The two state lawmakers sponsoring PSC-backed legislation to further protect academic freedom in the state met with PSC members on July 27 to discuss what the bill would do and how members could advocate for it.
Assembly Member Diana Moreno (left) and State Senator Julia Salazar.
The bill, sponsored by State Senator Julia Salazar and Assembly Member Diane Moreno, came out of organizing demanding the reinstatement of the Fired Four. It was written in consultation with the late Bill Herbert, executive director of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions at Hunter College, who died shortly before the bill was introduced. The Academic Freedom Protection Act (S.10303/A11415) seeks to protect all academic workers “irrespective of job title, irrespective of rank,” PSC President James Davis said.
Citing the history of retaliation against academics during the Red Scare, Civil Rights Era and Vietnam War, Senator Salazar said the bill makes “abundantly clear, it should be against the law for universities and colleges to retaliate against their staff simply because they disagree with their speech, their research or class decisions or intramural activities.”
For Assembly Member Moreno the bill is highly personal. She was once a staffer at the University of Florida working on campus diversity and even taught classes on gender and identity. These programs are now gone in that state thanks to the right-wing backlash against Diversity, Equity and Inclusions programs. “I simply refuse to see the same thing for New York,” she said.
The bill cites how four Brooklyn College adjuncts were terminated in retaliation for their speech against the genocide in Gaza. Three of those adjuncts were simply not reappointed by management against the recommendation of their department chairs, underscoring how adjuncts don’t have the same kind of academic freedom protections as full-time faculty. Those three were reinstated, thanks to the advocacy of the PSC and its allies. A fourth, who was fired for a spurious cause, is arbitrating her case with the support of the union to get her job back.
“There cannot be academic freedom for some,” said Lynne Turner, the PSC vice president for part-time personnel. “Let’s get this bill passed this year.”
The bill aims to bring all academic employees whose academic freedom is violated the chance to seek relief through the courts or arbitration. The Senate bill says: “Any employee at a higher education institution in the state, covered under the definition of academic freedom…may bring an action against the employer institution in any court of competent jurisdiction for damages, including punitive damages, for declaratory and injunctive relief, and such other remedies as the court may deem appropriate.” While adjunct faculty still do not have all the job protections full-time faculty enjoy, Davis noted that this provision represents “specific progress for contingent faculty.”
In addition, the bill states, “Where an employee at a public higher education institution reasonably believes dismissal or other disciplinary action would not have been taken but for a violation of such faculty member’s academic freedom…such employee may assert…a defense before the designated arbitrator. The merits of such defense shall be considered and determined as part of the arbitration award. If there is a finding that the dismissal or other disciplinary action is motivated, at least in part, by a violation by the employer of such subdivision, the arbitrator shall dismiss or recommend dismissal of the disciplinary proceeding, as appropriate, and, if appropriate, reinstate the employee with back pay.”
Members were encouraged to reach out to their senator and assembly member to urge them to back the Salazar/Moreno bill. They were also encouraged to speak to their campus colleagues about the importance of the bill for all PSC members and all academic workers in the state of New York.
Davis noted that while such a bill would be a huge win for adjuncts specifically, its effect will be to protect the entirety of higher education, as students can’t thrive without faculty who enjoy academic protections, and faculty can’t perform public scholarship without such protections.
“It’s a collective right,” he said. “We believe that it is for the benefit of the public and the benefit of our students.”
Salazar said she expects that the bill will face bad-faith challenges from lawmakers who are “interested in suppressing the voices of people who particularly speak out about the genocide in Gaza.”
Yet, she remained confident that the support of PSC members would help to see the bill through.
“We are on the right side of history,” she said.
The union’s longstanding commitment to academic freedom is expressed in the preamble of the contract negotiated with CUNY: “CUNY and the PSC seek to maintain and encourage, in accordance with law, full freedom of inquiry, teaching, research and publication of results, the parties subscribe to Academic Freedom for faculty members. The principles of Academic Freedom are recognized as applicable to other members of the Instructional Staff, to the extent that their duties include teaching, research and publication of results, the selection of library or other educational materials or the formation of academic policy.”
The Salazar/Moreno bill would also codify in state law the definition of academic freedom originally set out by the American Association of University Professors in 1940 as amended in 1970.
