Defending the Right to Vote | CUNY Needs a Rent Freeze

City Council Speaker Julie Menin will not attempt to override Mayor Mamdani’s veto of 175-B, the “buffer zone” bill that would undermine First Amendment rights around CUNY campuses and worksites and other educational institutions. She plans to introduce a heavily diluted version of the legislation that would not affect colleges and universities, public high schools, teaching hospitals, or cultural institutions.

PSC President James Davis released the following statement:

“The dangerously broad, anti-free speech “buffer zone” bill, Intro 175-B, will not become law. Thank you to the PSC members, siblings in the city’s labor movement, and allies who took action to ensure this outcome. We are deeply grateful to the City Council members who listened to the voices of students, faculty, staff, and workers and stayed resolute in their opposition to the bill, preserving Mayor Mamdani’s principled veto.

“This is a victory for the CUNY community, labor rights, and social justice in New York City. While President Trump’s repressive agenda continues to threaten unions, students, members, and institutions, city government must protect our civil rights. Together with students, fellow unions and community partners, we built a coalition to defeat the misguided Intro 175-B proposal. We oppose any efforts by the City Council to further restrict New Yorkers’ rights to free expression.”

PSC Treasurer Felicia Wharton and HEO Co-chair Rulisa Galloway-Perry on stage with AFT President Randi Weingarten and other AFT leaders and together with NY Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (left) and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates (right).

Like thousands of people from across the country, PSC Treasurer Felicia Wharton and HEO Co-chair Rulisa Galloway-Perry felt called to attend the All Roads Lead to the South rally in Montgomery, Alabama, last weekend. Almost 100 civil rights, voting rights, faith, labor, and community organizations organized the event in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling, which opens the door to discriminatory redistricting and attacks on fair representation for African Americans.

Wharton and Galloway-Perry joined a contingent of AFT leaders that included AFT President Randi Weingarten and local leaders from Alabama, Chicago, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Oregon to defend the right to vote and oppose the Supreme Court’s racist dismantling of the Voting Rights Act.

Statement on Louisiana v. Callais from the PSC Principal Officers

In hollowing out the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court has taken deliberate steps to deny meaningful representation for African Americans and others who have been historically disenfranchised. Let’s be clear: this decision will foster discrimination through redistricting and fuel racial inequity in political representation. This ruling is about voter suppression, and the Court has dishonored the generations who marched, bled, and died to advance civil rights, including the right to vote. We join those in the labor movement calling on Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and defeat the misleadingly named Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. We join in the commitment to help protect fair systems of representation and affirm CUNY’s role in expanding the horizon of excellent education for all New Yorkers. The Court’s decision will galvanize our fight for racial equality and social justice.

Tell your US Senators to Protect Voting Rights & Reject SAVE 2.0!

Right now, President Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress are working to silence our voices with the SAVE America Act and the Make Elections Great Again Act—together known as SAVE 2.0. These bills are designed to silence peoples’ voices at the ballot box through excessive paperwork, prohibition, purges and punishments.

Click here to urge Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to actively oppose the bills.

SEND LETTER OPPOSING SAVE 2.0

The fate of the rent freeze at the center of Mayor Mamdani’s platform may be decided at CUNY this spring. Three of the seven public meetings on the possibility of a rent freeze on stabilized units are happening at CUNY campuses, including public Rent Guidelines Board hearings at Hostos Community College on Monday, June 8 from 5-8 PM in the Main Theater and at City Tech on Thursday, June 11 from 7-10 PM in The Theater.

 Rent Freeze Policy Briefing for CUNY

Tuesday, June 2, at 6 PM, on Zoom

PSC members who want to learn more about how a rent freeze for the 2.4 million New Yorkers living in rent stabilized apartments would benefit the CUNY community can join us for an online Rent Freeze Policy Briefing for CUNY on Tuesday, June 2, at 6 PM. The briefing on Zoom will feature City College political science professor John Krinsky, a scholar of New York City’s housing movement. Register here to get the Zoom meeting link.

Rally and Testify at the CUNY Rent Guidelines Hearings

Monday, June 8th, Hostos Main Theater, 5-8 PM
Thursday, June 11, City Tech, The Theater, 7-10PM

Sign up here to let us know you will attend one of the CUNY Rent Guidelines Board hearings as part of a visible, powerful PSC contingent. We’ll rally before the hearings with tenant’s rights groups and then help pack the room. You can sign up to be part of the demonstration AND sign up to testify for up to two minutes. Your relevant policy knowledge and experience as a tenant, educator and neighbor can make for compelling testimony and help win the rent freeze we need! Fill out the PSC webform to RSVP for the union action and then, if you wish to testify, fill out the Rent Guidelines Board registration as well. It’s linked here and in the confirmation message for the union’s RSVP.

If you have been through the PSC’s online court support training, please join with fellow union members to bear witness and support immigrants who are called to the courts at 26 Federal Plaza. Spanish speakers are especially helpful. Meet any Friday at Pret, 7:30 AM at 319 Broadway, across the street from 26 Federal Plaza.

Sign the Petition: Fund Immigrant Student Success Centers with Full-time Staff!

Join us in demanding that CUNY take action now to defend immigrant students and community members by:

• Immediately hiring at least two permanent full-time staff members on every campus whose jobs are solely to support immigrant students
• Establishing an Immigrant Student Success Center on all campuses that do not already have one with their own dedicated space.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN PETITION

The PSC’s national affiliates, AAUP and AFT, are mounting an impressive national campaign to protect higher education from federal attacks and secure the future of academic professions. The campaign holds regular online “office hours” events to report progress toward achieving the goals of the campaign on campus, in state capitals and in the courts.

Legal Update: Friday, May 29, 2 PM
Defending Higher Education to Save Lives, Build Futures, and Protect the Economy

As attacks on higher education intensify, legal and policy changes are directly impacting students, workers, and communities. This office hours session will provide critical updates on AFT and AAUP legal actions related to academic freedom, collective bargaining, accreditation, DEI restrictions, immigration enforcement, and campus rights. Register here.

Artificial intelligence is transforming higher education in numerous ways, from classrooms and research to student services and workforce preparation. This office hours session will include updates from affiliates who have negotiated strong protections into their collective bargaining agreements as well as updates on the broader role that our unions can play in ensuring that technologies strengthen and not undermine teaching, learning, and research. Register here.

Clarion has transitioned to a fully digital format. With online-only publishing, we’ll release new content more often, no longer tied to monthly updates, and continue expanding our newsletter with deeper coverage and updates.