Brooklyn College PSC-CUNY

Action Alert - 2/25/14 Update on Anti-Boycott Legislation in NY State Assembly We Need to Continue to Make Our Voices Heard! On February 3, NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was forced to withdraw a draconian bill that would have undermined academic freedom and free speech. His bill was designed to punish any state-funded college or university in NY that had used any of that money on activities related to groups that support boycotts of Israel. But enough pressure was put on Speaker Silver to force his withdrawal of that bill. This was a tremendous victory and a testament to the power of unified action! But - and this is critically important - our work to defeat this legislation is not over. Speaker Silver quickly issued  a revised version of his bill, titled A. 8392A.   There is one difference between this and the earlier version: Previously a college could have lost its entire state funding for a year if they had used any of their state funding...

Dear Colleague: The terrain is shifting on Pathways. The union’s sustained fight has begun to produce results. Two months ago, an arbitrator concluded that the union contract does cover faculty rights on curriculum, and ruled that the PSC’s grievance on Pathways must be heard. Two weeks ago, CUNY central administration announced the first significant changes to Pathways: the cap on course hours in the Common Core has been lifted, and some role is now being given to elected faculty bodies.   Now the New York City Council has convened a public hearing to gather testimony on Pathways:  the hearing is next Tuesday, February 25, between 10:00 and 2:30.  Don’t miss the chance to speak out about how Pathways has affected CUNY students; contact Sue DelGiorno ( sdelgiorno@pscmail.org ) at the PSC office for assistance in signing up to speak or send in testimony.   The cracks in CUNY’s Pathways armor are the result of three years of determined resistance, espe...

Dear Colleagues, We will be holding a special meeting of the PSC Chapter at Brooklyn College on Thursday Feb. 27th 12:30-2 in 222 Whitehead.  As most of you know, CUNY Central has capitulated to important faculty demands regarding Pathways, which is a major victory for the Faculty and ultimately the students at CUNY. We still face several struggles, however, here at Brooklyn College. The administration continues to try to force us into the Pathways framework, even as we begin a faculty-lead review of general education. It is imperative that the faculty speak in a clear voice to the Brooklyn College and CUNY administrations that we will not tolerate administrative interference in the curriculum. Therefore, we intend to bring one or more resolutions to the Stated Meeting of the Faculty in April regarding these issues. The Stated Meeting of the faculty is the ultimate voice of the faculty in the governance of the faculty, eclipsing even Faculty Council.  At our next meetin...

The 2014 executive budget proposes $2.2 billion in tax cuts and freezes that mostly benefit the wealthy, banks and corporations. Under any circumstances, that would be a waste and a bad idea. It's even worse right now, though, when huge gaps exist in the funding of schools and public universities in New York state.  How about we take that $2.2 billion and do something good with it?  Take action now at the NYSUT Member Action Center to tell lawmakers to oppose tax cuts that favor the wealthy and use that money to fund education!   Over the last several years, programs and services at every level of education and health care across the state have been slashed to the bone. Our public colleges and universities have been cut by nearly $2 billion in recent years, and this latest executive eudget proposal would still leave approximately 69 percent of New York state schools at or below 2009-2010 education spending levels.  Now the savings from those "bad times" budgets are t...

We again want to thank everyone who made calls, sent email messages, signed petitions, wrote statements and did all of the work to push against the anti-boycott legislation in the NY State Assembly. On Feb. 3, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was forced to withdraw his bill and the Higher Education Committee removed it from their agenda that day. This was a tremendous victory for academic freedom and free speech, and a testament to the power of unified action! But our work is far from over.  Speaker Silver has already issued  a revised version of his bill, now titled A. 8392A.  There seems to be just one difference between this and the earlier version: Previously a college could have been subject to losing its entire state funding for a year if they had used any of their state funding   on groups that support boycotts of Israel. In the new version, the college would only lose the amount of money actually spent on such activities. ( The link to the ...

