Grad assistantsstrike at NYUNYU’s refusal to bargainsparks a walkout by graduateworkers. Meanwhile, NewSchool adjuncts win theirfirst union contract. PAGE 6

There was movement at the bargaining table in October and November, withprogress toward an agreement between the union and CUNY management.There was movement on the campuses as well, as PSC activists focused on out-reach to students and building local union networks. (Above, Effie Cochran talks

with John Jay students about their stake in the contract fight.) The Nov. 3 dead-line set by the PSC Executive Council for real progress in negotiations changedthe bargaining atmosphere, as did the settlement of other City contracts. Butsome stubborn issues remained unresolved. PAGES 6-7 & 12

CUNY seeks annual hikes

TUITION

The chancellor wantstuition indexed to inflation.The PSC warns that in thelong run, the idea is amoney-loser. PAGE 4

NYC LABOR

l

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS l AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS l N.Y.C. CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL l N.Y.S. AFL-CIO l NEW YORK STATE UNITED TEACHERS

Can’t live onthought alone

SALARIES

True respect for the hardwork of CUNY’s faculty and staff should mean decentpay, not Wal-Mart wages, anadjunct says. PAGE 11

Clarıon 2,100 sign public

appeal

MEDIA

PSC members speak out for afair settlement.

PAGE 10

Reappointment& evaluation

YOUR RIGHTS

For many new faculty andCLTs, December 1 is the dead-line for notification aboutreappointment. Know yourrights in this process. PAGE 8

NEWSPAPER OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK NOVEMBER 2005

Dav

e Sa

nder

s

By LETICIA TAYLOR

This fall PSC members Rikki Asherof Queens College and RochelleShicoff of Hunter took their art out ofthe classroom and into Bedford-Stuyvesant, through a mural projectdedicated to the late congresswomanShirley Chisholm. Titled “WhenWomen Pursue Justice,” the muralcelebrates 90 women who were lead-ers and activists in the 20th Century.

Artmakers, an artist-run commu-nity mural organization, wanted todo the project in the Brooklynneighborhood that Chisholm had

represented. Members of the groupcontacted Shicoff and Asher, whosework they admired, and invitedthem to participate.

Shicoff is an adjunct professor atHunter’s School of Education, whileAsher is an assistant professor anddirector of art education in the Edu-cation Division at Queens. Two ofAsher’s students, Zoe Sanders andSofia Lozefski, volunteered for theproject after she described it to hermural-making class.

The project “was a great way to en-able students who had participated inthe course to see what it is like topaint a mural in another communitywith muralists and apply what theylearned,” said Asher. She and Shicoffwere among 14 principal artists whoworked on the piece, along with fivepaid interns from a local high schooland 30 volunteer artists and neighbor-hood residents – all of them women.

“A lot of the interns didn’t knowwho the women were, and this is

part of why the mural was needed,”said Janet Braun-Reinitz, one of thefounders of Artmakers. In fact, shesaid, in the process of making thiswork of art, artists and studentsboth learned about these womenand the struggles they waged.

In 2006, the Brooklyn Public Li-brary will host an exhibition aboutthe mural, and a booklet describingthe mural and the contributions ofthe women it depicts will be distrib-uted at no charge through schoolsand community organizations.

The mural is located at 498 GreeneAve., at the corner of Nostrand.

l Management’s demand that fac-ulty return to school (for non-teach-ing work) a week early each fall isbased on an impoverished concep-tion of productivity. As any econo-mist, or successful businessperson(and this presumably includesMayor Bloomberg) would attest,productivity is not mainly a func-tion of how long and hard oneworks, but of the technology andhuman capital at a worker’s dispos-al. (This is why the average Amer-ican worker today is much moreproductive than his/her counter-part at the beginning of industrial-ization, when the workday wasmuch longer than it is today).

Faculty members make a centralcontribution to both technologicaldevelopment and the building ofhuman capital. They do so boththrough their research and throughthe contribution that such research

makes to their teaching. The ironyis that even as we contribute togrowing productivity and a largereconomic pie for society as a whole,the University offers salary in-creases below inflation – in otherwords a piece of the pie that issmaller in absolute as well as in rel-ative terms.

Costas Panayotakis City Tech

Don’t jail Miguel Malol And when they came for me, therewas no one left to speak out.

– Pastor Martin Niemoller

Non-cooperation with evil is asmuch a moral obligation as cooper-ation with good.

– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The court found me guilty and fined

me $10.00 plus $4.00 in court costs.– Mrs. Rosa Parks

I am a professor of Allied Healthat the City University of New York,at Hostos Community College, with34 years of teaching experienceand involvement in the Universitycommunity.

I personally know Mr. MiguelMalo. Miguel is not a delinquentwho deliberately sought to disre-gard and interrupt the public or-der. He is a gentle person whotried to express issues that otherswere not able to express for them-selves. Before, during, and follow-ing Mr. Malo’s arrest, he has con-tinued to represent, with dignityand respect, issues affecting thelarger society.

Placing Miguel in jail denies all ofus the protection of being heardand being able to speak up. No jail

time should be imposed on Mr. Ma-lo, and CUNY should ask the Dis-trict Attorney to stop its prosecu-tion of this case.

Alida Pastoriza MaldonadoHostos

Setting the record straightl In the July 2005 Clarion, the in-troduction to Kenneth B. Clark’sobservations about scholarship andsocial justice includes two factualerrors that could lend a misleadingimpression of Professor Clark’searly days at the City College of New York. Professor Clark re-ceived tenure in 1950, not 1960 – andfrom CCNY, not CUNY. (CUNYwas a nascent dream then.)

In 1976 Professor Clark was inter-viewed by me for a monograph, Rec-ollections: An Oral History of thePsychology Department of the City

College of the City University of NewYork. He related that his initial ap-pointment to the City College was inthe summer of 1941. He left the Col-lege at least three times during the1940’s. Once to develop a psycholo-gy department at Hampton Insti-tute, another to join the Office ofWar Information to work withRalph Bunche, and a third time totest out whether he would be happi-er at Queens College. Ken was pro-foundly appreciative of the supportof Gardner Murphy, the departmen-tal chair, in those early career trials.He returned to City College in 1947and received tenure in 1950. Profes-sor Clark never had one moment ofdoubt that he would get tenure atCity College.

Lawrence NymanCCNY (emeritus)

Editor Peter Hogness responds: Theincorrect date cited in our introduc-tion came from the American Psy-chological Association and from theNew York Times. We’re glad to havethe record set straight by one of Ken-neth Clark’s former colleagues.

2 NEWS & LETTERS Clarion | November 2005

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | WRITE TO: CLARION/PSC, 25 W. 43RD STREET, FIFTH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10036. E-MAIL: PHOGNESS@PSCMAIL.ORG. FAX: 212-302-7815.

Letic

ia T

aylo

r

The real meaning of productivity

While the aftermath of HurricaneKatrina no longer gets large head-lines, the need for assistance is justas great. After quickly respondingwith donations to relief efforts ofthe American Federation of Teach-ers, the AFL-CIO, and CommunityLabor United of New Orleans, thePSC is appealing to members tosupport recovery work by DillardUniversity and the AFT.

While Dillard, a historically blackuniversity in New Orleans, success-fully evacuated all students by busbefore the hurricane hit, its campussustained significant damage.Funds raised through the PSC Kat-rina Fund will go toward the recov-ery and reopening of the school’s li-brary. Checks should be made outto “PSC/CUNY Federal CreditUnion, account # 9615,” and shouldbe mailed to PSC/CUNY FederalCredit Union, 25 W. 43rd Street, 5thfloor, NY, NY 10036. For more infor-mation, contact Cecelia McCall at212-354-1252.

Contributions to the AFT Disas-ter Relief Fund will be used for di-rect assistance to AFT members inthe region who have been displaced.Donations can be made online atwww.aft.org/katrina/index.htm. Tocontribute by mail, make out checksto “AFT Disaster Relief Fund,” andsend them to the Fund, c/o John Hylad, Treasurer, PSC, 25 West 43rdStreet, 5th floor, NY, NY 10036. – LT

Katrinavictimsneed yourhelp

“When Women Pursue Justice” in Bed-StuyMural has CUNY connection

Clarion | November 2005 NEWS 3

By DANIA RAJENDRA

On October 11, the PSC and unionmember Twana Lindsay won an ar-bitration victory that strengthensmembers’ rights on reappointmentdeadlines and due process. Arbitra-tor Alan Symonette found thatmanagement had violated theunion contract in several ways, andordered that Lindsay be reappoint-ed to her position as a higher educa-tion associate at QueensboroughCommunity College.

