Proposed resolution BC PSC Chapter Meeting, 5/21/20

The following passed as a statement of the members assembled at the May 21, 2020 special meeting of the Brooklyn College PSC chapter. Quorum not achieved: 22 yes, 3 no, 2 abstain.

WHEREAS the COVID-19 crisis has caused unprecedented physical, emotional, and economic hardship for the students, faculty, and staff of the university, many of whose families have been thrown into chaos due to layoffs, illness, or both, and

WHEREAS the governor has been granted the right to make executive cuts to the state budget, and this pressure is already being felt at Brooklyn College via demands by administration to slash Fall 2020 department budgets by as much as 25%, and

WHEREAS adjunct faculty, who are most vulnerable to these cuts, teach a majority of classes at CUNY, and have faced decades of unstable work, low wages and hyper-exploitation that have left many financially unprepared for this crisis, and

WHEREAS many adjunct faculty in particular rely upon a minimum number of courses per year to retain their health benefits, which they desperately need in the midst of this pandemic, and

WHEREAS the wellbeing of the faculty and staff are inextricably linked to the wellbeing and success of the students who attend the university and the quality and quantity of the research performed therein, and

WHEREAS a militant response from our union, up to and including a job action, is likely the only way such ruinous budget cuts can realistically be resisted, and

WHEREAS, in the last Delegate Assembly meeting the union membership was denied the opportunity to fully discuss delegate Marc Kagan's resolution, "The PSC Union will immediately ask all faculty to withhold submission of grades until such a time (if any) that best demonstrates the power of our union to disrupt the normal operations of the university. All faculty should be asked to notify their students that this action is in support of a fully-funded CUNY ”, and

WHEREAS President Bowen acknowledged there were irregularities in the voting process and attempted to hold a revote, by which time the Delegate Assembly no longer had the quorum necessary for a binding vote, and

WHEREAS, on May 13th, the City College PSC chapter passed and approved a similar resolution to this one, as did the John Jay PSC chapter on May 14th, be it

RESOLVED that we, as the Brooklyn College PSC chapter, join our fellow union members in urging the Delegate Assembly and Executive Committee of PSC to take the initiative and revote on the above resolution as soon as possible.

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