Tens of thousands of NYers say “Hands Off!” | Immigrant Solidarity Meeting Tonight

RSVP for In-Person. Register for the Zoom.

Five international students at UMass Amherst had their visas revoked and student status terminated by the Federal government Friday (NBC News). Sec. of State Marco Rubio has said the government has revoked at least 300 student visas. Many of these students were targeted expressly because of the political opinions they have expressed.

Many students and staff at CUNY hold visas and PSC is organizing to protect our CUNY community. Come in person or online to Monday night’s 6:30 PM hybrid meeting of the Immigrant Solidarity Working Group to get involved. At the meeting, we will discuss and plan what we can do collectively as a union.

International travel issues related to members who hold work and student visas will be on the agenda and we will hear from two guests: Monique Francis, Interim Executive Director of Citizenship Now, who will speak on protecting our rights and CUNY’s latest legal alerts, and Frans Albarillo, Brooklyn College faculty librarian, on privacy and digital safety. We’ll also break into several small-group working meetings. We all need this information so RSVP for In-Person. Register for the Zoom.   Print material and posters will be available.

PSC members will join a “Kill the Cuts” rally on Tuesday, April 8th in midtown, organized nationally by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and anchored locally by a broad coalition of academic labor unions. Demonstrators will gather at 5 PM in front of the New York Public Library (42nd St. and 5th Ave.).

By cutting funds to lifesaving research and medical care, the Trump administration is abandoning families who are suffering and costing taxpayers billions of dollars. These cuts are dangerous to our health, and dangerous to our economy. On Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 workers across the country are standing up and demanding NO cuts to education and life-saving research. Click here to let us know you will be there with the PSC.

This past Saturday we saw ten thousand New Yorkers attend a Hands Off march with broad demands. At 4 PM on Thursday, April 17, NYC educators, students, workers, and allies are turning out for a mass multi-campus rally in Foley Square in defense of higher education. Those of us at CUNY can lead the way in response to the anti-democratic attacks on higher education.

We are rallying to assert our rights to learn, to teach, to research, to associate, and to protest. We will build a future for higher education free from coercion, censorship, propaganda, transphobia, racism, and anti-immigrant hate. Submit this web form to tell us you’ll be there with the PSC.

I WILL RALLY FOR THE RIGHT TO LEARN

Monday, April 28th, 6:30 PM
Register Here For the Zoom.

Mark your calendars for the next mass Zoom meeting for PSC members on Monday, April 28th at 6:30 PM. There will be updates on contract implementation, reports from the working groups on the union’s resistance to attacks coming out of Washington, and more. Click here to register.

The PSC has filed a grievance challenging management’s attempt to implement the new multi-year appointment pilot in a way that does not represent our bargaining agreement fully and accurately. We are outraged at the contempt management has shown CUNY’s 11,000 teaching adjuncts and our union. Read more about the disputed areas here. 

The agreement is in effect. The fundamental elements of the new multi-year appointments are not at issue. But our union will not allow CUNY management to railroad a flawed implementation of this hard-won pilot program. You can support the grievance by signing this letter to CUNY management expressing your opposition to their distortion of the negotiated agreement.

SEND LETTER

On April 2nd, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Finance Chair Justin Brannan released the Council’s formal response to the Mayor Eric Adams’s Preliminary Budget for Fiscal Year 2026. PSC President James Davis released this statement:

“PSC is grateful to the New York City Council for prioritizing CUNY in its response to the Mayor’s Preliminary FY26 Budget. After three consecutive years of budget cuts to the University from Mayor Adams, our members and students have relied on Speaker Adams, Finance Chair Brannan, Higher Education Chair Dinowitz, and the Council to help rebuild enrollment and supplement funding for CUNY’s faculty and staff. Under the Speaker’s leadership, this Council FY26 response again lifts the work of our members and addresses the dire needs of CUNY. It proposes restoration of PEG cuts that have devastated our community colleges ($90 million); expansion of the incredibly successful CUNY Reconnect program ($11.8 million), which has helped 33,000 students to re-enroll and graduated 8,500 student since its launch three years ago; and investments in successful programs like ASAP ($76.6 million) and ACE ($15 million) that support students more effectively on the path to degree completion than those students not in the program. Additionally, it is gratifying to see the Council respond to the collective voice of the union, students and the administration with the inclusion of $500,000 for a commuting program that would allow 473 students access to free public transportation.

We look forward to fighting for continued increase in enrollment at CUNY and additional investment of resources from the city that it deserves.”

More information about PSC’s FY26 budget platform is posted here.

On Wednesdays PSC members call our elected officials to demand the investments we need at CUNY and the government and services all New Yorkers deserve. Watch for the PSC website and social media feeds for a call to action and phone script!

The New York State Conference of the American Association of University Professors (NYSC AAUP) has awarded the 2025 Francis Higman Award for Service to AAUP Collective Bargaining Chapters in New York State to PSC member-leader Dr. Nancy Romer.

Dr. Romer is a member of the PSC’s Executive Council and the co-chair of the union’s Environmental Justice Working Group. “Under Dr. Romer’s leadership, the PSC has emerged as a leader in the struggle for environmental justice and decarbonization within the New York labor movement,” wrote the AAUP in their press release. “She is a visionary and committed organizer who works tirelessly to empower and build solidarity with others.” Read the full press release here. 

Dr. Romer will be honored with a virtual award ceremony on Zoom on Thursday, April 10th at 12 PM. Add this Zoom link to your calendar and join the celebration.