RULES ENFORCEDThe ruling emphasized that

CUNY must abide by the deadlinesset forth in the contract for notice ofnon-reappointment. For employeesin the higher education officer(HEO) series who are reappointedannually, this means they must betold by March whether they will bereappointed as of the following July.“The March deadline is not condi-tional,” wrote Symonette, and he re-jected CUNY’s attempt to change itsmind about reappointing Lindsay af-ter this deadline had passed.

The arbitrator also affirmed thatif CUNY management wants to de-mote or fire someone, it cannot sim-ply decide not to reappoint them.“By taking an administrative steprather than discipline, the Collegehas deprived the grievant of hercontractual right to challenge the al-legations made against her,” wroteSymonette – and he ruled that thiscannot be allowed.

Instead, the decisionstates, management mustgo through the discipli-nary process spelled outin the contract. This putsthe burden of proof onmanagement, which must show justcause for the discipline, and it givesthe member the right to respond.

EVALUATIONFinally, Symonette ordered CUNY

to remove an improperly preparedevaluation from Lindsay’s file. “Thearbitrator upheld the sanctity of theannual evaluation process,” notedPSC Director of Legal AffairsNathaniel Charny, who argued thecase at arbitration. “It requires a real meeting of the PSC memberand her supervisor. They can’t justwrite your evaluation before themeeting, hand it to you, and ask youto sign it. And it can’t just focus onone topic – it has to address youroverall performance.”

Lindsay, a 12-year employee ofthe University, first came to CUNYas an accountant, a position repre-sented by AFSCME DC 37. In 2001,she was promoted to assistant bur-sar at Queensborough – a highereducation associate position, repre-sented by the PSC – where her responsibilities included federal accounting.

When students withdraw beforethe end of a semester, some of thestudent aid they have received mustbe returned to the federal govern-ment, and Lindsay’s duties included

overseeing the reimbursement ofthese funds. When the reimburse-ment deadline was moved up, herwork day suddenly got a lot longer.

“I put in extreme hours,” Lindsaytold Clarion, “getting in at nine andstaying past midnight, while I was

grieving for a close fami-ly member.” She told hersupervisors that thedeadlines were impossi-ble to meet with the num-ber of staff currentlytrained to do the job. “I

missed the deadline by two days,”she recalled. “But I had done my jobto the best of my ability.” In the end,she said, “the deadlines were un-reachable.”

In February 2003, Lindsay had al-ready received a satisfactory eval-uation and a letter informing her ofher third annual reappointment.But on April 19, she came to workto find she was being demoted. “Iwent into the office as usual, and astaff member told me she was sor-ry to hear I was being transferredout of the office,” Lindsay said. Hersupervisor called her in and hand-ed her a new evaluation. Writtenup in advance, it talked only aboutfederal reimbursements and ratedher unsatisfactory. “A couple ofhours later I was told that I was be-ing moved,” Lindsay recalled. “Iwas just in a daze because every-thing was happening so fast.”

SLAP IN FACEThe same day, CUNY gave Lind-

say a letter of non-reappointment –more than seven weeks after theMarch 1 deadline for notifying em-ployees. “I went from working as as-sistant bursar to working in the ac-counting office, where I previouslyworked as the director,” Lindsaysaid. “I felt I had given everything I

had to that project – and instead ofthanking me, as I thought I de-served, I got a slap in the face.”

Management contended thatLindsay had misrepresented herwork on the federal funds reim-bursement to her supervisor, andthat he was unaware that therewere any problems with the dead-line. For this reason, CUNY main-tained, management was justified inreversing itself on her reappoint-ment. But the arbitrator firmly re-jected this argument.

INSTITUTIONAL PROBLEMSymonette noted that Linsday

“has adamantly challenged” thecharge that she misrepresentedanything about her work. If CUNYis allowed to simply not reappointher over this issue, he wrote, “theUniversity thus avoids the need toprove its allegation while the griev-ant has little or no opportunity tochallenge it.” Instead, he ruled, ifmanagement wants to remove aunion member from his or her cur-rent position, it must do so throughthe discipline process spelled out inthe contract, which allows employ-ees to have their “day in court.”

Vera Weekes, the PSC grievancecounselor who handled the case,said that the ruling had preventedmanagement from making Linsdaya scapegoat. “This was an institu-tional problem,” said Weekes. “Itwasn’t a Twana Lindsay problem.”The contract exists to protect mem-bers in such situations, she said:“There’s a contractual process man-agement has to follow, whether theylike it or not.”

“If this had been left unchecked,”Weekes observed, “it would havemeant that even months afterthey’ve given someone a letter ofreappointment, they could turn

around and rescind it wheneverthey want. In that case the deadlinesand the contract would mean noth-ing.” Instead, she said, the rulingputs “real teeth” in the contract’sguarantees.

Lindsay called the union the sameday she was improperly demoted –and she’s glad she did. While goingthrough the grievance and arbitra-tion process was sometimes stress-ful, said Lindsay, it was worth it.“Besides the union, no one wouldlisten,” she told Clarion. “At the endI was happy that I finally got achance to give my side of the story.”

ArbitratoroverrulesCUNY, ordersreappointment

By DANIA RAJENDRA

On September 22, the PSC DelegateAssembly approved an amendmentto the union’s constitution thatadded two positions to the Execu-tive Council for representatives ofPSC members who are retirees. Del-egates also voted to eliminate a con-stitutional provision thathad barred retiree mem-bers from being elected tounion-wide office.

“This important struc-tural change recognizes the vitalrole retirees play in the life of theunion,” said Retirees Chapter ChairIrwin Yellowitz. “It will benefit bothretirees and the entire PSC.”

Over the last decade the RetireesChapter has grown to include morethan 2,200 PSC members. Retireeshave been a visible and vocal pres-

ence at demonstrations for a faircontract, including a protest at aBoard of Trustees meeting in Febru-ary that focused on retiree issues.

Retiree Jim Perlstein, who co-chairs the union’s Solidarity Com-mittee, reminded those at the Sep-tember meeting that every PSCmember is a “retiree in training.”

Delegates voted unan-imously in favor of bothconstitutional changes.Retiree Executive Coun-cil Officers will be cho-

sen for the first time in union-wideelections next spring. Only retireemembers may vote for candidatesfor these two positions.

As with all EC posts, the newlycreated retiree positions have athree-year term of office. The twoadditions will give the PSC Execu-tive Council a total of 27 members.

Retiree representativesadded to PSC Exec

CUNY told to obey deadlinesCan’t use non-reappointment for discipline

Twana Lindsay, right, and Vera Weekes, the grievance counselor who handled her case

Every memberis a “retiree in training.”

Pete

r Hog

ness

B.C. government sparks illegal strikeBritish Columbia teachers voted toaccept a mediator’s report and re-turn to classes October 24 after con-tinuing with a strike that was de-clared illegal after its first day, Oc-tober 7. The strike was in responseto the provincial government’s de-cision to impose a contract by legis-lation and without negotiations.BC’s right-wing government hadpreviously passed a law limitingteachers’ right to strike, which theInternational Labor Organizationsaid violated the ILO conventions.

The teachers had support fromstaff, students, parents, the Cana-dian Union of Public Employees,Canadian Teachers’ Federation,and educators internationally.Support staff from schools walkedpicket lines with teachers, and stu-dents and parents delivered foodto the lines. When the courtsbanned distribution of strike pay,post-secondary faculty unionsbought $200,000 in grocery vouch-ers for teachers. Educators in Mex-ico and Guatemala demanded thatCanada comply with internationallabor law.

Airline food groundedGate Gourmet workers in Düssel-dorf went on strike October 7 fol-lowing a deadlock in collectivebargaining. The airline catererhad just settled an agreement withworkers at London’s Heathrowairport when the dispute in Ger-many broke out. Gate Gourmet de-manded concessions in workinghours, holiday leave, and shift pre-miums, while the German foodand restaurant workers unionNGG called for a wage increase of4.5% to cover inflation.

WORLD LABORIN BRIEF

4 NEWS Clarion | November 2005

Staten Island says ‘no’to Wal-MartWal-Mart is continuing efforts toopen its first store in New YorkCity. The company is currentlyconsidering two sites in Staten Is-land, one in Mariner’s Harbor andthe other in Richmond Valley. Butunion members, politicians, andcommunity activists ralliedagainst the idea in an October 25forum at Staten Island’s PetridesSchool.

The mega-chain has become no-torious for paying poverty-levelwages, pressuring workers to la-bor off the clock, and offering nohealth insurance to most of itsworkers.

Lately Wal-Mart has devotedmore resources to public relations,in an effort to improve its image,but Patrick Purcell of the Wal-Mart Free NYC coalition warnedthe crowd not to be fooled. “Youcan put a tuxedo on a pig, but it’sstill a pig,” said Purcell.

