Bake Sale For Equity at City Tech

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Extra workload not so sweet, faculty say

by John Tarleton
(From the December 2010 Clarion)

A cookie gets you a sticker to wear in the campaign to end the 24 hour workload.

Full-time faculty at City Tech are required to teach 24 credit hours per year, while the requirement at other senior colleges is 21. For years CUNY management has said it can’t afford to eliminate this inequity. So on November 4 PSC activists on campus decided to lend a hand – by holding a bake sale.

The table in the middle of the Namm Building drew a steady crowd at mid-day, with handwritten “No More 24” posters and tasty pastries – homemade chocolate cake, brownies, cranberry muffins and more. The treats were available for a symbolic donation of 21 cents. The goal was to call attention to the issue, and underscore that CUNY could address it at modest cost.

‘AN AFFRONT’

Students and teaching colleagues dropped their money in a glass jar, slapped red-and-white “No More 24” stickers onto their clothes and signed up on clipboards to receive more e-mails on the issue.

“It’s an affront. The workload has to be fair for the faculty,” said Jason Bristol, a construction management major. “They are the ones educating us. You don’t want them to be burned out.”

Students said the different treatment of City Tech’s faculty was unfair to them, too, especially since their tuition is the same as at CUNY’s other senior colleges. “We’re paying for our classes,” said Merced Vega, an advertising and design major. “Students should be able to get more attention from their teachers.”

Laura Ghezzi, an assistant math professor, agrees. She is teaching one fewer class this semester, thanks to the reassigned time for junior faculty that the union won in the 2006 contract. In addition to supporting her research, Ghezzi says,
the change has made a difference in her teaching. “It helps me get to know the students quicker and better and give them more individual attention,” she told Clarion. “I don’t need to rush from class as soon as it is over.

I can more often stick around afterwards to help students who have a question.” Originally a community college, City Tech became a senior college in 1980 – but its teaching load did not change until the PSC pressed the issue in negotiations. Teaching load was reduced from 27 to 26 hours in the 2002 contract and reduced again to 24 hours in 2006.

George Guida, an associate professor of English, says the change to 24 hours was a boon to him and his students. Since the reduction, Guida has published his second book of poetry and completed a book of short stories coming out next year. He was able to serve as advisor to a creative writing and spoken word club for several semesters. He also helps organize the monthly College Poetry Slam at the Bowery Poets Café in lower Manhattan and is developing a summer creative writing academy, set to open in 2012.

“I have a little extra time, whereasbefore I had to economize,” Guida said.

Guida said an additional three hour workload reduction would free him to spend more time advising student groups and allow him to sustain the writing that he does during the summer but often has to put aside in the semester that follows.

“Professors bring their research back to the classroom, so that their students are participating in the development of new knowledge,” added Carole Harris, an assistant professor of English who helped organize the bake sale protest. “My class on literature of the civil rights era grew out of an NEH Summer Institute I could find the time to apply for thanks to my reassigned time as a junior faculty member. So a course load reduction opens possibilities for the future, and it benefits
students as well.”

IT’S TOO DAMNED HIGH

CUNY’s teaching load is too high across the board, said Bob Cermele, City Tech’s union chapter chair, and for that reason
the union is seeking a restructuring of faculty workload at all colleges in upcoming contract negotiations (see center section). Bringing the teaching load for City Tech in line with other senior colleges is also part of the PSC’s current contract demands. Cermele says making the change at City Tech, which would affect a little more than 300 faculty, should be resolved without waiting for the next contract to be settled, and that the minimal cost should be absorbed by CUNY. “It is unfair to ask PSC members to pay for new faculty,” he said.

“In a nearly $3 billion CUNY budget, this is chump change,” Cermele added. “There’s no legitimate rationale for treating our college differently from other senior colleges. After 30 years, it’s long past time for CUNY to treat us the same.”

To get involved, contact Bob Cermele at RCermele@citytech.cuny.edu.