Political/ Legislative

CUNY BUDGET

Click here for more information (analysis, calendar & links to key documents) on the PSC's 2008 budget and legislative campaign.

Click the "Act Now" logo to send faxes to the Mayor, City Council Speaker and your Council representative.

Budget update. The state passed a budget in April. Click here for an analysis. Meanwhile, Mayor Bloomberg has proposed $65 million in cuts to CUNY’s budget. We must act now to make sure those cuts are restored by the City Council and new funds added to meet critical needs at every CUNY campus. Click here to send faxes to your City Council Member, the Council Speaker and the Mayor.

City Council Members Join PSC Budget Effort to Stop CUNY Cuts. Fourteen City Council Members joined more than 150 City University of New York (CUNY) faculty, staff and students at a City Hall press conference on May 7th calling on the Mayor and the City Council to restore budget cuts to CUNY. The PSC also delivered 25,000 postcards signed by CUNY students, faculty and staff demanding budget restorations. Details.

HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION

In early 2007, former Governor Eliot Spitzer announced the formation of a Higher Education Commission, whose mandate was to identify ways to improve the quality of higher education in New York State. The Commission issued its report (12/17/07) and the governor highlighted it in this year's state-of-the state address on January 9th. Details and PSC response.

Part-Timer Unemployment Insurance

By clicking here, send an Act Now letter to your state legislators supporting a bill that would enable adjuncts to receive unemployment insurance when they are unemployed and have no income. Details.

State Budget Ax Still Swinging, Aimed at SUNy colleagues who need our support

Governor Paterson has announced a second wave of budget cuts, after the State budget settlement, cuts that take a whack at CUNY and a much bigger whack at SUNY. At issue is the governor’s plan to require the universities to set aside money derived from non-general fund accounts (private revenue sources) and give it back to the State. In CUNY’s case, which doesn’t have much in the way of private revenue sources, the cut would amount to $4-6 million—a sizable cut in a lean budget year. But the damage to SUNY would be far worse: $109 million. PSC members lobbying in Albany tomorrow will push for restorations for both universities, but all of us can help fight the devastating SUNY cuts right now. Visit the United University Professions (UUP) website and click on the “Save SUNY Now” button to send a letter to State legislators. Additional cuts to public higher education, needed now more than even, are unacceptable, and that’s a message we need Albany to hear loud and clear.