State Sen. Diane Savino, a long-time union activist recently electedto represent a district that spansStaten Island and Brooklyn, saidthat the $1,000 deductible in Wal-Mart’s health plan made it of littleuse to employees whose annualpay averages less than $20,000.Savino said the plan was about ashelpful as offering “ice in winter.”

Radio City Local 802 of the American Federa-tion of Musicians filed a complaintwith the National Labor RelationsBoard on November 4, chargingRadio City Music Hall’s owner, Ca-

blevision Systems Corp., with ex-tortion. Cablevision locked out mu-sicians in Radio City’s Christmasspectacular after they staged aone-day strike, and the lockoutcontinued at Clarion press time.

According to Local 802 PresidentDavid Lennon, Cablevision Presi-dent James Dolan said he wouldnot agree to a contract unless theunion signed a letter stating it had“lied and misled the public, thepress, and patrons” about RadioCity’s position in contract talks,charges which the union denies.

The Radio City Rockettes per-formed without live musicians forthe first time on November 3.

By HANK WILLIAMS, BMCC & CCNY& PETER HOGNESS

At its November 28 meeting, theCUNY Board of Trustees is expect-ed to endorse a plan for automaticannual increases in tuition, essen-tially indexing it to inflation. Theproposal would form part ofCUNY’s budget request to Albanyfor the coming year, and requireslegislative approval.

The push to adopt a sys-tem of constantly rising tu-ition comes only two yearsafter one of the largest tu-ition hikes in CUNY history,and one year after an addi-tional another steep increasefor graduate students. ThePSC Executive Council voted to op-posed the plan, saying it would “putaccess to the University out of reachof many students, violating the Uni-versity’s historic mission.” Theunion pointed out that tuition andfees have grown to nearly equal theamount of State funding for operat-ing CUNY’s senior colleges.

MASTER PLANPSC leaders said that tuition in-

dexing would let the State off thehook for funding public higher edu-cation. “The chancellor’s plan as-sents to the continued slide awayfrom using tax dollars to supportpublic needs,” said PSC SecretaryCecelia McCall.

Chancellor Matthew Goldsteinadvanced the tuition plan at an Oc-tober 7 legislative hearing, as part ofa proposal for funding CUNY’s Mas-ter Plan. The chancellor noted thatwhile New York law requires CUNYto develop a Master Plan every fiveyears, Albany is not required to payfor it – and he proposed “a compactwith the State” to put the Master

Plan on more solid financial ground.Under this “compact,” the State

and City for would provide full tax-levy funding of the University’smandatory costs. Public fundingwould also cover at least 20% of thecosts of investment in new initia-tives, such as additional full-timefaculty, research support, and en-

hancements of academicand student services. Therest would be come from“modest tuition increases,with no increase greaterthan the Higher EducationPrice Index,” plus privatefundraising, enrollment

growth, and “greater efficiencies.”CUNY management bills the plan

as an “economically efficient way tofinance” the University. It says thatincreases in tuition, while constant,would not be “huge and unexpect-ed,” averaging 2.5% annually for thenext four years, and that financialaid would keep poor students frombeing hurt. The chancellor contendsthat the commitment to rising tu-ition would help “leverage funds”from the State and City, and that“over time [the plan] would reducethe proportion of operational ex-penses covered by tuition.”

UNION RESPONDSAt the same October 7 hearing

where the chancellor advanced hisplan, PSC President Barbara Bowenresponded that it would absolve theState and City of their responsibili-ty to fund CUNY. By relying soheavily on tuition and privatefundraising, Goldstein’s plan insti-tutionalizes a reduced fundingobligation for the State and City andfurther privatizes the University.

State appropriations per full-timestudent have fallen behind inflationby $1,673 at SUNY and by a stagger-ing $6,188 at CUNY since 1990, saidBowen, citing figures from the NYState Board of Regents. In the ab-sence of adequate public funding,she said, faculty, staff, and studentshave subsidized the University.

PRICED OUT?Many students are concerned

that steadily rising tuition will put aburden on those least able to pay. “Itmakes me fearful for the future ofworking-class and poor students,who will definitely be priced out [ofCUNY],” said Rodolfo Leyton, a stu-dent at CCNY.

Opponents of annual increasespoint out that many CUNY studentsmust work full-time while attendingcollege to support themselves andtheir families. But New York’s Tu-ition Assistance Program does notassist many of the students whoneed it most. Part-time students arenot eligible for TAP, and the pro-gram also excludes many studentswho are financially self-supporting.

Hamid Kherief, co-chair ofCUNY’s discipline council for Eng-lish as a Second Language, notesthat TAP is not available to CUNY’sthousands of undocumented immi-grant students, or to those on stu-dent visas. “The choice is tough forthem,” said Kherief. “For many, tu-ition increases could make CUNYprohibitively expensive.”

Miriam Kramer of he NY PublicInterest Research Group says that“there is no way to guarantee thatthis type of tuition plan could avoidsteep increases in the future.” Ac-cording to Kramer, “Other states

that supposedly index their tuitionto inflation have increased theirrates above and beyond that indexduring years of fiscal austerity.” InAlaska and Ohio, “indexed” tuitionhas seen annual increases as high as10 to 13 percent. “What happens isthat the indexed tuition serves as afloor, but not a ceiling,” Kramer said.

That political uncertainty, NYPIRGsays, also extends to financial aid.Federal student aid is now on thechopping block in Congress (see p.12), and a NYPIRG report on Gover-nor Pataki’s higher education recordshows that he has recommended cutsto TAP or financial aid programs sev-en times in the last ten years.

PSC leaders say that in the longrun, higher tuition would not evenguarantee more money for City Uni-versity. “The record shows that tu-ition increases are a losing strategyfor CUNY,” said PSC TreasurerJohn Hyland. “Tuition was raisedtwice in the 1990s – and by the end ofthe decade, in real dollars, CUNYhad $159 million less in total operat-ing funds.”

HIKES LIKELY?Goldstein’s support for indexing

tuition to inflation goes back at leastto January 2003, when he promotedthe idea in a speech at the HarvardClub of New York. “Indexing canprovide a rational basis for tuitionpolicy making,” he said at the time,citing Michigan and Florida as posi-tive examples.

A proposal to index both CUNYand SUNY tuition to inflation wasmade last year by Governor GeorgePataki. It was rejected by the legisla-ture after intense opposition from thePSC, student groups and others. Butthis year, with Goldstein’s support,indexing may have a better chance ofwinning Albany’s approval.

CUNY Board considers plan forannual tuition hikes

Indexed to inflation

The planlets Albanyoff thehook,warns PSC

CorrectionDue to an editing error the October2005 Clarion misstated the topsalary under the previous UFT con-tract. The correct figure is $81,232.

NYC LABORIN BRIEF

NOVEMBER 3 – JANUARY 30: Activismand Repression: the Struggle forFree Speech at CCNY, 1931-42. Pre-viously seen at CCNY and theCUNY Grad Center, this exhibit in-cludes more than 100 images of stu-dent and faculty activism in theGreat Depression, and the ensuingrepression that led to dismissal ofmore than 50 staff and faculty.Baruch College Library, 155 E. 25thStreet. Also online at www.vny.cuny.edu/gutter/panels/panel1.html.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2: 4:00 pm / “FirstFridays” meeting of the DA Part-time Personnel Committee, at thePSC office, 25 W. 43rd Street. Con-tact Marcia Newfield, at 212-354-1252.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 5: HEO-CLT Pro-fessional Development Fund meet-ing. HEO-CLT committee meets toreview applications for profession-al development grants. Applica-tions will be reviewed on the firstMonday of each month throughJune. For more info contact LindaSlifkin at lslifkin@pscmail.org or212-354-1252.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9: 6:00 pm / LaborGoes to the Movies – A Day’s Work,A Day’s Pay follows three NYC wel-fare recipients as they participate inthe largest workfare program in the country. Forced to work at cityjobs for below prevailing wage anddeprived of the chance to go toschool, they fight back, demandingprograms that will help them moveoff of welfare and into real jobs. At99 Hudson Street, 6th floor. Formore information contact Dania Ra-jendra at drajendra@ pscmail.org.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19: TIAA-CREFpension counseling. Vito Ruvolofrom TIAA-CREF will be at the PSCoffice to discuss retirement options.Contact Linda Slifkin at 212-354-1252to schedule an appointment.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20: 6:00 pm / PSCWomen’s Committee meeting. Formore info, contact Norah Chase at212-354-1252 or NChase91@aol.com.

CALENDAR

Geek chic was on display at NYU when graduate workers set up picket lines afterthey began a strike November 9. See article, page 6.

