Over 50 arrested after CUNY protest
The CUNY professors union was prepared for this to happen
At 4pm on November 4, 2015, hundreds of CUNY students, professors, and supporters gathered outside the CUNY Headquarters at 205 East 42nd Street to rally for contract reform for adjunct professors.
25,000 PSC members, including full-time faculty, adjuncts and professional staff have been working without contracts for five years, and haven’t received pay raises for six.
Earlier, on October 1, a similar rally was held outside of Chancellor James Milliken’s residence two blocks away from Hunter College. Beginning in the morning, hundreds of adjuncts and students protested outside his apartment building with signs reading #CUNYneedsaraise and ringing alarm clocks to “Wake Chancellor Milliken Up”. No arrests happened.
Despite having the same cause, the November 4 rally ended with more than 50 arrests made by the NYPD.
The CUNY professors union – the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY (PSC-CUNY) – was prepared for this to happen. An October 28 message from union president Dr. Barbara Bowen reads:
“Please come to the rally on November 4 to support the bargaining team and your colleagues who will risk arrest. The rally itself will be a legal action, and we expect to have a permit. Only those who have trained in non-violent protest with the PSC will be involved in the disruptive action. You do not risk arrest by attending the rally, being loud and strong, and working with our marshals to maintain a safe and powerful demonstration.”
Dr. Bowen herself was among those arrested. According to the New York Times, the NYPD commenced with arrests when protesters formed a human chain and sat down in front of the entrance to the CUNY headquarters in an act of peaceful civil disobedience.
Hunter’s chapter of Students Without Borders joined the rally in solidarity with the affected professors and workers. Michael Bellamy (21, Political Science), commented: “This has been the 20th round of negotiations they’ve [PSC-CUNY] had with CUNY’s administration for a new contract.
The arrests started happening around 5 – 5:30 pm.
They were arrested for blocking an entrance to CUNY – that’s the legal reason they were arrested. They were arrested to bring attention to their cause to the contract.”
Leon Campbell (22, Medical Laboratory Science) added: “Nobody was brutally attacked or anything like that. We were there and we were demonstrating to the Chancellor and the Board of Trustees that we want a CUNY that’s democratically run. We want an end to these budget cuts to education, because that is obviously negatively impacting the professors’ and adjuncts’ contracts – and students as well, because tuition is going up and resources in the school are also being cut.”
Hunter alumnus Farhan Hossein (24, Political Science & Media Studies), stated: “We were there to show solidarity with the PSC on the lines of their demands with the contract struggle, as well as to freeze tuition for CUNY and end budget cuts.
“We strive to make a united front with the professors moving forward.”
Following the bargaining action, CUNY released a statement that night regarding an offer.
“CUNY is offering a six-year contract to members of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), which represents the faculty and non-teaching instructional staff, covering the period from Oct. 20, 2010 to Oct. 19, 2016, with raises and important non-economic benefits…
The wage increases total 6% as follows: 1% on April 20, 2014; 1% on April 20, 2015; 3% on April 20, 2016; and an additional 1% on Oct. 19, 2016.”
“The “raise” doesn’t even keep up with inflation—it’s actually a salary cut. That won’t help us provide a top-rate education for the 500,000 CUNY students”, said a PSC-CUNY spokesperson, Fran Clark.
Clark further clarified, “The contract they offer spans back to 2010 when the last contract expired. They’re offering 0% for those years (2010-2013).”
According to PIX11, PSC-CUNY has not accepted the offer.