Statement Condemning Police Violence at CUNY Board of Trustees Public Hearing

Posted on November 22, 2011 by keith

PRESS RELEASE: Board of Trustees Public and Budget Hearing, Baruch College, CUNY
#occupyCUNY[1], November 21, 2011

WE CONDEMN the use of police violence against CUNY community members who were protesting peacefully at the public Board of Trustees Public and Budget Hearing at Baruch College on November 21, 2011. We also reject the official statement[2] released by the administration of the City University of New York regarding those events.

STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF peacefully entered the Baruch lobby to attend the public meeting of the Board of Trustees and were immediately met by a line of police carrying large wooden truncheons and blocking access to the building. Students who were on the official roster of speakers were also denied access. At no time did the students, faculty, and staff attempt to push past the massed police officers, nor to confront them physically in any way. The police directed us to the first-floor overflow room where the meeting would be televised live. Knowing that our voices would not be heard in the broadcast room, we decided that we would hold an assembly in the lobby and allow people to tell their stories and testimonies of experiences as students at CUNY. Most of us sat down on the ground so that speakers could stand and be heard.

THE POLICE ATTACKED US shortly after we sat down and began pushing us toward the wall, responding to our peaceful, lawful protest with physical confrontation. The suggestion provided in the CUNY administration’s statement that anyone “surged forward toward the college’s identification turnstiles, where they were met by CUNY Public Safety officers and Baruch College officials” is a categorical lie, and this is documented in video footage of the events (see below). As the officers continued to push us away from the public meeting, they blocked all exits from the lobby but a single, revolving door, through which we were forced to walk one at a time. Many of the peaceful protesters were shoved violently by the campus police, jabbed and struck in their ribs with wooden truncheons, and left badly bruised. At least one student was struck in the face. It was a miracle that no one was more seriously injured. Those who refused to leave were told that they would be arrested; when one person identified himself to officers as a CUNY faculty member and asked on what charge he would be arrested, he was not given an answer. Another officer blurted, “Because it’s a riot!”

WE DEPLORE THE USE OF VIOLENCE against peaceful protesters. We deplore the criminal charges made against peaceful protesters exercising their Constitutional rights of free speech and peaceful assembly. We also deplore the CUNY administration’s misrepresentation of the events at Baruch, devised to obscure its complicity in violent action against its own students, faculty, staff, and community.

###

Video footage of the event can be viewed at the following links:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czi4Htwti44
http://vimeo.com/32494471
http://youtu.be/YAX4tzcPM9E
http://youtu.be/JpX48XIStEw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czi4Htwti44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkBGMULZKxY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGMS5G3gxq8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGvO8TQSLQk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSeNS77XJd0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klsh3YlhEg8
https://www.facebook.com/video/?id=168721598130
http://www.theticker.org/about/2.8215/students-united-for-a-free-cuny-escalates-at-baruch-nvc-1.2675035#.TstLcvEWUTk

WHO WE ARE:

We are CUNY. We are of the working class of New York City. We teach the working class of New York City; we teach the immigrants who have come to New York to live and work; we teach the present and future public employees of New York City. Our brothers, sisters, children, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents—they are police officers, firefighters, social workers, teachers, factory workers. WE ARE NEW YORK CITY AND WE STAND WITH NEW YORK CITY. We are CUNY students, who believe in this university and in this city. We are CUNY faculty, who have chosen to teach at CUNY because we believe in the mission to educate and elevate our sisters and brothers. We are the 99%, and we demand a public education system that is truly public.

For standing with our brothers, sisters, and students, we have been assaulted by police officers who have not yet accepted that they have a legal responsibility to refuse unlawful orders, and that they have a moral responsibility to follow their conscience when they are told to turn on their own. Our fight is not with the Police Department of the City of New York, but the NYPD has chosen to fight their own brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and children. We have no desire to be in conflict with them, but if they continue to “just follow orders” in the face of all moral, ethical, and political compulsions to the contrary, then we have no choice but to resist them. But we will resist them peacefully, civilly, using our rights to do so. We do not want to fight them; we want them to realize that our fight is one fight. We know that they know this.

The students and teachers of the CUNY system stand with all of those who believe in the mission of public education, and the crucial importance of education for the public. We stand against those who seek to privatize an institution that was established to serve the most disadvantaged of New Yorkers. And we refuse to passively accept a program of tuition increases that would disenfranchise our students, whom we love and we fight for every day of the week. We do our jobs based on heartfelt and hard-won principles; we study in order to be better citizens and workers, we teach to be better citizens; and we ask that the city’s police, firefighters, public employees, teachers, transport workers, shopkeepers, students, factory workers, service workers, care workers, health workers—THAT THE WHOLE CITY STAND WITH US.