NYU grad assistants represent

Clarion | November 2005 NEWS 5

By PETER HOGNESS

On October 24, student leader MiguelMalo was convicted of assaultagainst a CUNY security officer, incharges that stem from a 2001 protestat Hostos Community College.

Malo and his attorney said theverdict would be appealed. “I am in-nocent,” said Malo. “My conscienceis clear.”

“A terrible wrong has been com-mitted against a very decent guy,”said Gerald Meyer, professor emer-itus of social science, at a press con-ference held the next day. “I knowMiguel very well. He’s a father, avery gentle man, and someone whonever did anyone any harm.” Meyersaid the conviction was “a disgrace”for CUNY, and a troubling attemptto criminalize free speech.

Malo was arrested while leafletingstudents lined up at registration, urg-ing them to speak out against cuts inbilingual classes and a policy changethat made English writing workshops

more expensive. The court complaintstated that police first moved to ar-rest him when he “began to hold up asign and protest against the collegeadministration.” Another Hostos stu-dent, Pedro Rivera, was arrested afterhe held up a sign that said, “Stop Ar-resting Our Students!” Chargesagainst Rivera were later dropped,and the PSC and University FacultySenate both urged that chargedagainst Malo be dropped as well.

Then vice president of the HostosStudent Senate, Malo said it was infact CUNY security officers whohad assaulted him, and post-arrestphotos showed that he sustainedseveral bruises. Malo said he haddeclined a plea deal that would haveavoided any penalty, because it re-quired him to plead guilty to some-thing he did not do. “I was broughtup to always tell the truth,” he toldClarion.

“There are at least two or threeissues that I believe would be thebasis for an appeal,” said Malo’s at-torney Karen Funk. Supporters saidthat the judge in the case had not al-lowed testimony on several rele-vant points, such as the history ofthe protest site as a traditional “freespeech area” for student groups.

More than 50 people have writ-ten to the judge in the case urgingthat Malo not be given any jailtime, including the college’sgrants officer and a priest whoserves as the Catholic Chuch’scampus minister.

Malo will be sentenced on Tues-day, December 13, at 9:30 am, inBronx Supreme Court Part 21. Theproceedings will be held on the low-er main floor of the Criminal Courtbuilding at 215 East 161st Street, andMalo’s supporters have urged thepublic to attend.

Free speech at issue

Campus Equity Week: analysis and protestBy LETICIA TAYLOR

During Campus Equity Week,CUNY adjunct faculty spoke outabout the challenges that face themas contingent workers and dis-cussed how to organize for change.The PSC-sponsored events wereamong more than 100 that wereheld across North America.

The week at CUNY combinedanalysis and protest. “PSC has beenparticipating in CEW since it begainin 2001,” said VP for part-time affairsMarcia Newfield. “This is the firsttime we’ve taken it to the streets.”

On October 28, Joe Berry, chair ofthe Chicago Coalition of ContingentAcademic Labor, spoke about hisrecently published book, Reclaim-ing the Ivory Tower. In keeping withthe book’s subtitle – Organizing Ad-juncts to Change Higher Education– Berry emphasized the need for ad-juncts to build solidarity and thinkabout how the contingent facultystruggle for justice fits within thebroader society.

THE MAJORITY“If the entire enterprise of higher

education is de-funded or turnedover to profit-seeking corpora-tions,” he warned, “adjunct facultyequity would be a hollow victory.”Both for their own sake and for thefuture of the university, said Berry,part-time faculty must organize.

“We’re the majority of facultynow,” said Jason Blank, an adjunctmath lecturer at BMCC and CityTech. “We have to fight to put jobsecurity, seniority, and equity onthe table.” Blank held one end of ahuge banner that declared “Ad-juncts Unite!” during a November 1protest outside the CUNY Graduate

Center. “We’re 10,000 strong,” hetold Clarion, “and we need equityand respect.”

Blank said his greatest challengeas an adjunct is “not knowingwhether I’ll be hired back for anoth-er semester.” To dramatize the un-fairness of adjuncts’ contingent sta-tus, protesters unfurled a giant “Se-niority Scroll.” It listed the namesand years of service of dozens oflong-serving CUNY adjuncts, someof whom have worked for the Uni-versity for as long as 30 years.

Speakers stood on a soapbox andaddressed homeward-bound com-muters while other adjunct activists

handed out fliers decrying part-timers’ working conditions. Thosewho stopped to listen were oftensurprised to learn of the hard reali-ties of part-time faculty pay. Addingup all the hours that it really takesto teach a class, said Geoffrey Blank,Jason’s brother, “I got paid moreworking as a lifeguard over thesummer – and I didn’t have to go toschool for that.”

THE FUTUREAfter a couple of hours of street

protest, adjunct activists went in-side for a panel discussion on the fu-ture of academic labor.

The panel brought analyticalperspectives on academic labor to-gether with the direct experience oforganizing. Brenda Carter, a PhDcandidate and organizer at Yalesince 1997, said that over the last 15years the Yale contingent facultyunion has forced improvements inworking conditions, even though ithas yet to win a contract or formalrecognition from Yale manage-ment. Carter attributed the union’ssuccess to its rank-and-file-basedorganizing structure and pride inits members’ roles as public intel-lectuals. The union connects bread-and-butter issues to a broader vi-sion for changing the whole acade-my, she said, and this link is thesource of much of its activist ener-

gy. Carter added that for her union,publishing critical reports on Yale’sinvestment practices is as natural apart of union work as demandinghigher wages.

Kathleen Barker, a professor atMedgar Evers, discussed the socialpsychology of contingent academiclabor, describing how the currentstructure of part-time faculty workis linked to “exclusion from organi-zational and social opportunities” atwork. Editor of and a contributor toContingent Work: American Em-ployment Relations in Transition,Barker argued that to change ad-juncts’ conditions, unions mustcraft a strong message that can winpublic support.

ALTERNATIVEPSC Executive Council member

Stanley Aronowitz suggested unionsreconsider organizing strategies inwhat he called an “era of systematicdisinvestment in the university” bynational governments worldwide.“We need a vision for the universi-ty,” he emphasized, “and the unionmust be prefigurative of our visionfor the university.” Broader trendsin higher education make it essentialthat unions think in terms of an “or-ganizing drive that is not just defen-sive and ameliorative but presentsan alternative,” Aronowitz said.

At the week’s first event, JoeBerry had argued that adjunctshave a lot to contribute to exactlythat kind of project, organizing fora more democratic balance of pow-er in higher education and society.“We can be a model of bridge-building among students, otherunions, and all working people,” hesuggested. “Do we have any choicebut to try?”

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Student leader convicted

Members of the PSC Committee on Part-time Personnel, a.k.a. the “First Fridays” group, making the “Seniority Scroll.”In the foreground are David Hatchett, Marcia Newfield, and Shirley Rausher.

Adjuncts take it to the street

Miguel Malo speaks to a reporter for NY1 the day after the verdict.

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r Hog

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6 CONTRACT Clarion | November 2005

By DANIA RAJENDRA

At the PSC’s huge membershipmeeting on September 29, unionleaders outlined three main goalsfor the contract campaign in Octo-ber: organizing “loud, angry,but informational” picketlines across the University,one-on-one organizing withfellow members, and out-reach to build support amongstudents.

During the two days of action, Oc-tober 19 and 20, picket lines went upat 15 CUNY campuses, and everyunion chapter organized massleaflet distributions to spread theword about what’s at stake in thePSC contract fight. Tens of thou-sands of flyers were handed out tostudents, colleagues and membersof the community, and the responsewas strong and positive.

“It’s been a climate of great sup-port,” commented Distinguished Pro-

fessor Rosalind Petchesky at HunterCollege. “One lady, who works at afood cart near campus, took flyersback to her neighborhood to pass outto her neighbors.”

“I found out about the picketingfrom someone in my de-partment,” said CarolinePari, an associate profes-sor who joined the line atBMCC. “I’m with the union100%. Management’s offeris hideous.”

“The best thing about being heretoday is providing information forthe students,” said Leanne Ussher,an assistant professor at Queens Col-lege. Ussher and others said theywere encouraged by the backing stu-dents expressed for the PSC’s fight.

Evan Clealand, a junior majoringin Latin American studies and psy-chology at Lehman, was one ofmany students who joined PSCmembers on the picket line. “It’sabout the student-teacher relation-ship,” Clealand said. “If faculty andstaff aren’t paid enough, they’ll lookfor other jobs, and the quality of oureducation will suffer.”

