The FORGE Justice caucus ran a slate of union activists for office in order to deepen the democratic impulses of the California Faculty Association, Cal State LA chapter. Each of our candidates were elected to their position. We look forward to serving in the capacity as the 2019-2021 executive board for CFA-LA. 

FORGE Justice embraces the principles of social justice unionism, we advocate organizing faculty around issues of democracy, racial, gender/sexuality, and economic justice, and solidarity. Moreover, we firmly believe that faculty working conditions are student learning conditions.

President – Anthony Ratcliff (Pan African Studies)

Anthony Ratcliff, Ph.D., is a professor of Pan African Studies (PAS) and the current chapter Vice President and Co-Chair of the Membership & Organizing Committee of CFA at Cal State LA. Since arriving to campus in 2015, he’s been actively involved in the union, working as a rank-and-file organizer for the “Fight for Five” strike campaign in spring 2016. Anthony has also served as a Department Representative from PAS, member of the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus, and interim chapter Vice President in Spring 2017, before officially being elected to the position in fall 2017. As CFA-LA Chapter President, he will continue to fight for a more equitable public higher education system while working to strengthen the principles of democracy and solidarity, as well as racial, gender, and economic justice within the union.

Vice President – Nichelle Henderson (Cal State Teach)

Nichelle Henderson, MA.T. is a faculty Lecturer in the Charter College of Education with the Cal State TEACH program and the CFA-LA chair of faculty Rights were she represents faculty in filing and responding to grievances, Executive Order complaints and disciplinary matters. She was a member of the “Fight for 5” strike organizing committee and serves on the Membership and Organizing committee and the CFA Statewide Representation team. As Vice President, she will continue to advocate for faculty and students, support the racial and social justice work of the union and cultivate relationships with stakeholders in and around the campus community.

Secretary – Oliverio Rodriguez (Art)

Oliverio Rodriguez is an interdisciplinary artist working in filmmaking, video, photography, performance and writing. Currently, he is an Assistant Professor in the Art Department (Photography) at California State University, Los Angeles. His intersectional research and interdisciplinary projects conceptually focus on queerness, notions of passing, visualizing the performativity of gender, explorations in appropriation, performative interactions with the public as collaborator, visualizing other representations of the AIDS pandemic while referencing historical movements in gender, racial and feminist histories.  He curated the exhibition, The Great Refusal: Taking on New Queer Aesthetics at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). He is apart of the monograph Confronting the Abject, named from his research themed class that he co-taught at SAIC. He just published his book, The Papi Project, which archives the AIDS pandemic through his queer, POC family in Chicago during the 1980s. He also just finished his short documentary film, LYNDALE, exploring toxic masculinity and queerness. Rodriguez has screened, performed, lectured and exhibited his works internationally and nationally. “As CFA-LA Secretary I will work to support a politically conscious, activist driven and refreshingly rigorous union.”

Lecturer Representative – Leda Ramos (Chicana/o & Latina/o Studies)

Leda Ramos, M.F.A. is a mother, artivist, professor and has been an active CFA member at Cal State LA since 2016. She co-founded the CFA-LA Chicanx/Latinx & Central American Faculty Caucus; is a committee member for CFA-LA Membership & Organizing; and co-represents CFA-LA for Faculty Lecturers in the Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies Department. Ramos believes that Lecturer dignity, respect and integrity of teaching requires participation and shared governance to create transformative social change for all faculty and quality education for students at Cal State LA.

Treasurer – Gustavo Menezes (Civil Engineering)

Gustavo Borel Menezes, is a professor in Civil Engineering, Director of First-Year Experience @ ECST and for the past 4 years has served as the treasurer of CFA-LA. As the treasurer he has been responsible for the receipt and disbursement of funds, monthly financial reports to statewide CFA and annual reports to the executive board of CFA-LA. As the treasurer, he will continue to support initiatives that advances the mission of CFA-LA as it continues to fight for better working conditions, fair compensation, free speech, and shared governance.

Council of Racial and Social Justice Rep – Melina Abdullah (Pan African Studies)

Melina Abdullah, Ph.D., is running for Representative of the Council for Racial and Social Justice (formerly the Council for Affirmative Action). She is a Professor of Pan-African Studies at Cal State LA. Melina has served as Department Chair for the last eight years and as CFA-LA’s Council for Affirmative Action Chair for the last six years. She also led the relaunch of the Black Faculty and Staff Caucus at Cal State LA and has served as the Caucus Co-Chair since 2002.  She serves on the statewide Political Action Committee and Women’s Caucus for CFA. Dr. Abdullah has been a force in the struggle for Ethnic Studies, helping to make it a graduation requirement in LAUSD, serving on the Chancellor’s Taskforce for the Advancement of Ethnic Studies, and as a leader for CFA in advancing a current Bill, authored by Assembly member Shirley Weber, that would make Ethnic Studies a CSU graduation requirement. Melina is also one of the original group of members that convened to form Black Lives Matter and continues to engage deeply in racial and social justice work.

At-Large Rep 1 – Libby Lewis (Pan African Studies & Sociology)

Libby Lewis, Ph.D. is running for At Large Representative #1 of CFA-LA. She earned a Ph.D. in African Diaspora Studies with a Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Libby holds a joint faculty appointment in the Pan African Studies and Sociology Departments.She has also been a member of CFA-LA since being hired as a Lecturer at Cal State LA in 2014. As a former Lecturer who is now on the Tenure Track, she understands the challenges that both Lecturers and Tenure Track faculty face.

At-Large Rep 2 – William Rosales (Sociology)

William Estuardo Rosales, Ph.D, is running for the position of At-Large Representative #2 of CFA-LA.  He is a member in good standing in the Los Angeles chapter and is completing his third year as an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology. Prior to his tenure-track appointment, he was a Lecturer for two years at CSULA. Currently, William is the Chair of the LGBTQ+ Caucus and also his department’s CFA representative. Through encouragement and mentorship by leaders such as Molly Talcott, he is more active in the union and would like to continue to fight for our members. Over the past year, William has met amazing individuals on our campus and he is hopeful that we can progressively advance an agenda that undermines and eliminates subordinating labor and social practices.

William is encouraged by our members that we can build a more inclusive institution and movement that supports an intersectional consciousness to advance educational and social justice for our members and students at CSULA. He supports challenging the current two-tiered system of teaching at the CSUs, which is based on exploitative and unequitable practices. William is convinced that our chapter and rank-and-file members can effectively organize to improve our labor conditions, as well as aim to realize our big ideas of building a just and equitable institution into reality. Along with other CFA officers, activists, and rank-and-file members, he too is committed to forge a more democratic and member-driven union that can lead the fight for racial, gender, and economic justice.