[2] CUNY Newswire. “STATEMENT FROM THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK”. 21 November, 2011. (http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2011/11/21/statement-from-the-city-university-of-new-york-2/). Accessed 21 November, 2011.

CUNY Faculty Statement on Violence Against Nonviolent Student Protesters

Posted on November 20, 2011 by studentweekofaction

[NOTE: This statement was composed and first published on Sunday, November 20, 2011. The next day, campus police used violence against nonviolent CUNY community members, mostly students, who were protesting peacefully at the public Board of Trustees Public and Budget Hearing at Baruch College. This statement was intended as a way to stop such actions, and it remains a demand for an end to all such violent actions against nonviolent student protesters.]

CUNY Faculty Statement on Violence Against Nonviolent Student Protesters

We faculty members of The City University of New York (CUNY) express our outrage at the police brutality against nonviolent student and faculty demonstrators at the University of California-Berkeley and the University of California-Davis.

We declare our support for the opening of spaces for protest, political dissent, and, when necessary, nonviolent civil disobedience on our campuses. We support the CUNY student movement in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, including the student strike organized by our students on November 17, along with the protests on November 21 against the prospect of tuition hikes to be decided on by the Board of Trustees, and any future non-violent protests.

We call upon the CUNY administration to look upon these student protests not as a threat that must be monitored, policed, and repressed, but as an opportunity for a discussion across our community about the future of the City University of New York as a public institution meant to serve all those who live in this city.

Therefore, we the undersigned:

1) Deplore any use of violence against nonviolent student protesters, anywhere.

2) Call upon the CUNY administration to support and engage respectfully with those students, educators, and community members who are working to open up spaces for protest, dissent, and discussion.

3) Declare that the use of any violence whatsoever against nonviolent student protesters will never be tolerated at CUNY.

4) Insist that administrators at both the CUNY-wide level and at individual campuses not call upon any outside police forces, including the New York City Police Department, or any other city, state, or federal law enforcement agencies, in order to disperse students who are engaged in nonviolent protests.

[To sign this statement, please send an email to tonyalessandrini@gmail.com]

[List of signatories in process:]

Mimi Abramovitz (Professor of Social Policy, Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College)

Gavin Adair (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Tanya Agathocleous (Assistant Professor of English, Hunter College)

Alan A. Aja (Assistant Professor & Deputy Chair, Department of Puerto Rican & Latino Studies, Brooklyn College)

Philip Alcabes( Professor of Public Health, Hunter College)

Ammiel Alcalay (Professor of Classical, Middle Eastern & Asian Languages & Cultures, Queens College, and English, CUNY Graduate Center)

Linda Martín Alcoff (Professor of Philosophy, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Anthony Alessandrini (Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Meena Alexander (Distinguished Professor of English, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Kelly Anderson (Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, Hunter College)

Tom Angotti (Professor of Urban Affairs & Planning, Hunter College)

Jean Maude Anyon (Professor of Urban Education, Graduate Center)

David Arnow (Professor of Computer and Information Science, Brooklyn College)

Jack Arnow (Adjunct Faculty, Department of Physical Sciences, Kingsborough Community College)

Stanley Aronowitz (Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education, Graduate Center)

Adanze Asante (Adjunct Faculty, Kingsborough Community College)

Eleanor J. Bader (Adjunct Lecturer, Kingsborough Community College)

Alyson Bardsley (Associate Professor of English and Director, Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, College of Staten Island)

Carla Barrett (Assistant Professor of Sociology, John Jay College)

Sylviane S. Baumflek (Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Angie Beeman (Professor of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Ellen Belton (Professor of English, Brooklyn College)

Jeremy Benson (Adjunct Faculty, Hunter College)

Craig Bernardini (Assistant Professor of English, Hostos Community College)

Manu Bhagavan (Associate Professor of History, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Naomi Braine (Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College)

Briana Brickley (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Hunter College)

Renate Bridenthal (Professor of History (retired), Brooklyn College)

Stephen Brier (Professor of Urban Education and Interactive Technology and Pedagogy, Graduate Center)

Joshua Brown (Adjunct Professor of History, Graduate Center)

Liza Bruna (Lecturer, Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Jonathan Buchsbaum (Professor of Media Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Susan Buck-Morss (Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center)

Johannes Burgers (Adjunct Faculty, Hunter College)

Carla Cappetti (Professor of English, City College)

