Barbara Bowen Re-Elected
The New Caucus swept the April election for leadership of the Professional Staff Congress with a slate that ran unopposed. PSC President Barbara Bowen, first elected to the post in 2000, won re-election, and Michael Fabricant, formerly PSC Treasurer, won the post of First Vice President. He succeeds Steve London, who, after 15 years as First VP , decided to return to the classroom. (See “The CUNY Ideal,” by Steve London.) Two new officers won principal leadership posts: Nivedita Majumdar, recently co-chair of the John Jay chapter, is the new union Secretary, and Sharon Persinger, the recent Bronx Community College chapter chair, succeeds Fabricant as Treasurer.
Membership Power
“I’m interested in building our local chapters because that’s where membership power is,” Majumdar told Clarion. Majumdar, who has also worked at Hunter College and City Tech, says she’s also interested in governance issues and helping to build alliances with students.
The officers assumed their roles on Wednesday, May 27. The election was conducted by mail, and results were certified by the PSC Elections Committee on May 12.
In addition to the four principal officers, 23 other members were elected to the Executive Council, which will have 11 new members (including Majumdar).
New EC members include Senior College Officers George Sanchez and Clarence Taylor; Community College Officers Lizette Colón and Anthony Gronowicz; Part-Time Personnel Officer Lenny Dick; University-wide officers Alan Feigenberg and Alia Tyner-Mullings; Cross-Campus Officer Jacqueline Elliot; Retiree Officers Glenn Kissack and Steve Leberstein.
Officers reelected to the EC include Michael Batson, Lorraine Cohen, Iris DeLutro, Susan DiRaimo, David Hatchett, Penny Lewis, Steve London, Alan Pearlman, Michael Spear, Andrea Vásquez, Blanca Vázquez, Alex Vitale and Paul Washington.
Three-Year Terms
The elected PSC leaders will serve three-year terms. The next union-wide election will be in the Spring of 2018.
In related news, Anne Friedman, who served as PSC’s Vice President for Community Colleges for 15 years, was re-elected to her second term on the National Council of the American Association of University Professors. Friedman told Clarion that she looks forward to working on issues that are central to the PSC, from fighting the corporatization of higher education to creating better working conditions for part-time faculty.