REACHING OUTAt Queensborough Community

College, students Nataliya Khomyakand Yady Marashizadeh started a petition of support. “Hopefully I’llbe a professor one day,” saidMarashizadeh. “I think it’s prettyunfair to those who work so hardand are such a benefit to society.”The two told Clarion they collected

40 signatures right away, and planto continue as long as the contractcampaign continues. “Our voicescount,” Khomyak said.

The union website (www.psc-cuny.org) features a student letter ofsupport. Students can sign it andclick to send a message to Chancel-lor Goldstein. A new flyer addressedto students is available from PSCpicket captains and chapter chairs.Union leaders have encouraged

Campus mobilizing, campus pickets

By CLARION STAFF

October saw serious bargaining be-tween the PSC and CUNY manage-ment, and in November talks be-came more frequent and more in-tense. As Clarion went to press,union negotiators said that they hadmade more progress than in anycomparable period so far – but thatcertain stubborn issues remained.

The October 6 bargaining ses-sion was held one week after 1,200people attended the PSC’s massmeeting at Cooper Union. Theunion negotiating team told man-agement that it sought to expandthe potential economic settlementto meet the union’s key demands –on salary, the Welfare Fund, andimprovements on equity and work-ing conditions.

TEACHERS’ CONTRACTThe two sides discussed the im-

plications of recent contract settle-ments for the United Federation ofTeachers and other unions, whichwent beyond the bounds of the pri-or City “pattern.”

In relation to the UFT agree-ment, which granted higher raisesthan the City pattern partly in re-turn for increased time onthe job, the PSC team ar-gued that CUNY facultyand staff have already in-creased their productivity.“Enrollment has risen andother demands on us havegrown,” said union President Bar-bara Bowen. “We believe that ourcompensation should reflect thatincrease in productivity, and we of-fered to work with management todocument it.”

The PSC made several new pro-posals in the October 6 session, in aneffort to move the talks forward.Union negotiators said they werewilling to be flexible about imple-mentation dates for raises within agiven contract year. They also of-fered to propose a narrowed list ofdemands if management did thesame, and management agreed.Talks continued on October 12. In

addition to October’s formal con-tract talks, the PSC also held discus-sions with the State and with Chan-

cellor Goldstein to try tofind a path to an agreement.

The PSC Executive Coun-cil had previously voted toassess the level of progressin contract talks at its No-vember 3 meeting, and then

decide whether to call for a referen-dum on a possible job action.

DISCUSSION“Enough progress [has] been

made to justify continuing inten-sive negotiations,” Bowen an-nounced on November 4. “We haveadvanced in our discussion of waysto increase the economic package.”This, she said, was a sign of howthe climate at the bargaining tablehad changed: “After months ofstalemate, management has finallymoved to consider our core de-mands.” At the same time, Bowenadded, the union would remain

Some big issues still unresolved

Unionnegotiatorshopeful,frustrated

By LETICIA TAYLOR and PETER HOGNESS

Days after New School adjunctssettled their first union contract,graduate assistants at NYU begana strike to win their second.

The New School agreementcame on October 31, just hours be-fore the strike deadline set by thepart-time faculty union, AcademicsCome Together. “We have negoti-ated a very strong first contract,”said a statement from ACT, affiliat-ed with the United Auto Workers.“We are very proud of what wehave accomplished.”

Key features of the agreementinclude:

l Job security based on seniority:After adjunct faculty have taught atthe New School for 10 semesters,they will be guaranteed aminimum course load basedon their past average. If theylose a course due to curricu-lum change or insufficientenrollment, the universitymust find them a replace-ment course or pay them upto 50% of the semester’swages.

l Opportunity for academicleave: Senior part-time faculty whomeet certain academic criteria canapply for a semester of paid acade-mic leave. The number of suchleaves to be granted rises from 25next year to 50 in 2008-2009.

l Health and pension benefitswere extended to faculty who teachcontinuing education and non-cred-it classes. While medical and drugco-pays for all part-time facultywere increased, limits were placedon how much their monthly healthinsurance premiums can go up inthe future.

lPay per course will increase byan average of 24% in the first year,and by an average of 55% over thenext four years. This is achievedthrough a combination of dollar-amount and percentage increases,starting with a $10 per hour across-the-board increase in the first year.The contract gives two additionallongevity increases to those withmore than 10 years of service.

80% READY TO STRIKE“A strong and unified member-

ship” made these gains possible,said ACT negotiators. Bargainingteam member Gregory Tewksburysaid that a strike authorization votehad strengthened the union’s hand:“When management saw that morethan 80% were prepared to strike,that sent them a message.”

Meanwhile on November 9, NYUgraduate assistants went out onstrike after management refused tonegotiate a second contract withtheir union, the Graduate StudentOrganizing Committee (GSOC).

NYU refused to negotiate withGSOC after the Republican-domi-

nated National Labor RelationsBoard reversed an earlier decisionand ruled that graduate assistantsat private universities have no fed-erally protected right to organize.The NLRB held that graduate stu-dents paid to do teaching or re-search are not really workers, butonly students serving a kind of ap-prenticeship. (The ruling does notapply to public universities likeCUNY, where graduate assistants’right to union representation haslong been recognized.)

ARRESTSPrivate universities like NYU

still have the option to bargain withgraduate workers’ unions, but areno longer legally obliged to do so.

A rally on August 31, the last dayof the old agreement,drew more than 1,100union members and sup-porters, and 76 peoplewere arrested in a nonvi-olent sit-in (including thePSC’s John Hyland). Af-ter NYU still refused tocome to the table, 85% ofGSOC’s members voted

to go on strike until the administra-tion agrees to bargain with theunion in good faith.

Union recognition is the key is-sue for graduate assistants. “Wejust want the right to negotiateabout our working conditions likeanybody else,” said Susan Valen-tine, a fourth-year Ph.D. studentand teaching assistant in history.“The stipends and benefits we se-cured with the first contract madeit possible for us to concentrate onteaching students.”

HEALTH CARE CUTIn its first contract with the uni-

versity, GSOC achieved increasedwages, guaranteed health benefits,and a grievance procedure withneutral arbitration. NYU claimedthat it would maintain these im-proved conditions – but manage-ment has already reduced somehealth benefits and eliminated oth-ers. A GSOC statement arguedthat this shows why collective bar-gaining is vital: “Without the pro-tection of a union contract, NYUcan take our benefits away at anytime.”

PSC members have joined NYUgraduate workers on the picketline. “On the first day of the strikethe picket line was huge, spirited,and the PSC had a significant pres-ence,” said Jim Perlstein, co-chairof the PSC Solidarity Committee.“The union at NYU is carrying theball for grad student collective bar-gaining nationwide, and we wantto be there on the line every day.”

Perlstein said that members who’dlike to help should contact him atjperlstein@bassmeadow.com, or callMary Ann Carlese at 212-354-1252.

New School settles, NYU on strike

Other unions showsolidaritywith gradassistants & adjuncts

Membersencouragedby studentsupport

Movement in contract talks

Academic labor action

members to speak with their stu-dents about the struggle.

The PSC also got its message outthrough a full-page ad in the Chron-icle of Higher Education, signed byclose to 2,100 union members. Head-lined “Thousands Demand a FairContract at CUNY,” the ad was pub-lished in the Chronicle of November4 and also the November 2 issue ofthe Village Voice. It also appears onpage 10 of this issue of Clarion.

Clarion | November 2005 CONTRACT 7

Dear Members,

As this issue of Clarion goes topress, I am able to report that theunion has made substantialprogress toward reaching a con-tract agreement with CUNY man-agement. The bargaining involvesinterlocking pieces, each dependenton the others, so progress remainstentative until all differences aresettled. There are serious issuesstill unresolved, but we have madeadvances on both economic andnon-economic matters.

What made the difference be-tween the stalemate of manymonths and the intense activity ofrecent weeks? Organizing. Whatev-er the union is able to achieve willbe because you have organized. Thesolidarity you showed in oppositionto management’s austerity offer oflast spring, the unprecedentedturnout at the September 29 meet-ing, and the one-on-one organizingthis fall have given the negotiatingteam power.

The November 3 deadline that I announced at the mass meeting

spurred management, as the date ap-proached, to meet almost daily and tomove on key issues. As I reported onNovember 4, the Executive Councildecided that enough progress hadbeen made to continue negotiations –although we would maintain readi-ness to hold a referendum on job ac-tion if negotiations fail.

That readiness remains, even asthe bargaining team works longdays and nights to reach a settle-ment. The honeycomb structure of member-organizers you havehelped to develop during this con-tract struggle changes us as a union– it provides strength not just forthe current fight but for many fightsto come. I will continue to updateyou as negotiations progress; checkthe PSC website for the latest infor-mation (www.psc-cuny.org). In themeantime I ask you to remain en-gaged in the effort, to talk to yourstudents about what’s happening,and to deepen the culture of orga-nizing in our union.