Peter Carey (Distinguished Professor of English and Creative Writing, Hunter College

Marvin Carlson (Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Comparative Literature, Graduate Center)

Jennifer Chancellor (Adjunct Faculty, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

David Chapin (Professor of Environmental Psychology, Graduate Center)

Sarah Chinn (Associate Professor of English, Hunter College)

Kandice Chuh (Professor of English and American Studies, Graduate Center)

Grace Cho (Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies, College of Staten Island)

Michael Cisco (Assistant Professor of English, Hostos Community College)

Patricia Ticineto Clough (Professor of Sociology, Graduate Center and Queens College)

Alyson M. Cole (Associate Professor of Political Science and Women Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Hector R. Cordero-Guzman (Professor, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College)

Marithelma Costa (Professor, Romance Languages Department, Hunter College)

Heather Cottin (Adjunct Faculty, Department of History, Laguardia Community College)

Katie Cumiskey (Associate Professor, Psychology Department and Program in Women, Gender and Sexuality, College of Staten Island)

Paisley Currah (Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College)

Grace Davie (Associate Professor of History, Queens College)

James Davis (Associate Professor of English, Brooklyn College)

Ashley Dawson (Associate Professor of English, Graduate Center, College of Staten Island)

Charlotte Deaver (Adjunct Lecturer, English Department, New York City College of Technology)

Francesca Degiuli (Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island)

Rafael de la Dehesa (Associate Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island and Graduate Center)

Katherine DeLorenzo (Adjunct Lecturer, Women and Gender Studies Program, Hunter College)

Geert Dhondt (Assistant Professor of Economics, John Jay College)

Sue Dicker (Professor of English, Hostos Community College)

Mario DiGangi (Professor of English, Lehman College; Executive Officer, Ph.D. Program in English, Graduate Center)

Elizabeth Dill (Assistant Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Jackie DiSalvo (Associate Professor Emerita of English, Graduate Center and Baruch
College)

Mathieu Dufour (Assistant Professor of Economics, John Jay College)

Christina Duhig (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of English, Bronx Community College)

Ewa Dzurak (Assistant Professor, Library Department, College of Staten Island)

Grayson Earle (Adjunct Faculty, Hunter College)

Christopher Ebert (Associate Professor of History, Brooklyn College)

Marc Edelman (Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, Hunter College)

Hester Eisenstein (Professor of Sociology, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Nicole Eitmann (Lecturer, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College)

Rayya El Zein (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Theater, City College)

Christopher Eng (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Queens College)

Joseph Entin (Associate Professor, English & American Studies, Brooklyn College)

Maureen E. Fadem (Assistant Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Duncan Faherty (Associate Professor of English and American Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Mimi Fahs (Professor, CUNY School of Public Health)

Matthew Feltman (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Bronx Community College)

Sujatha Fernandes (Assistant Professor of Sociology, Queens College and the Graduate Center)

Eileen Ferretti (Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Michelle Fine (Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Graduate Center)

Ruslan Flek (Assistant Professor, Mathematics Department, Hostos Community College)

Jim Fleming (Lecturer in Film and Media, Hunter College)

George Fragopoulos (Assistant Professor of English, Queensborough Community College)

Luis Francia (Adjunct Faculty, Asian American Studies and English, Hunter College)

Lisa Freedman (Adjunct Lecturer, Kingsborough Community College)

Nicholas Freudenberg (Distinguished Professor of Public Health, City University of New York School of Public Health at Hunter College)

Lea Fridman (Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Michael Friedman (Visiting Scientist, Sackler Laboratory for Comparative Genomics, American Museum of Natural History; Adjunct Assistant Professor of Biology, Medgar Evers College)

Jennifer Gaboury (Associate Director, Women and Gender Studies Program, Hunter College)

Nicholas Gamso (Teaching Fellow, Queens College)

Vicki Garavuso (Associate Professor, City College, Center for Worker Education)

Libby Garland (Assistant Professor of History, Kingsborough Community College)

Robert Garot (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, John Jay College)

Katie Gentile (Associate Professor and Counseling Director, Gender Studies Program, John Jay College)

David A. Gerstner (Professor of Cinema Studies, Graduate Center and College of Staten Island)

Frances Geteles (Professor, SEEK Program, City College, retired)

Janne Gillespie (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Lehman College)

Ruth Wilson Gilmore (Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center)

Matthew K. Gold (Assistant Professor of English, New York City College of Technology)

Tami Gold (Professor of Film and Media, Hunter College)

Katharine Goodland (Associate Professor of English, College of Staten Island)

