The Mayor’s Restoration of CUNY Funding | NYSUT Resolves to Defend Higher Ed

To help you better understand ranked choice voting (RCV) and why the union’s endorsement strategy for mayor has five candidates with three top ranked candidates, sign up for the RCV Primer for PSC Members scheduled for 6:30 PM on May 19 and June 9. Register here to receive the Zoom link for either session.

News broke last Friday that the Trump administration has ordered the National Science Foundation to freeze all grant funding “until further notice.” The NSF also announced a 15% cap on indirect cost reimbursements, leaving institutions without adequate funds to cover the overhead that makes research possible. (An analogous cut to indirect costs for National Institutes of Health grantees has been paused by a federal court.) In the last two weeks, more than 1000 NSF grants have been cancelled because they “no longer align with the agency’s priorities.” (Scientific American)

The PSC’s Defending Research Funding Working Group is developing a local campaign to agitate the public while pressing CUNY officials and New York’s Congressional delegation to defend research funding. The third meeting of the working group will be held on Zoom this Friday, May 9th at 4PM. Register here to get the Zoom link. If you want to be a part of the working group, fill out the webform at this link.

More than 3000 PSC members and CUNY students have signed the No ICE/DHS on CUNY Campuses petition. Please add your name, if you haven’t already. (Student names will not be made public.) Share the petition link with your networks. You can also download a flier with a QR code linking to the petition.

SIGN PETITION: NO ICE ON CAMPUS!

Prepare – Protest – Protect – Powerbuild:
What we need to know and do in the upcoming period.

We welcome two important guests. Register here.

6:30 PM In keeping with best practices for mutual security, this section will be in person only: Professor Talia Peleg, Associate Professor of Law at the CUNY School of Law and Co-director of Immigrant and Non-citizen Rights Clinic. Prior to CUNY Law, Peleg was an adjunct Supervising Attorney with NYU School of Law’s Immigrant Rights and Advanced Immigrant Rights Clinics. Professor Peleg will provide updated information and guidance on protest, rapid response, and travel. Information that is crucial to protect ourselves and others given the rapidly changing parameters of this work.

7:30 On Zoom and in person: Murad Awawdeh, President & CEO @ The New York Immigration Coalition, NY’s largest organization on immigration justice, representing over 200 member organizations and millions of immigrant New Yorkers. Awawdeh, a skilled strategist and organizer who has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people and won critical legislative victories for immigrant communities, will share information on the work of NYIC and lead us in conversation about how can we be prepared for what may occur on the immigration front that may involve PSC members, our students, and our researchers, who are both citizens and non-citizens.

The Representative Assembly (RA) of our statewide affiliate, NYSUT, passed a PSC-sponsored resolution this weekend calling for a forceful defense of higher education institutions in the face of the current unprecedented attacks on research funding and academic freedom. After powerful speeches by PSC President James Davis, UUP President Fred Kowal, and Roberta Elins, a NYSUT board of directors member representing SUNY’s Community Colleges, the resolution was passed unanimously by the 1500-delegate body at their convention in Rochester, NY. PSC delegates also contributed to other important business at the RA, sitting on a range of issue-specific committees and organizing an Environmental Justice discussion session to share strategy with other locals. Read the resolution and more about the RA here on the PSC website.

This year’s May Day was the latest in a series of national mobilizations to resist the destructive policies of the second Trump presidency. On May 1, the international workers’ rights day, unions and community groups from across the U.S. mounted over 1,000 demonstrations to oppose the billionaire oligarchs’ agenda, stand up for the working class, and demand a country that is more fair, just, equitable, and free for all its citizens—and not just a chosen few.

In NYC, PSC members marched with thousands of workers organized by the NYC Central Labour Council and its 300 local unions. The demonstrators gathered at Foley Square and marched to the Charging Bull statue at Bowling Green. PSC members carried signs that said “Stop the War on Workers” and “Money for Education, Not Oligarchs.”

On Monday, April 28th, adjuncts at Hunter College participated in a “flash mob” event in a main student walkway during passing period between classes. They held signs reading “I’m an Adjunct, ask me what that means” and engaged students, colleagues, and other passersby in discussions of what adjunct labor is and what PSC adjuncts are organizing toward right now. The event, which is part of the union’s “Adjunct April” campaign, also gathered signatures for the union’s letter to defend the multi-year appointment policy that was settled in bargaining.

Click here to send a letter to management expressing your opposition to their distortion of the negotiated multi-year appointment agreement! Your letter will lend support to the PSC’s 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.

Join the PSC’s Committee for Adjuncts and Part-timers (CAP) for an online unemployment insurance information session this Friday, May 9, from 1-2PM. Click here to register for the Zoom and get the meeting link. PSC-represented adjuncts may be eligible for unemployment benefits between semesters depending on their individual circumstances. Join the CAP committee and Jon Bloom of the Workers’ Defense League as they review Unemployment Benefits 101 for Adjuncts.

After months of economic uncertainty, student loan borrowers are facing a confusing system and rising political threats to college affordability. Register here for the latest AFT student debt workshop to be held Thursday, May 8 at 6:00PM. Join AFT President Randi Weingarten, Mike Pierce (Executive Director of the Student Borrower Protection Center), AFT members, and a special guest to get the latest updates on how to:

• Navigate student loan repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
• Restart payments after the pause.
• Understand your rights under Income Driven Repayment plans.
• Learn what the AFT is doing in the courts and in Congress to defend affordable education and fight back against harmful policies.