In solidarity,Barbara Bowen

Message from thePSC’s President

ng, campus pickets

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ready to conduct a referendum ifthe talks broke down.

The next few days saw nearlyconstant negotiations, bargainingteam meetings, and informal dis-cussions. Members of the union bar-gaining team looked increasinglyhaggard from the long hours andlate nights. The following week thepace of talks slowed a bit, with asmall number of remaining issuesproving difficult to resolve.

CHALLENGESMembers of the union bargain-

ing team declined to comment inany detail on the current state ofnegotiations. But in more generaldescriptions of the talks, they ex-pressed both hope and frustration.“We've come a long way in the lastmonth and have reached tentativeagreements on most issues, but it'snot over until it's over,” said FirstVice President Steve London. “Wemust reach agreement on all out-standing issues.”

[For the latest news on thePSC/CUNY contract talks, seewww.psc-cuny.org.]

Leafleting by Jim Cohen, PSC chapter chair at John Jay, gets students talking aboutcontract issues. Other photos show picket lines at (clockwise from top): Queens,Hunter, Queens, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and John Jay.

talks

8 CONTRACT/RIGHTS Clarion | November 2005

By CLARION STAFF

1. When do I have to be notified of reappointment to my position? Article 10 of the contract spells outthe dates by which faculty must benotified of reappointment at CUNY.In your first year of service as an In-structor, Lecturer, tenure-track fac-ulty member, or full-time CollegeLab Technician, you must receivenotice of whether you have beenreappointed for a second year on orbefore April 1.

In your second year and later, thenotification date for Instructors,tenure-track faculty, and CLTsmoves up to December 1. For Lec-turers it remains April 1.

Annual reappointments are madeuntil you are reappointed withtenure, or, for Lecturers, receive cer-tification. Faculty in the Lecturer ti-tle may earn a “Certificate of Contin-uous Employment” rather thantenure. Article 12 details the processfor receiving certification, after fiveyears of continuous full-time service.

2. What kind of personnel files aremaintained about my work atCUNY and do I have a right to seethem? As Article 19 explains, there aretwo personnel files for every em-ployee covered by the contract.One, your “personal file,” containsinformation about your profession-al accomplishments, reports ofteaching observations, and otherinformation. The contents of thisfile are open to you, and you shouldexamine and initial the file at leastonce a year. Nothing can be placedin this file until you have been pro-vided with an opportunity to read itand attach any comments youwish. You must initial all docu-ments before they are placed in thefile as evidence of having seen thedocument. If you refuse to initial adocument, a statement must be af-fixed to the document stating thatyou have refused. You have the

right to examine this file at anytime. The second file, the “adminis-tration file,” is open only to thecommittee and individuals respon-sible for recommending you for

reappointment, promotion, andtenure. This file may contain onlymaterials requested by the Univer-sity or supplied by you in connec-tion with your employment, promo-tion, or tenure.

3. What are evaluation conferencesand how often can I be evaluated? Teaching faculty who are non-tenured are required by the con-tract (Article 18) to be evaluated atleast once each year by the depart-ment chair or a member of the de-partmental Personnel and Budget

Committee assigned by the chair.The annual evaluation conferenceis one of the most important oppor-tunities you have to discuss franklywith your chair how you are pro-gressing toward tenure or, for Lec-turers, certification. The chair is re-sponsible for providing you withguidance. Within ten working daysafter the annual evaluation, youmust be given a written record ofthe discussion, for inclusion in yourpersonal file.

4. What do I do if I think my rightshave been violated or if I’m giveninformation that sounds differentfrom what is provided here?Contact the PSC chapter chair orgrievance counselor on your cam-pus. In any case, it’s a good idea tocontact the chapter chair and intro-duce yourself as a new member. Ifyou cannot reach a campus-basedunion representative, call the PSCoffice and ask for a grievance coun-selor. As Article 20 states, there is atime limit of 30 working days for fil-

ing grievances – so it’s essential, ifyou do have a grievance, that youact quickly. A grievance is a claimthat there has been a breach or im-proper application of the contract oran arbitrary, discriminatory, or im-proper application of the Bylaws.Many times, however, problems canbe resolved through an informalprocedure, with which the griev-ance counselor can help you.

5. What happens if I get a notice ofnon-reappointment?Contact your local grievance coun-selor, your chapter chair, or agrievance counselor in the PSCcentral office immediately. For adescription of your rights and howto contest this decision, see “Chal-lenging non-reappointment” onpage 8 of the March 2005 Clarion,available on the web at www.psc-cuny.org/communications.htm.For more information on your con-tract rights, see www.psc-cuny.org/contractFAQ. htm and www.psc-cuny.org/rights.htm.

YOUR RIGHTS

Your rights on reappointment & evaluation

The life of the union begins in itslocal chapters. You can get the lat-est news about contract negotia-tions from the PSC website(www.psc-cuny.org) – but anothersource is your chapter chair. Be-low you’ll find contact information

for your chapter chair, the firstperson you should contact if youhave a problem at work.

This semester’s CUNY contractcampaign has focused on buildingthe PSC at the local level. If you’dlike to find out some simple ways

that you can get involved, askyour chapter chair.

If you volunteer for just onething, you can make a real differ-ence – it’s this kind of grassrootsparticipation that makes a unionstrong.

Your chapter chairBaruch CollegePeter Hitchcockhitch58@mindspring.com(646) 312-3923

Bronx Community CollegeMarianne Pitamarianne.pita@bcc.cuny.edu718-289-5690

Bronx Educational Opportunities Ctr.Santiago Villafañe718-583-0783 (fax)718-530-7014

Brooklyn CollegeTibbi Duboystduboys@brooklyn.cuny.edu718-951-3187

Brooklyn Educational Opportunities Ctr.Amy Nicholasnicholasa@bklyn.eoc.cuny.edu718-246-2070

City CollegeGeorge Brandonorgun@med.cuny.edu212-650-5747

College Lab TechniciansShelly Mendlingershellym@brooklyn.cuny.edu718-951-5600 ext 2553

Graduate CenterJean Maude Anyonjanyon@gc.cuny.edu212-817-8277

Higher Education OfficersJean Weismanjweisman@igc.org212-650-5401

Hostos Community CollegeNorma Peña de Llorénzndellorenz@hostos.cuny.edu718-518-6589

Hunter Campus SchoolsDavid Towberdtowber@hunter.cuny.edu646-963-6256

Hunter CollegeTami Goldtamigold@mindspring.com212-772-4953

Frequently asked questions

Who you gonna call?

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Clarion | November 2005 CONTRACT/BENEFITS 9

By LARRY MORGANExecutive DirectorPSC/CUNY Welfare Fundand PETER HOGNESS

The decision on the new Medicareprescription drug plan is straight-forward for anyone covered underthe PSC/CUNY Welfare Fund: don’tenroll. You already have a betterplan than Medicare Part D.

But CUNY’s part-time faculty haveno prescription coverage in retire-ment, and many PSC members haveparents who lack drug insurance. Ifyou have no other coverage, doesMedicare Part D make sense for you?

Here are some of the numbersyou will need to consider:

Premium Cost: $32.50/month. That’sdown from the $37 original estimate,but it’s still $390 per year.

Deductible: The first $250 of “cov-ered expenses” is not paid byMedicare.

Co-Insurance: The next $2,000 ofcovered expenses is paid 75% byMedicare.

“Donut Hole”: The next $2,850 iscompletely not covered by Medicare.

Catastrophic: From $5,100 per yearand up, 95% is paid by Medicare.

By the time one uses $770 worthof medication, the reimbursement[75% x ($770 – $250)] isequal to the $390 annualpremium.

A handful of PSCMedicare retirees haveHIP VIP or buy an AetnaRx Rider and receive par-tial reimbursement. Some retireesget direct reimbursement up to $400per year. If that’s true for you, do thesame kind of cost comparison out-lined above, comparing your netpremium and projected costs.

VETERANSIf you are a veteran who has pre-

scription coverage through the Vet-eran’s Administration or TRICAREhealth plans, the Alliance of Retired

Americans recommends that youstick with that drug coverage, whichit calls “at least as good” asMedicare’s.

When deciding whether to signup for Part D, think about your fu-

ture costs. AARP reportedin August 2005 that thecosts of drugs most used byseniors are increasing attwice the rate of inflation,rising $866 in the past fiveyears.

Medicare Part D is designed to en-courage you to sign up now. Thosewho delay enrolling beyond May 15and don’t have “creditable cover-age” elsewhere (that is, a legallyequivalent plan like the PSC/CUNYWelfare Fund), will find that untilthey do enroll, the premium cost in-creases 1% per month.

