Members rallying against Mayor Eric Adams’ austerity agenda at City Hall. (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
The PSC spent the last year aggressively fighting to ensure the city adequately funds CUNY – the city is responsible for the lion’s share of funding for CUNY’s two-year campuses. That has been no easy task, as Mayor Eric Adams, a nominal Democrat who governs like a business-backed Republican, has insisted that painful austerity must be visited upon every institution the city’s working people rely upon.
The union participated in numerous spirited rallies in lower Manhattan demanding that the city’s budget reflect the needs of the city’s working people, one that funds social services and education from preschool through CUNY. PSC leaders testified in City Council hearings about the need to fund CUNY. And all around the city, members met with their city lawmakers to demand full funding for CUNY.
OPEN SPOTS
As a result of this austerity, there are 400 vacant positions at the city’s community colleges, the union’s first vice president, Jen Gaboury, said in an impassioned op-ed in amNY.
“Student support staff are not being hired to replace those who retire or resign. Workloads are rising for those who remain, and capacity to serve, advise and educate students is reduced,” she said. “A 2023 report from our union’s Library Faculty Committee revealed that nearly 100 lights malfunctioned in the Bronx Community College library circulation area. ‘Looking for a book requires, in some cases, a flashlight,’ it said.”
Gaboury continued, “The LaGuardia Community College library only had three of its 11 units fully staffed at the time of the report, and the collections shrunk so much that access to databases needed for student and faculty research was lost. The Borough of Manhattan Community College library had its non-personnel budget cut by half.”
Faculty at two-year colleges are also working under the sharp blade of the Adams administration’s knife. “Full-time faculty are taking on larger classes and more administrative tasks, leaving them less time to mentor students. Adjunct faculty have had course assignments reduced, leading to lost income and ineligibility for health insurance,” Gaboury said.
She added, “CUNY spends less by offering fewer courses – putting adjuncts out of work – but then students sometimes can’t get a seat in the courses they need to graduate on time.”
PSC President James Davis demands more funding for education overall. (Credit: Paul Frangipane)
City Council members including Speaker Adrienne Adams, to their credit, were receptive to the union’s case, and many of them worked hard for an adequate budget agreement.
However, like many well-fought campaigns, this year’s struggle for a fair budget did not produce an agreement that will fix CUNY’s problems. While the mayor trumpeted that this year’s budget agreement would avoid deep cuts to libraries and other institutions, the final agreement for the city budget included a funding plan for CUNY that fell far short of what is needed to address student needs, crumbling infrastructure and increasing workloads for faculty and staff.
“Today’s handshake agreement announced a restoration of $15 million in operating support for community colleges. But the restorations don’t offset the mayor’s $95 million previous cuts. Given the recent revenue projections and the increasing enrollments at CUNY colleges, it’s clear that CUNY students, faculty and staff are shortchanged in the budget deal,” the PSC said in a statement in response to this summer’s budget agreement.
COUNCIL PROGRESS
The statement continued, “We’re grateful to Speaker Adams for constantly challenging the mayor’s false austerity and to the Council members who fought hard for the $15 million in operating aid and for the continuing investments in CUNY Reconnect, the Accelerate, Complete, Engage (ACE) program, campus childcare centers, Vallone Scholarships, food pantries and other programs.”
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams addresses the budget. (Credit: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)
AGAINST CUTS
The union added, “The mayor insists on cuts to the community colleges, CUNY is still vastly underfunded and our community colleges are still short 400 academic and student support staff positions. We look forward to even more aggressive advocacy from the City Council in the next budget cycle.”
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said the agreement “recognizes the essential role that public higher education plays in New York City” and that the “$15 million support for CUNY’s seven community colleges will help offset tuition loss from enrollment declines and help cover a range of operational needs that have a direct impact on our students.”
Nevertheless, the PSC continues to fight for more funding, and that means more sustained pressure on the mayor and the governor to fully fund CUNY.
This fall, members are encouraged to participate with the union’s legislative committee to learn how they can join the continuing fight for fair funding for public higher education from both the city and the state.
ELECTION TIME
Susan Kang, a member of the union’s executive council and an associate professor of political science at John Jay College, noted that the union has a big opportunity to advocate for the city funding in the next several months because all city elected officials will be up for reelection in 2025. The mayor is seeking a second term. It will be time for rank-and-file union members to demonstrate to the entire city and to the mayor specifically that CUNY matters and deserves the city’s full support.
“Next year is an election year,” she said, noting that the city must replace “all the funding Adams has cut, especially to our community colleges and our student support services.”
Published: August 5, 2024
