CUNY Rising Alliance Continues Advocacy at Board of Trustees Hearing
On April 1st, the CUNY stakeholders attended a hearing with the Board of Trustees to voice their grievances about the current state of CUNY, and to advocate for policy measures. One of these policies includes the New Deal for CUNY, which has received growing support among state representatives since its…
Transit union honcho to sue Columbia alleging mistreatment of staffers in building takeover
A prominent transit union leader plans to sue Columbia University over alleged mistreatment of school staffers during a building seizure last week — the latest labor group to wade into the debate surrounding campus unrest. John Samuelsen, international president of the Transport Workers Union — which represents 155,000 workers across…
Adjuncts fight for job stability
Youngmin Seo was barely making ends meet on his adjunct faculty salary at the City University of New York. He and his then-wife both worked full time as they raised two children, and he took an extra job at the Korea Times to fill the gaps. For 20 years he…
CUNY leaders must fight harder against budget cuts
Earlier in April, the Professional Staff Congress provided scripts for students to call for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and other legislators to secure more education funding from this year’s late state budget. CUNY students, the majority of whom are working-class, juggle jobs or caretaking alongside their studies and who…
“The Five Demands” Screening Spotlights SEEK and CUNY Activists
On March 20th in the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library auditorium, QC SEEK screened “The Five Demands” — a documentary about the 1969 student protests at the City College of New York (CCNY) for greater Afro-American and Puerto Rican representation in the student population — and discussed the possibility of the…
Columbia and City College hold second environmental justice summit
Columbia and the City College of New York held their second joint Harlem Environmental Justice Summit, drawing students, local nonprofits, and a representative from the New York City Mayor’s administration. The summit included two panels that took place in City College’s North Academic Center and Columbia’s Buell Hall. In between…
Baruch faculty and students protest budget cuts, bigger classes
Professors, faculty and students gathered in the William and Anita Newman Vertical Campus lobby, and then marched to the William and Anita Newman Library on April 4 for a rally in protest of budget cuts and an increase to the course caps in Weissman School of Arts and Sciences classes.
Proposed “New Deal for CUNY” Would Make CUNY Free for All
As the New York state budget approaches its approval date in April, the New Deal for CUNY bill is once again thrown into the spotlight. “For decades, CUNY has been underfunded, and I would say intentionally underfunded, in order to starve an institution that provides higher education to mostly working…
Professional Staff Congress president talks about contract negotiations
The state budget deadline is quickly approaching. It’s been more than a year since the City University of New York and the union representing its faculty and staff, the Professional Staff Congress, have been tied up in contract negotiations. The two groups have held a total of 13 bargaining sessions,…
OP-ED: Behind the Scenes at Higher Education Action Day
On this day, we advocated on behalf of thousands of students. Assembly members and members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), CUNY Rising, and NYPIRG chapters, gave motivational speeches to students.