If you want to sign up, how shouldyou choose among the dozens anddozens of competing plans?

Make sure you ask what drugs areincluded. Formularies – the list ofcovered medications – may be re-stricted. Choose a provider carefully,and make sure that they cover anymedications you must take regularly.

Those with low incomes mayqualify for financial assistance, withthe government paying the monthlypremium cost. But beware: the cur-rent edition of Medicare and You, agovernment publication, containsan important error. It lists everyplan as free to the low-income, whilein reality it is only the lower-costplans (about one-third of the total)that are covered in this way. If low-income seniors pick the wrong plan,they’ll pay full price.

SNAFUIncredibly, the Bush administra-

tion is refusing to mail out a correct-ed list. It says the correct informa-tion will be available from 1-800-MEDICARE or on the Medicarewebsite. (A recent poll found thatonly a quarter of Medicare benefi-ciaries have ever used the internet.)

If you use the internet, you cancompare plans with the Medicare Per-sonal Plan Finder, at www.medicare.

gov. But again, beware: when a re-porter for National Public Radioasked for the best plan for a hypothet-ical Iowa widow with diabetes andhigh blood pressure, the plan recom-mended by the Medicare website didnot cover her diabetes medication.

WHERE TO GET HELPSo use the Plan Finder as a start-

ing point (or another tool availablesoon at www.carxe.org), but be sureyou ask the right questions beforeyou make your final choice. You canget help figuring out what to ask,and how to choose a plan, from thefollowing sources – over the web oron the phone:

l New York State United TeachersSocial Services:

212-533-6300 x113

l NY Health Insurance Information,Counseling & Assistance Program:

212-869-3850 or800-333-4114

l www.medicarerights.orgl www.consumersunion.orgl www.retiredamericans.orgl www.hiicap.state.ny.us

Medicare’s prescription benefit

John Jay CollegeJim Cohenjcohen@jjay.cuny.edu 212-237-8094

Kingsborough Community CollegeRina Yarmishryarmish@kbcc.cuny.edu718-368-5921

LaGuardia Community CollegeLorraine Cohen (acting chair)cohenlo@lagcc.cuny.edu718-482-5789

Lehman CollegeHelene Silvermanhjsilverma@aol.com718-960-8176

Borough of Manhattan Comm. CollegeJane Youngjanejyoung@aol.com212-220-8299

Manhattan Educ. Opportunities CenterJoseph Bonellijo555bon@aol.com212-961-4320

Medgar Evers CollegeEdward J. Catapanecatapane@mec.cuny.edu718-270-6203

NYC College of TechnologyBob Cermelercermele@citytech.cuny.edu718-260-5009

Queens CollegeJonathan Buchsbaumbbaum@bway.net718-997-2955

Queensborough Community CollegeJay Applemanjappleman@qcc.cuny.edu718-281-5419

Research Foundation Central OfficeAnthony DixonAnthony_Dixon@rfcuny.org212-417-8407

RetireesIrwin Yellowitziyellowitz@aol.com212-354-1252

College of Staten IslandVasilios Petratospetratos@mail.csi.cuny.edu718-982-2900 (or 718-982-2903)

York CollegeJanice ClineClineJan@aol.com718-262-2497

If you have no other coverage…

LaGuardia: Chapter Chair JoanGreenbaum was on leave last yearafter being injured in a serious au-to accident. She is back on campusand teaching this semester, and willresume her union duties after herhealing makes further progress.

City College & Grad Center: Both chap-ters are holding special electionsfor chapter chair. Jean Anyon isthe only candidate at the GraduateCenter, while George Brandon isthe only candidate at CCNY. Bal-lots will be counted December 12.

First rule forthis flawedprogram:buyer beware.

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The advertisement above, signed by nearly 2,100 PSC members, was published in Chronicle of Higher Education (November 4) and the Village Voice (November 2).

By MARIYA GLUZMANBrooklyn College

Iam ashamed for CUNY – my almamater. How can the chancellor everhope to project a welcoming and at-tractive image of the University whenalmost half of its instructional staff is

struggling to make ends meet?Who would have thought the path of an

educator would be so like the path of astarving artist? But the impoverished artistworks in hope of future recognition. Goodluck getting recognition if you’re an adjunct!You’ll be lucky if you get reappointed.

I began teaching in 2001 in order to com-bine what I love (teaching) with what I need(an income). But I soon found that my grad-uate studies had to be relegated to the lastspot on my list of priorities. First came mystudents, then came the rent – which meantI needed to get yet another job, then camemy other bills and my health, and only afterall that could I think about my studies.

BREAD AND SOY MILKDuring my third year at the Graduate

Center I had to take a leave in order to finda means of supporting myself. I got a full-time job in addition to teaching two nightcourses at CUNY twice a week. I started to eat better, paid off some of my debts –even got some new clothes, which I hadnot been able to do since I began my gradu-ate education.

But the following year I had to go back toschool, which meant stretching myself overtwo or even three jobs and my studies. Withsome marketable skills from my previouslife, I landed a great part-time job at theGraduate Center. It helped to pay the rentand some of my other bills, but that’s it. Istill had no savings, no means of improvingmy livelihood, and no way to pay off myever-mounting debt. I was also teachingthree courses now rather than two, whichmeant triple the time spent on preparationand grading.

After two years, however, the budget ranout and today I no longer have that nice jobat the GC. I have to rely entirely on my ad-juncting – which just covers my rent andutilities. And because I spent so many hoursworking, I did not get very far in my studies.As a result, in addition to all my other ex-penses, I now have to pay the recently in-creased matriculation fee of $750. How am Isupposed to do that when some days I sur-vive on bread and soy milk?

CUNY MUST PAYI hear that CUNY bosses are entitled to

free courses at any campus. That’s a niceperk in addition to the raise they gavethemselves a little while ago. Since I beganteaching, hundreds of students have bene-fited from my knowledge and support. Upon seeing me in the hallway or aroundcampus my old students often come overto thank me, either for teaching a very use-ful course or for being helpful and under-standing. Some even told me that I in-spired them to pursue philosophy as theirmajor. Satisfied students improve the im-

age of the University – and successes likethese are the result of hard work byCUNY’s faculty and staff.

So, Mr. Chancellor, how about picking upmy matriculation fee because I provide sucha valuable service to the University? Whystop there: why not pick up my student loanswhile you’re at it? After all, if CUNY hadpaid me a living wage I wouldn’t have in-curred so many loans. Oh, and by the way, Iam not eligible for any financial assistance –not even a loan – to cover my matriculation.

CUNY’S SHAMEI know that my situation is not unique.

But does the chancellor know? Do thetrustees? If they really knew how worthless,unappreciated, and dehumanized all this

quibbling about a couple of percentagepoints makes us feel, they would beashamed for CUNY, too.

If you are saddened by my story – don’tbe. Instead, be outraged. Be angry that inone of the richest countries in the world, inone of the most important cities in the world,so many wonderful scholars and educatorsare being exploited. And we are exploitednot by some sinister multinational corpora-tion, but by a public university. After fourfrustrating years of being a part-timer at thisWal-Mart of higher education, I decided tobecome a part-time organizer on my campus.

In sharing my story with you, my aim isnot to elicit pity. I am writing to ask you toadd your voice to mine and demand a faircontract, for part-timers and full-timers alike.

Clarion | November 2005 OPINION 11

Clarion NOVEMBER 2005Newspaper of the Professional Staff Congress/City University of New York, collective bargaining representative of the CUNY instructional staff. Vol. 34, No. 9. PSC/CUNY is affiliated with the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers (Local 2334), AFL-CIO, the New York City Central Labor Council, and New York State United Teachers. Published by PSC/CUNY, 25 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. Telephone: (212) 354-1252. Web site: www.psc-cuny.org. E-mail: phogness@pscmail.org. All opinions expressed in these pages are not necessarily those of the PSC.PSC OFFICERS: Barbara Bowen, President; Steven London, First Vice President; Cecelia McCall, Secretary; John Hyland, Treasurer; Stanley Aronowitz, Jonathan Buchsbaum, Susan O’Malley, John Pittman,Sheldon Weinbaum, University-wide Officers; Michael Fabricant, Vice President, Senior Colleges; Robert Cermele, Janice Cline, Nancy Romer, Senior College Officers; Anne Friedman, Vice President, Com-munity Colleges; Samuel E. Farrell, Andrew McInerney, Shirley Rausher, Community College Officers; Iris DeLutro, Vice President, Cross Campus Units; Arthurine DeSola, Steven Trimboli, Vera Weekes,Cross Campus Officers; Marcia Newfield, Vice President, Part-Time Personnel; Susan DiRaimo, David Hatchett, Diane Menna, Part-Time Personnel Officers; Irwin H. Polishook, President Emeritus; Israel Kugler, Deputy President Emeritus; Peter I. Hoberman, Vice President Emeritus, Cross Campus Units.STAFF: Deborah Bell, Executive Director; Mary Ann Carlese, Associate Executive Director; Faye H. Alladin, Coordinator, Financial Services; Debra L. Bergen, Director, Contract Administration & University-wideGrievance Counselor; Nathaniel Charny, Director of Legal Affairs; Barbara Gabriel, Coordinator, Office Services and Human Resources; Diana Rosato, Coordinator, Membership Department; Sharon Toomer, Coordinator, Communications; Clarissa Gilbert Weiss, Director, Pension and Welfare Benefits.