The CUNY central administration has finally begun to listen to the majority of faculty about Pathways. Changes to the new core curriculum will begin in Fall 2014, according to a  memo  from Interim Chancellor William Kelly. The changes are the result of the first annual review of Pathways promised in the Board of Trustees' 2011 resolution. The memo announces an end to the three-hour limit on general education courses and says that faculty serving on the committee that reviews general education courses based on Pathways rules will be “chosen through college governance processes.” It also encourages colleges to seek waivers from Pathways rules whenever “a major or degree program cannot be accommodated.” The 30-credit limit on the colleges’ general education core curriculum will remain in place. The changes are consistent with demands for greater autonomy for CUNY’s colleges and respect for faculty’s expertise on curriculum that have been central to the PSC’s Repeal Pathways Camp...

Our State Affiliation, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) has take a dramatic move in voting "No Confidence" in the State Education Commissioner, and calling for his removal. Interestingly, one of the central issues motivating their vote was the way the State has implemented the "Common Core" curriculum. This initiative has many of the same hallmarks as Pathways. It's a top down strategy to standardize teaching, taking away autonomy and innovation from teachers. As with Pathways there was no effort to actively involve those teaching on the class room and has been implemented through threats and intimidation. It's another cost saving move towards centralization of authority and deprofessionalization of teachers. We're very gratified to see K-12 teachers stand up to austerity driven educational policy. Three PSC officers sit on the NYSUT Board and they all supported the vote of No Confidence. https://www.nysut.org/news/2014/january/nysut-board-app...

Our calls worked!  This afternoon at the Assembly Higher Education Committee meeting, Chairperson Deborah Glick took A. 8392, the anti-academic freedom bill,  off the agenda.  That is a huge victory for all of us who called and wrote to Deborah Glick, Speaker Sheldon Silver and other representatives.  It’s also a huge victory for the students of New York State.  Congratulations on your eloquence and persistence.  Steve London and I both talked to several lawmakers today, and the report was that they were being inundated with calls and emails in opposition.  The action was clearly in response to our calls and the calls of others across the state. Don’t put your phones down yet, however, as the bill may be considered at a later meeting or revised and brought forward again.  We are far from finished with this issue.  We will update you as soon as more information becomes available.  Meanwhile, savor this good news, and enjoy the statem...

The PSC joins the American Association of University Professors, NYSUT, the City University Faculty Senate Executive Committee, the New York State AAUP Conference and the New York University AAUP chapter in opposing New York Assembly Bill A.8392.  The PSC also opposes a nearly identical New York Senate Bill, S.6438, passed by the New York Senate on January 28, 2014. The two bills would prohibit colleges and universities in New York State from using State funding to support employees’ participation in academic groups or associations that have passed resolutions or taken official actions to promote boycotts against certain countries or their higher education institutions.  The proposed legislation would also prohibit colleges and universities in New York State from using State funding to pay membership dues to those associations or to reimburse travel or lodging for an employee attending any meeting of such association.  Colleges or universities that act in violati...

The New York State Assembly is currently considering a bill (A.8392) to prohibit colleges and universities in New York State from using State funding to support employees’ participation in academic organizations that have supported boycotts against any nation or its universities. Colleges or universities that violate this act would lose all state funding. This bill (S.6438) has already passed the State Senate, with major support from both parties. This Bill represents a major threat to academic freedom and constitutes a profound level of political interference into the scholarly lives of our members. Further, the sanctions created by this law would fall primarily on students. If a CUNY college were to be found in violation of this law, it would be subject to losing its State funding. The result would be the cancellation of hundreds of course sections, undermining the ability of students to be in school. Since student financial aid in the form of TAP is a type of state aid, it mig...

Dear PSC Members: We need you to make calls THIS WEEKEND to help stop the passage of Assembly Bill 8392. This bill would prohibit colleges and universities in New York State from using state funding to support employees' participation in academic groups or associations that have passed resolutions or taken official actions to promote boycotts against certain countries or their higher eduction institutions. Further, colleges or universities that act in violation of this prohibition would not be eligible for any State funding for that academic year! Last night, the PSC Delegate Assembly passed a resolution opposing this bill and a NY State Senate companion bill. Please see the attached resolution. These bills are attacks on academic freedom and constitutional rights, and are opposed by a broad array of higher education and civil libertarian institutions and organizations. HERE IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: the sponsors of this legislation (Speaker Silver is the main sponsor) are tr...