Baruch College

At Baruch the administration has been aggressively seeking cuts through proposed jumbo sections and staff reductions, especially for adjuncts. Basically, the provost drew up a formula for making the school of liberal arts and sciences more “cost effective” by attempting to reduce the price per credit across its curriculum. Since the initial proposals, several developments have taken place. First, many department chairs underscored that curriculum decisions (like the formation of jumbo sections) were their prerogative and thus refused to implement the administration’s demands. Second, adjuncts quickly organized to protest how the cost cutting formula would lead to course reductions and non-reappointment. Third, the chapter has proposed to work with the administration to produce alternative ways to absorb the budget reductions coming out of Albany. We have sought an All Funds Budget although this has not yet been forthcoming. The three-pronged response, however, has already yielded modifications to the plan (in the main, for instance, jumbos for key courses have been dropped for the time being) but we are still seeking to reduce the unfair burden of budget cuts directed at our adjunct constituency and, of course, the students, who are being asked to pick up a larger and larger proportion of the costs for higher education in our system. These efforts will intensify in the Spring as we call on our chapter to show commitment to the defense of core principles in our role as public educators. We will, of course, join hands with chapters across CUNY to fight the degradation of our working conditions and the privatization of higher education as a public good.