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This Week in the PSC

This Week in the PSC (05.04.17): PSC Members Testify About Adjunct Faculty Pay

May 08, 2017

Dozens of PSC members testified in support of the PSC’s demand to increase the pay of adjunct faculty to $7,000 per course at the last CUNY Board of Trustees hearing. Written testimony submitted by some of the members who spoke at the hearing is posted here on the PSC website.

Susan Fountain, adjunct professor, CUNY School of Professional Studies testified:

“I currently work three part-time jobs, but in 2015-16, I worked five different part-time jobs, my adjunct teaching being but one of them. Do you know what it is like to work for five different employers – to put notes next to your alarm clock to remind you of where to go when you wake up? To juggle the deadlines of multiple employers that come due at the same time, meaning some nights you don’t even bother to set that alarm clock because you know you won’t have time for sleep? To delay necessary medical care because your CUNY health insurance disappears if one of your two courses doesn’t run?” Read Fountain’s full testimony here.

President Bowen Responds to the Post’s False Headline
On May Day, hundreds of PSC members joined a nationwide university moratorium in resistance to assaults on knowledge and research by integrating into their classes an examination of the impact of President Trump’s policies as relevant to the subjects of their classes. The NY Post published an article about the action with false headline: “CUNY professors will skip school to protest Trump.” President Bowen demanded a retraction in a letter to the editor because the PSC explicitly called on faculty to teach on May 1, and said that she stands by her statement that college instructors have a responsibility to challenge untruths . Read more.

Vote NO on the Constitutional Convention November 7
The convention is supported by some well-intentioned government reform groups, but everything in the constitution would be on the table for discussion. That includes the constitutional mandates against the cutting of pensions, a guarantee to a public education, protection of the workers’ compensation system, the right for public-sector unions to bargain collectively and a requirement that the state provide social welfare services. Read more in Clarion.

Rally for Adult Literacy—Tues., May 9
The PSC is a part of the New York City Coalition for Adult Literacy (NYCCAL), an alliance of groups advocating for a strong system of community-based adult literacy, funded by a baselined New York City investment of $12 million per year. PSC members will join other immigration and literacy activists at the Rally for Adult Literacy on Tuesday, May 9 at 11 AM at Brooklyn Borough Hall. More than 2 million New Yorkers currently lack English proficiency and/or a high school diploma—one third of the entire adult population of the city—yet the Mayor’s budget proposal for next year does not renew the $12 million included for adult literacy in this year’s budget. Without the funding, over 5,700 students will lose access to their classes after June 30. Come stand with the PSC and our partners in NYCCAL as we call on the City to continue the $12 million investment as the first step in building a universal system of adult literacy where all immigrants, refugees and other adult learners can access educational opportunities to strengthen themselves and their families.

Visit the online calendar for locations and more information

Bronx CC Recommitment Training, May 4, 5:00pm

Queensborough CC HEO Meeting, May 5, 2:00pm

BMCC Adjunct Meeting, May 8, 5:30pm

John Jay College Recommitment Tabling, May 8, 11:00am

CLT Chapter Meeting, May 9, 6:00pm

Medgar Evers Chapter Meeting, May 10, 11:30am

City Tech HEO Recommitment Training, May 12, 12:00pm

Hunter College Chapter Meeting, May 10, 1:00pm

LaGuardia Adjuncts Recommitment Training, May 10, 2:00pm


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