CUNY Rally Against Lack of Funding and Tuition Hikes—Thurs., Feb. 6
Student groups are mobilizing for a CUNY Rally against Lack of Funding and Tuition Hikes tomorrow, Thursday, February 6 at Baruch College. PSC members and leaders will be there to show our support for the position. We need as many members in support as possible, to demonstrate our power. Please try to get there: 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM tomorrow.
The rally, organized by the Baruch College student government, the CUNY-wide University Student Senate, CUNY Rising and others will begin at the Baruch entrance on the corner of Lexington Ave. and 25th Street. More than a dozen State legislators are supporting the rally and joining students, faculty and staff in the fight for a fully funded CUNY. Several of them plan to attend.
#MakeBillionairesPay Town Hall—Sat., Feb. 8
The PSC will host a town hall organized by the New York Budget Justice coalition this Saturday, February 8, 11 AM – 1:30 PM in the Union Hall (61 Broadway, 16th Floor). The town hall will focus on progressive tax policies backed by a majority of New Yorkers and many legislators, including a wealth tax on billionaires and a pied-a-terre tax on vacant luxury second homes. There is money in New York for a fully funded CUNY—and for great schools, quality health care, better public services and public housing, too—if we redistribute a fair measure of resources from those who have the most to those who have the least in New York State. Attendees will learn about the Coalition’s proposals for 12 new progressive taxes to raise $30 billion for New York and discuss ways to contribute to the campaign. Click here more information and to RSVP.
The State Funding CUNY Needs
Dozens of PSC members were in Albany this week demanding $232.6 million for CUNY in next year’s State budget and a fundamental change to the way CUNY is funded in the years ahead. We need a New Deal for CUNY, not more flat funding and tuition hikes. Click here for the PSC’s priorities for next year’s budget.
At a hearing Tuesday, President Bowen testified before the members of the Senate and Assembly committees on higher education and finance.
“New York’s current policy on CUNY funding is impoverishment by design. … We call on you to refuse to pass a budget unless it includes new revenue from progressive taxation and covers CUNY’s basic operating costs—without raising tuition,” she said.
Watch video of testimony from NYSUT, UUP and PSC.
Join the PSC Social Media Action Team
This year’s budget campaign and the longer fight for a New Deal for CUNY will require a new level of online and real-world activism targeting specific legislators about CUNY’s fiscal needs. If you’re on social media, join the union’s Social Media Action Team. Team members will receive, by email and text, a weekly insider’s update and a digital toolkit to help them post messages and create content.
Sign a Petition Calling for Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Divesting our retirement funds from fossil fuels is a way to help protect our planet and our savings. PSC members can help press the CUNY administration and the managers of CUNY employees’ retirement funds to take action. Visit the PSC’s Divest CUNY webpage to sign one of two petitions for CUNY workers with their retirement funds invested in either the Teachers Retirement System or TIAA.
Fall 2019 Adjunct Pay Dates
For the Spring 2020 semester, teaching adjuncts are scheduled to be paid on eight successive pay dates at two-week intervals. At the senior colleges, the first pay date will be Feb. 13 and the last pay date will be May 21. At most community colleges, the first pay date will be Feb. 7 and the last pay date will be May 13. Kingsborough CC, LaGuardia CC and Guttman CC operate on a different academic calendar with different pay dates. Click here for all of the dates. CUNY has told PSC that the first teaching adjunct pay check will include increased salary rates (rates as of 10/31/19)—including pay for office hours. PSC is awaiting confirmation from CUNY as to when teaching adjuncts will receive their retroactive pay.
