Board of Trustees Hearing Alert
At the end of the legislative session in June, the state legislature authorized CUNY and SUNY to increase senior college tuition by up to $300 per year for the next five years. In November 2010, the CUNY Trustees approved a senior college tuition hike of $230 for 2011-2012. This legislation allows the Trustees to increase senior college tuition by another $70 for 2011-2012 and by as much as $300 per year in each of the next four years.
Five years of tuition increases would amount to an outrageous tax in disguise—a tax that would disproportionately hurt the poor. To protect opportunity for our students and long-term public investment in our university, PSC will continue to advocate for full public funding for CUNY.
The Trustees have scheduled an emergency meeting for Thursday, July 21 at 5:00 PM to “make tuition consistent with recently enacted State of New York legislation.” The resolution calls for $150 per semester tuition hikes for full-time students at senior and community colleges. The day before the vote, on Wednesday July 20, the CUNY Board of Trustees will hold a public hearing on the tuition increase, also at 5:00 PM. Both the hearing and the official vote will take place in the Board Room at 535 E. 80th Street. The preregistration period to present testimony ended today, Tuesday, July 19 at 4:30 PM, but the hearing is open to the public. (CUNY is strict about enforcing their own room capacity limits, so arrive early.)
Visit the Committee of Legislation’s Photo Gallery
We’re working hard to ensure that the new PSC website reflects the depth and breadth of the work of the union and the diversity of its chapters, committees and members.
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That’s why we’ve encouraged chapters and committees to get invested in the site: to use it as a resource, a bulletin board, and even an organizing tool. In the last edition of This Week, we showed you the City Tech chapter’s Activism in Their Own Words project, which used the website to display student writings about their first brush with political engagement. Today, we’re highlighting photo galleries posted on the Committee on Legislation’s webpage.
Defend Social Security
There’s a plan on Capitol Hill that would slash Social Security benefits as part of a deficit reduction package. By changing the way Social Security cost of living adjustments are calculated, the plan would cut the benefit for an average earner retiring in 2011 by as much as $6,000 over 15 years. Read about what’s wrong with the proposal, then click here to tell Senators Gillibrand and Schumer, “Don’t cut Social Security.” Find more information about PSC’s Defend the Social Safety Net Campaign on our website.
Welcome our New Staff
Join us in welcoming three new staff members. Sarah Hughes has been hired as an organizer. She comes to us with experience organizing graduate student employees at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Ida Cheng is Barbara Bowen’s new professional assistant. She comes to us with a Masters of Public Administration from NYU and three years of experience in the 1199 UHE SEIU research department. Jared Herst is PSC’s new Coordinator of Pension and Health Benefits. Before joining us, Jared worked closely with PSC members on a several CUNY campuses in his role as a senior individual consultant at TIAA-CREF.
