In 2022, when the state legislature voted on a state budget plan, many lawmakers understood, even as they voted to approve the funding package, that there was still plenty of work to be done to adequately sustain vital state programs. Years of fighting against austerity under Governor Andrew Cuomo had taken its toll, and while the new governor that year had made improvements to the budget, many groups in the state still felt like they were being left behind.
One lawmaker that year, a democratic socialist from Queens, voted “no” on the budget. And the reason he gave in his floor speech was that the agreement failed to meet the needs of CUNY students, faculty and staff.
“While this budget is an improvement for CUNY, this still leaves the 16,000-plus students, faculty, staff and recent alumni that call my district home without the investments that they deserve,” Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani said, adding that needed “investments would fund academic advisors, create adjunct pay parity, adequately fund mental health services and would decrease and ultimately eliminate tuition,” all things the PSC had called for under its New Deal for CUNY legislation.
PSC SUPPORTER
Zohran Mamdani (Credit: Erik McGregor)
He said, “As we fall short, I think of the stories of those I’ve connected with as I’ve fought for the New Deal for CUNY. I think of Rebecca, an adjunct professor driven into homelessness by lack of adjunct pay parity. I think of Stephanie, who is forced to work multiple jobs, sleeping only two to three hours each night, just so that she could keep [up] with the cost of tuition. I think of Devon, a chronically homeless student, who is never able to get mental health care due to the lack of such services on his campus.”
Mamdani added, “It is for all of them that I must vote ‘no,’ and it is for all of them that I will continue to fight to pass the New Deal for CUNY.”
Mamdani shocked the world this summer when he, a 33-year-old democratic socialist, won the Democratic Party primary, crushing Cuomo, who had resigned as governor due to sexual harassment allegations. The PSC encouraged its members to rank Mamdani anywhere in the top three slots in the primary, along with Comptroller Brad Lander (the two candidates cross-endorsed each other as voting day neared) and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. Members campaigned for Mamdani during the primary and successfully pushed the reelection of several progressive City Council members.
Now the PSC urges its members to push Mamdani past the finish line and into the mayor’s office this fall. If elected, the PSC will have a committed friend of CUNY in the mayor’s office, a refreshing change after four years of alleged corruption and brutal austerity under Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection on an independent party line. Cuomo is also running as an independent, and the Republicans are running Curtis Sliwa, a caricature of a 1970s buffoon vigilante.
Mamdani has stood out in the legislature as a friend of CUNY. His platform – a social democratic agenda that hearkens back to FDR’s New Deal – focuses on the public good by raising taxes on the richest New Yorkers to support workers, education, transportation, housing and social services. These are all things that the PSC supports, but the union is especially heartened to see CUNY as a major focus of his agenda.
NEW DEAL FOR CUNY
Mamdani has been a constant presence at PSC rallies in support of the New Deal for CUNY, which calls for free tuition and the hiring of more faculty and staff at CUNY. While the lion’s share of CUNY funding comes from the state, the city’s community colleges rely heavily on city funding. Under Adams, community colleges have suffered brutal austerity cuts, as the mayor made it clear that he served the interests of the 1% and solidified his relationship with President Donald Trump. While pressure and campaigning by the PSC and other groups has forced City Hall to restore much of this funding, Mamdani still stands out as the candidate for CUNY.
In addition to fighting for CUNY in state budget talks, Mamdani is the coauthor of a bill that seeks to redistribute wealth from the top two richest universities in New York City – Columbia University and New York University, both of which enjoy a near total exemption from property taxes despite being among the city’s largest landowners – and add to CUNY funding in order to better serve the city’s working class and public institutions.
During a campaign fundraising event at the home of a PSC member, attended by faculty and staff from around the system, Mamdani proclaimed that the PSC has been a union close to his heart and his agenda.
Mamdani joined Senator Bernie Sanders at Brooklyn College on September 7 and spoke both in support of the PSC generally and its fight against repression at the college.
“The city budget is crucial to the funding of CUNY’s seven community colleges, which play a crucial role in educating the next generation of teachers, nurses, scientists and so many others who serve our communities,” said Laura Tanenbaum, the PSC chapter chair at LaGuardia Community College. “Zohran’s mandate in the primary already served to push the city budget in a more progressive direction, and his decisive win in the fall will change the political calculations of many across the city and nation, opening more space to aggressively fight for public education as well as the rights of our immigrant communities and against all of the Trump regime’s attacks.”
Her colleague, Ian McDermott, an associate library professor at LaGuardia, agreed. “Public institutions are constantly under attack, and Mamdani’s focus on strengthening public institutions, from CUNY to the MTA, would benefit faculty, staff and students alike,” he said. “Whether freezing the rent or making buses free, these are initiatives that will help CUNY, especially students at LaGuardia Community College, where I work. Next time we need to negotiate a contract, I will feel much better if the PSC is negotiating during a Mamdani administration.”
In addition to funding CUNY, Mamdani has vowed to institute free childcare for New Yorkers, expanding on the transformative agenda of universal pre-K instituted under the administration of Bill de Blasio. And he also earned the endorsement of the United Federation of Teachers, which said in a statement on social media that the union’s delegates endorsed Mamdani “because they believe he is the best candidate in the race to advance our union’s agenda: to protect our premium-free health care, fix Tier 6, pass the ‘RESPECT Check’ bill, implement the class-size law, revamp mayoral control and more,” referring to the Tier VI pension and a bill that would raise pay for K-12 paraprofessionals.
EDUCATION POLICY
In an interview with Jacobin, Nivedita Majumdar, PSC chapter co-chair at John Jay College and former PSC secretary, said, “Mamdani’s greatest priority when it comes to K–12 education in the city has to start with improving conditions in schools across the city’s poorest districts. That’s where the inequities are starkest. You can walk into a school on the Upper West Side or the West Village and find smart boards, functioning libraries, after-school programs – everything we support and need for our children and our communities. But that’s not the case in schools in East New York or the South Bronx with crumbling infrastructure and no art teacher. The issue is certainly not about taking resources away from excellent schools – it’s about fully funding struggling schools; they’re the ones in real need not just of school supplies and counselors but wraparound services. That’s the equity conversation Mamdani needs to lead.”
MEMBER ACTION
The PSC will be working for Mamdani’s election.
“This election cycle shows the PSC’s growing political strength, as early supporters of a strategy to defeat former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary for Mayor,” PSC President James Davis said in a statement. “Zohran Mamdani, who has shown up for CUNY students and PSC members time and time again in the State Assembly, ran an exceptionally skillful campaign. By cross-endorsing each other, Mamdani and Lander manifested the best the Democratic Party has to offer, not just for public higher education, but also the diverse communities that CUNY serves.”
Davis added, “PSC members will keep our sleeves rolled up, ready to continue campaigning for Zohran in the general election, partnering with him to make CUNY the extraordinary public university system that our city deserves.”
Published: September 12, 2025
