s website<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe message sent out from the Provost\u2019s Office is a reminder to the campus community and something we do on a regular basis,\u201d Cameron said in an email comment. \u201cGiven election season is fast approaching, our office is being proactive in reminding faculty of the laws and guidance as we head into elections. State law as referenced in the memo guides these rules.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaime Jackson is an assistant professor of political science at Sac State. Jackson said she entered the field of political science because she is a political person.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my job not to get students to share my political views,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cIt\u2019s my job to educate them about things happening in the world and give them the tools to analyze and critique and think about these things and come to their own conclusions about what they believe and the kinds of candidates they support and the kinds of issues they care about.\u201d<\/p>\n Jackson said the message was not something faculty typically receive unexpectedly. After receiving it, Jackson said she wondered if someone had done something that prompted it to be sent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I see a message like that, it makes me think and reflect on like, \u2018Have I been being cautious and conscientious about political messaging?\u2019\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd always when I think about it, the conclusion I come to is, \u2018Yes, I have been.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n After receiving the email, professors considered how it might affect their classes. Linklater said learning is often political.<\/p>\n \u201cIf learning was to try and avoid politics, it would not be learning,\u201d Linklater said.<\/p>\n Jackson said many faculty try to give students space to form their own opinions, and hope students extend them that same grace.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be neutral or pretend like we\u2019re some unbiased robots that just teach the facts is dishonest about who we are and what we care about,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important for students to understand that and be empathetic to it in the same way that we try to be empathetic to the fact that they all have a wide variety of views.\u201d.\u201d<\/p>\n RELATED: Sac State professor on voluntary leave after Charlie Kirk post<\/a><\/p>\n Jackson said the current political climate may have prompted the message. She is less worried about the university leaders correcting her speech in the classroom than about outside organizations that may try to limit free speech, Jackson said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everybody is on edge and I think leaders and faculty members and everyone are feeling the need to be extremely conscientious and careful in ways that maybe we wouldn\u2019t have to be before,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not so sure if that\u2019s a good or a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Nuriddin Ikromov is a professor in the College of Business in the finance, insurance and real estate department. Ikromov also said that he did not recall receiving the message regularly in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was probably in reaction to something. It didn\u2019t seem like it was planned,\u201d Ikromov said. \u201cPersonally, I try to not reveal my own political leanings. Everybody has their own politics, but I try not to bring it to classroom unless it\u2019s relevant to the topic.\u201d<\/p>\n Ikromov said that he discusses politics in his classes when relevant. In real estate classes, Ikromov has cited tariffs<\/a> on Canadian lumber<\/a> during the Trump administration as an example of policies affecting housing costs.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say that as well as acknowledging the reasonableness of the provost\u2019s message, I think it\u2019s important to recognize that deteriorating academic freedoms can begin with apparently acceptable warnings,\u201d Linklater said. \u201cI think we faculty should continue to be vigilant for that reason.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 3:52 p.m. Feb. 25, Wayne Linklater received an email from the Sacramento State Provost\u2019s Office addressed to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-214235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}