Brooklyn College PSC-CUNY

Stated Meeting Address October 24, 2013 Alex S. Vitale Chair Brooklyn College Chapter PSC-CUNY As most of you know we have gone 3 years without a contract. This is a condition we share with every unionized employee in the city. Because of Mayor Bloomberg’s insistence on withholding raises and increasing health care contributions, there are no unions currently bargaining with the City. None. Gov. Cuomo has made and in some cases won similar demands from the state unions. As a result, we have very little reason to engage in economic bargaining until the election of a new mayor. We have, however, approached CUNY management about opening up non-economic bargaining and there are many things to discuss. We will prepare to bargain in earnest over economic matters when a new mayoral administration shows an interest in non-concessionary bargaining. But given that the old contract remains in force, we have very little incentive to bargain. On a brighter note, the PSC was the ...

The following resolution will be brought to the November Faculty Council meeting by the FC Steering Committee. The local PSC chapter supports this resolution. BROOKLYN COLLEGE OF THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK FACULTY COUNCIL November 12, 2013 Special Resolution on Faculty Governance Steering Committee Whereas , according to the Governance Plan of Brooklyn College (Article II), the faculty “shall be responsible for the formulation of policy relating to the admission and retention of students, including health and scholarship standards; student attendance, including leaves of absence; curriculum; awarding of college credit; granting of degrees”; and Whereas , Faculty Council is “the legislative body of the Faculty and shall have all the responsibilities of a faculty”;  and Whereas , Faculty Council, at its meeting of April 3, 2012, voted not to “implement a [CUNY] Pathways curriculum under the current guidelines,” and again, at its meeting...

BY Alex S. Vitale CUNY’s new draft policy on Expressive Activity in paying rhetorical allegiance to the “important of a free exchange of ideas and expression of all points of view,” makes the fundamental mistake of equating protest with speech. Throughout the document, the right to protest is restricted by concerns about “order,” “disruption,” and the “rights of others.” These restrictions indicate a basic misunderstanding of the nature of the right to assembly as distinct from the right to freedom of speech. There are many possible outlets for ideas including interpersonal speech, published writing, and social media. The right to assemble, however, involves the physical manifestation of people in space as both an exercise in communication and an expression of power. As such it is inherently disruptive, disorderly, and interferes with the rights of others. Any policy that attempts to eliminate these qualities reduces protest to speech. The constitution specifically protects t...

The PSC was a founding member of Campaign for the Future of Higher Education and will host the next CFHE meeting in New York in January 2014. ( http://futureofhighered.org/sixth-national-gathering-cfhe-focusing-winning-campaigns-public-higher-education/ )   At the last CFHE meeting in Columbus, Ohio in May of this year, PSC First Vice President Steve London and PSC Treasurer Mike Fabricant delivered a strategy paper calling on CFHE to focus on MOOCs and on-line learning. Below is one of the results from that effort: From Campus Learning http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/10/09/faculty-coalition-its-time-to-examine-mooc-and-online-ed-profit-motives.aspx                                                  ...

The PSC bargains its contracts in a very complicated environment. CUNY is a public institution that is financed by both New York City and the State of New York. Following the NYC fiscal crisis of the 1970’s, the State took over much of the financial obligation for CUNY. Almost all public funding for senior colleges and two-thirds of public funding of community colleges comes from the state. The remaining one-third of public funding for community college, along with some cross CUNY special programs, like the Black Male Initiative come from the City. This means that when the PSC sits down with CUNY management, the labor negotiators from the City and the State, appointed by the Mayor and the Governor are looming in the background. While CUNY and the PSC have flexibility in negotiating a variety of “non-economic” aspects of the contract, such as disciplinary procedures or the process for reappointment, the basic “economic” package is set by the city and state. Salary increases or new...