Brooklyn College PSC-CUNY

Last semester the provost unilaterally ended the college’s language and speech requirements over the express objections of Faculty Council. On November 12 th  the Brooklyn College Faculty Council protested this decision by voting 80-3 in favor of a Special Resolution on Faculty Governance . The resolution asserts that the Provost violated the college's governance plan by changing the College Bulletin to comply with Pathways .  The College’s governance plan makes clear that only Faculty Council, not the Provost, the Board of Trustees, or any other administrator, has the authority to make changes to the College Bulletin. The resolution raises a fundamental question. Will the CUNY administration abide by its own governing documents? The Board of Trustees asserts that it has total and unquestioned authority to make any educational changes it wants. The PSC, the University Faculty Senate, and numerous campus governing bodies have challenged their contempt for faculty governan...

At our Chapter Meeting on Thursday we had a good discussion of the problems with HEO and CLT times sheets. This will be a major topic of discussion in our "Labor-Management" meeting next month. We will be calling on the administration to sign off on time sheets that acurately reflect the time worked by HEO's and CLT's even if extra hours haven't been preauthorized.  Union members in HEO, CLT and Research series titles are organizing a university-wide petition campaign pressing CUNY to negotiate with the PSC on the implementation of the new time-sheet system. The drive started in early November at BMCC and City Tech and was launched CUNY-wide at a joint meeting of the HEO and CLT chapters held last week at the PSC Union Hall. The petition calls on CUNY to negotiate about the timesheets and demands that any new time-sheet system for HEOs and CLTs reflect the complexity of our jobs and the variability of our schedules. To volunteer for the workplace petition drive, ...

Momentum is building against the efforts by the CUNY central administration to restrict protest. Last Thursday the PSC Delegate Assembly passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of CUNY's new draft policy on Expressive Activity arguing that it is unnecessary in the face of existing policies and is designed to continue CUNY's long history of attempting to stifling protest (text of the resolution to follow soon). In the latest instance of this, the administration of CCNY continues to harshly punish 2 of their students involved in protesting the closure of the  Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur Student and Community Center . The two students have been suspended without a hearing, denied access to Spring registration, and turned over to local police for criminal prosecution , for their participation in non-violent protest activities at the college.  Below is a response to CUNY's attempt to limit student protest from BC Political Science major and student govern...

CUNY continues to maintain a personnel system designed for full time permanent hires,  when over half the teaching is done by at will temporary employees. Semester after  semester adjuncts and department secretaries have to fill out employment paperwork.  Because of the way CUNY handles scheduling, leaves, and other employment practices, large  numbers of classes end up having to be filled within 2 weeks of the start of classes,  meaning delayed paperwork and late payments to adjuncts. CUNY First has exacerbated this  problem as it has made the personnel processes more complicated, at least in the short run.  Adjuncts should be aware that they are eligible for emergency payments of 80% from  their local campuses. Contact your local PSC chapter or the central office for help in arranging this.  October 29, 2013 Print Comment FACULTY Even in New York, Adjuncts' Paychecks Can Take Their Sweet Time By...