Editor: Peter Hogness / Assistant Editor: Dania Rajendra / Designer: Margarita Aguilar / Intern: Leticia Taylor© 2005 Professional Staff Congress/CUNY

THE CONTRACT

If you respect our work,give us decent pay

Even those who live the life of the mind have stomachs to feed.

Poverty and PoetryBy George Guida

Two sharp letters separate the two.One labiodental fricative.One palatal liquid.One funnel to catch rare rain.One springboard run through a bar.

When a politician reminds me,You’re a poet, he says,you’re onlya poet, a professor.Don’t forget,we have you by the day job.Don’t try to wriggle, boy,for poet, poor you shall remain.With your vest and tie-clip,you could have joined ushere on the verandah.Instead you chose to work the fields.You put the extra letter there,you forced the r behind the t yourself.If you want to talk aboutthat seven-character wordwith the children it consumes,then starve,or if you want a letter lifted,stare at us.We’ll look you in the eyeand say you wrote that sideways less-than sign, the abandoned arch, yourself.

With my friends aroundthis wing-typed fire pit of sound,stranded on this platform of displaced

resonancethe politician’s threatened to demolish,I think now he was only saying None,the answer to his silent question,How much poetry do people like you need?

George Guida, assistant professor of Englishat NYC College of Technology, is author ofLow Italian and The Peasant and the Pen.

POEM

Gregory Nemec

By DANIA RAJENDRA

House and Senate committees havebeen slowly moving forward withreauthorization of the Higher Edu-cation Act, the main source of fed-eral dollars for colleges and univer-sities nationwide. But as Clarionwent to press, the odds were risingthat Congress would not approvethe legislation this year – and edu-cation advocates say that might bea good thing.

Student and faculty organizationssay that education funding bills thatwere reported out of committee,H.R. 609 and S. 1614, are rife withproblems, including funding cuts forstudent loans, special favors for for-profit colleges, and threats to acade-mic freedom. There are differencesbetween the two bills, some signifi-cant, but Gabriella Gomez of theAmerican Federation of Teachers(AFT) called it a distinction between“bad and really bad.”

As a result of the Iraq war, costs ofKatrina reconstruction, and – mostof all – tax cuts that mainly benefitthe wealthy, the federal deficit is at arecord level. In response, Republicanleaders in Congress decided to lookfor deep cuts in the rest of the feder-al budget. Among the programs onthe chopping block is financial aid tocollege students, which was targetedfor billions of dollars in spending reductions.

RAID ON AIDUnder the slogan, “Stop the raid

on student aid,” a coalition calledthe Student Aid Alliance urgedCongress not to make “America’scollege students the primary con-tributors to deficit reduction.” Thecoalition, which includes the AFTand the American Association ofUniversity Professors (AAUP), got203 members of the House to signon to a letter opposing “the singlelargest cut in the student aid pro-gram’s history.”

Republicans said the criticismwas unfair, contending that most ofthe spending reduction came fromscaling back subsidies paid to lend-ing institutions. Student and facultygroups countered that the Republi-can bills directly raised fees, inter-est, and taxes for student borrowers.Citing a study by the CongressionalBudget Office, they said that $8 bil-

lion in new charges would boost thecost of a typical student’s collegeloans by $5,800. Some important aidmeasures, such as new funds forPerkins Loans for low-income stu-dents, would be eliminated.

More broadly, education advo-cates and Congressional Democratsargued that any savings from lowersubsidies to lenders should be de-voted to financial aid, not used topay for tax cuts. The Senate paneltook a partial step in this directionby putting more than half of the sav-ings in its bill into additional fund-ing for Pell Grants.

HOUSE DIVIDEDIn contrast, every penny of the

House bill’s reductions went todeficit reduction. “The money we’rehere to cut today is going to go some-where else, and those funds will nev-er come back to education,” objectedHouse committee member Rep.David Wu. He failed to sway the pan-el’s majority, which approved $15 bil-lion in cuts at the end of October.

But in mid-November, Houseleaders had to withdraw the $54 bil-lion budget-cutting measure that in-cluded the student aid changes. “In-

ternecine warfare is occurring…be-tween House Republican conserva-tives and moderates, leaving theirleadership without the votes neededto pass a budget measure,” reportedthe AFT. Congressional lead-ers pledged to try again thefollowing week. At press timethe outcome was uncertain.

For-profit higher educationcompanies hailed both Houseand Senate committees forlifting or weakening tworules that restrict their eligibility forfederal funding. The first, called the“90/10 rule,” requires for-profit insti-tutions to prove that 10% of theirrevenue comes from a source otherthan federal student aid. The AFTand AAUP both oppose changingthis provision, pointing to the wide-spread fraud in for-profit educationthat existed before 1992, when therule was put in place.

The second, called the “50%rule,” protects students and thegovernment from fraud by mandat-ing that federally assisted under-graduate colleges offer at least halfof all courses on-campus and enroll50% of students in such courses.Student and faculty groups warned

that lifting this rule would lead to aresurgence of internet-based diplo-ma mills.

The House committee takes sub-sidizing for-profit education even

further by including for-prof-it colleges in the definition ofhigher education institutionsthat can compete for federalassistance other than stu-dent aid. For non-profit uni-versities, and for facultyworking on grant-funded re-

search, this so-called “single defini-tion” would mean more competitionfor already-scarce federal dollars.

“At a time when the overall pool offederal money is limited,” said MarkSmith of the AAUP, “to open it up toinstitutions that are in business tomake money is an inappropriate useof federal funds. It continues a pat-tern of favoring the more corporate-oriented sector of our society.”

On non-budgetary issues, facultyorganizations are strongly opposedto elements of HEA legislation thatthreaten academic freedom. Houselawmakers are seeking an oversightboard that would monitor the poli-tics of scholars at federally fundedinternational area studies centers.

The AFT’s stand against this billstems from a PSC-sponsored resolu-tion adopted at the last AFT con-vention. (See the February 2004Clarion, p.10, at www.psc-cuny.org/communications.) Conservative leg-islators want the board to ensurethat the centers promote US foreignpolicy objectives and avoid perspec-tives deemed to be “anti-American.”

The AAUP’s Smith said that Sen-ate legislation does not include theoversight board, but it would imposenew reporting requirements thatthe AAUP views with concern. “Po-litical considerations should be keptout of academic review,” Smith said.

House and Senate bills both in-clude language derived from the so-called “Academic Bill of Rights”(ABOR) developed by right-wing political activist David Horowitz.While couched in mild-sounding lan-guage about ensuring a balance ofopinion, the aim of ABOR is to openthe door to government surveillanceof faculty’s political views. (See theSeptember 2005 Clarion, p. 10.)

Faculty organizations see theHouse version as the worse of twobad bills, but strongly oppose bothversions. With these alternatives onthe table, it is perhaps not surprisingthat many faculty and student ac-tivists would not be upset if HEAreauthorization does not move for-ward any time soon. What happensnext depends largely on the battleover the federal budget.

NEXT ELECTIONUnlike the House, the Senate has

taken up the Higher Education Actas part of its overall budget legisla-tion. This increased the odds thatthe HEA would be approved thisyear, since the need to reach agree-ment on the budget would put pres-sure on the House to drop its nar-rower focus and fast-track its ownHEA legislation.

But if the budget bill remainsbogged down by divisions in theHouse, rapid Congressional actionon HEA becomes less likely. “It’s noton anyone’s top 10 things to do atthis point,” said the AFT’s Gomez.Meanwhile the AFT is working withstudent groups to make sure law-makers know that constituents arewatching their votes on student aid– and will hold them accountable inthe next election.

12 NEWS Clarion | November 2005

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Rep. John Boehner, chair of the House education committee, in a hearing on the Higher Education Act

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AFT, AAUP oppose cuts to aid

Shouldfor-profitcollegesget publicfunds?

15–MINUTE ACTIVIST

Action on Higher Ed Act uncertain