 |
Higher education
faculty and staff from the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY and United University
Professions at SUNY come together to share their common concerns during the rally
in Albany. | There was an Elvis sighting at the March for
Public Education rally in Albany May 3. It was little Elvis Smith in his
stroller. His parents wondered whether a pre-kindergarten would be waiting for
him. His dad, Joshua Smith, an administrator and professor at SUNY Albany, also
has to worry about his job. "Every meeting on campus is about the budget,
not education," he said. "It's disheartening." So Smith and his family fell
in step with throngs filing into the Empire State Plaza. David Curry, a
nursing professor at SUNY Plattsburgh, is frustrated with the nursing shortage
compounded by a lack of funding for nursing professors - educators who could move
trained nurses into the waiting field. "We had two early retirements for
nursing professors and we're afraid we can't fill their positions because of last
year's budget, never mind this year," said Curry, holding a banner for United
University Professions, representing SUNY academic and professional faculty. The
college took a half-million dollars in unexpected mid-year cuts last year, he
said. Nurse training mandates call for one faculty member for every 10 students,
so making class sizes expand each year - as many other college programs are forced
to - is not an option. "Higher education cannot sustain any more budget
cuts," said Candy Merbler, SUNY Albany chapter president for UUP and a professional
in the campus library. "We're cutting one-third of our acquisitions budget,
and that will limit access to numerous prints and electronic resources," she said.
Campuswide, she said, students already have difficulty meeting their requirements
in four years to graduate. "We're looking at cutting large numbers of part-time
faculty campuswide, and it will be probably be the end of some programs on campus,"
she said flatly. While she spoke, there was a parting of the red sea. UUPers,
dressed in red hats, made room for their counterparts at the City University of
New York - all carrying crimson signs for the Professional Staff Congress. Retiree
Irwin Yellowitz, a CUNY professor for 39 years, hoisted a sign and walked the
plaza. He left his house at 6:30 Saturday morning to come to the rally. "I've
seen less and less support for >public higher education," Yellowitz said. "There's
been difficulty maintaining the same quality. It's been a struggle." That
message was also carried to the rally by community colleges. Lou Stollar, president
of the United College Employees at New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology,
has led his share of protests. "Community colleges are key to providing a brighter
economic future for New Yorkers," he said. Standing next to a pool reflecting
images of hundreds of comrades, CUNY professor Jane Young held her rally placard
high. She teaches an intensive writing course to 29 students at the Borough of
Manhattan Community College - a course recommended to have not more than 15 students
by the National Council of Teachers of English, she noted drily. Where she
teaches, 18,000 students are crowded into a structure built for 8,700 because
one of the college's other buildings was damaged irreparably by debris from the
collapsed World Trade Center buildings across the street. "Twenty months
later we still have no word on a new building," said Young, BMCC chapter president
for the PSC. Young is also concerned about tuition increases, slated at
$950 for senior college students and $500-$600 for junior colleges. "Seventy
percent of our students come from households making under $25,000 a year," Young
said. Many of those students took trains and cars up the Hudson to the
Empire State Plaza, as well, surrounding their teachers and chanting for change.
Some older students brought their children, who hopped up and down with excitement
at the display of enthusiasm by thousands in favor of a better future for all. | 
