PSC delegates attended the NYSUT Representative Assembly on May Day weekend, representing the interests of the local union (the New York State United Teachers is the PSC’s state affiliate). Delegates are elected by the membership to represent the union at the state level. And this year, several of the PSC’s resolutions were adopted, becoming the official positions of the statewide 700,000 member union.
PSC President James Davis speaking from the floor of the NYSUT RA (Credit: NYSUT).
At the NYSUT RA in Albany, the body adopted two of the union’s resolutions: Defending the Integrity of Higher Education Against Authoritarian Assaults, proposed by PSC/CUNY, and the resolution On the Incursion of Artificial Intelligence Companies into Public Education, the latter of which was proposed by United University Professions, the union representing SUNY faculty and staff and endorsed by the PSC.
“It was very gratifying to have such strong support in committee and on the floor of the RA in recognition of the need to defend higher education against the federal assault and to safeguard our jobs and academic integrity against AI,” PSC President James Davis said. “There is recognition across all NYSUT affiliates that our higher education systems are pretty amazing and deserve the attention of all the affiliates.”
The first resolution said that “NYSUT will continue to develop and prioritize robust campaigns to protect the rights of higher education workers and defend our public colleges and universities.”
“Higher education presents a threat to authoritarianism,” said Frederick Kowal, president of the UUP, speaking in favor of the first resolution.
The second resolved that “NYSUT will use all available tools to contest the limitations of AI that may cause its usage to violate already established laws and regulations regarding discrimination, hate speech and hate crimes, confidentiality and data privacy, disabilities, and economic inequality” and that “NYSUT will not endorse, encourage, or support the utilization of any artificial intelligence technologies or applications that seek to displace NYSUT member jobs or steal essential work product.”
The May Day spirit was also alive during the RA. While most PSC members attended the May Day rally and march in lower Manhattan, Felicia Wharton, the PSC treasurer, spoke at a May Day rally in Albany with the other RA delegates. “Higher education is under attack,” she said. “We have seen cuts to federal funding, we’ve seen the suppression of speech on our campuses, scholarship, advocacy protest, silence. This is what our faculty and staff see every day in the workplace.”
The attack on higher education, especially at CUNY, is a part of class warfare against workers, she added. “An educated working class is a powerful working class and power frightens people who profit from our struggles,” Wharton said.
NYSUT President Melina Person and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten addressed the RA. Both rallied the delegates to defend public education, working people and democracy.
Other PSC resolutions are moving forward through the affiliate body, too. One resolution, Oppose Military Aggression Against Venezuela, was endorsed by the NYSUT Civil & Human Rights Committee at the RA and will be considered by NYSUT’s board of directors. Another PSC resolution, Support Green and Healthy Schools Campaign in NY State and NY City, was also endorsed by a committee and will also head to the affiliate’s board. One of the NYSUT Retiree Councils offered a resolution supported by the PSC Retirees Chapter, Opposition to Privatization of Public Services, which is also on its way to the board, along with the resolution, Level the Medicare Playing Field – Save our Medicare from Total Privatization.
The PSC’s principal officers–President James Davis, First Vice President Jennifer Gaboury, Secretary Andrea Vásquez and Treasurer Felicia Wharton–won election to the NYSUT Board of Directors for a three-year term.
Nancy Romer, a PSC delegate to the RA, said, “PSC leaders spoke in support of immigrant rights and preventing ICE from entering our schools, limiting AI in our work, schools and communities, protecting freedom of speech, and cleaning up our carbon-producing heating and cooling systems in our schools and universities. While passing resolutions is laudable as it commits NYSUT to supporting those initiatives on paper, the real test is how much effort and political capital NYSUT is willing to expend to win these demands.”
She added, “The best part of the NYSUT RA for me was spending time with our PSC sisters and brothers and getting a better understanding of the political situation of our statewide efforts.”
Published: May 20, 2026