Jean Graham-Jones (Professor of Theatre and Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures & Languages, Graduate Center and Hunter College)

Mike Granger (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, La Guardia Community College)

Jonathan W. Gray (Assistant Professor of English, John Jay College)

Richard Grayson (Adjunct Lecturer in English, Hunter College and Borough of Manhattan Community College)

David Greetham (Distinguished Professor of English, Graduate Center)

Anthony Gronowicz (Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Sciences, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Bruno Gulli (Substitute Associate Professor of Philosophy, Kingsborough Community College)

Nino Gulli (Adjunct Assistant Professor, Kingsborough Community College)

Maureen Haggerty (Lecturer in English, Kingsborough Community College)

Kimiko Hahn (Distinguished Professor, MFA Program in Creative Writing & Literary Translation, Department of English, Queens College)

Nicole Hala (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Sociology, Queens College)

N. John Hall (Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Graduate Center)

Jay P. Hamilton (Assistant Professor and Chair, Economics Department, John Jay College)

David Harvey (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Graduate Center)

Jennifer Hayashida (Director, Asian American Studies Program, Hunter College)

John L. Hammond (Professor of Sociology, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Bill Henning (Adjunct Faculty Member, City College Center for Worker Education)

James D Hoff (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of English, Brooklyn College)

Meechal Hoffman (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Baruch College)

Andrew Hubner (Instructor, Department of English, Hostos Community College)

Amy E. Hughes (Assistant Professor, Department of Theater, Brooklyn College)

Daniel Hurewitz (Assistant Professor of History, Hunter College)

Heidi Jones (Assistant Professor, CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College)

Nellie Teresa Justicia (Assistant Professor of English, Hostos Community College)

Laura Kaplan (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Hunter College)

Lawrence Kaplan (Professor Emeritus of History, City College)

Helen Kapstein (Assistant Professor of English, John Jay College)

Cihan Karabulut (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Mathematics Department, John Jay College)

Steven Karl (Adjunct Lecturer, LaGuardia Community College)

Andrew Karmen (Professor of Sociology, John Jay College)

Hosu Kim (Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Staten Island)

Matthew Knip (Graduate Teaching Fellow, English Department, Hunter College)

Wayne Koestenbaum (Distinguished Professor of English, Graduate Center)

Ann E. Kottner (Adjunct Professor, Brooklyn EOC/City Tech)

John Krinsky (Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Political Science, City College)

Karl Kronebusch (Associate Professor, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College)

Steven F. Kruger (Professor of English and Medieval Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Zhandarka Kurti (Adjunct Lecturer, Sociology Department Hunter College; Center for Ethnic Studies, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Joel Kuszai (Assistant Professor of English, Queensborough Community College)

Kam Man Kenny Kwong (Assistant Professor and Chair, Health and Mental Health Field of Practice, Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College)

Catherine Lavender (Associate Professor of History and Director of American Studies Program, College of Staten Island)

Stephen Leberstein (Adjunct Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center for Worker Education)

Joel Lefkowitz (Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Baruch College, and Graduate Center)

Jan Heller Levi (Associate Professor of English, Hunter College)

Stephen H. Levine (Adjunct Associate Professor, Center for Worker Education, City College)

Michael A. Lewis (Associate Professor, Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College)

Penny Lewis (Assistant Professor, Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies)

Shirley Leyro (Criminal Justice Program, John Jay College)

Bradley Lubin (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of English, Brooklyn College)

Stephanie Luce (Associate Professor of Labor Studies, Murphy Institute, School for Professional Studies)

Wendy Luttrell (Professor of Urban Education, Social Personality-Psychology, Graduate Center)

Mary E. Lutz, (Lecturer, Department of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, City College, Division for Worker Education)

Kate Lyons (Assistant Professor, Library, Hostos Community College)

Colin Macdonald (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Queens College)

Jennifer Mangels (Professor of Psychology, Baruch College and Graduate Center)

Velina Manolova (Graduate Teaching Fellow, English Department, City College)

Jane Marcus (Distinguished Professor of English, Graduate Center and City College)

Ivone Margulies (Associate Professor of Film and Media Studies, Hunter College)

Gerald Markowitz (Distinguished Professor of History, John Jay College and Graduate Center)

Donna Masini (Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, Hunter College)

Richard Maxwell (Professor of Media Studies, Queens College)

Colum McCann (Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing, Hunter College)

Lowery McClendon (Adjunct Lecturer, Lehman College)

Kathlene McDonald (Associate Professor, English and Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, City College)

Michael Menser (Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Brooklyn College and Earth and Environmental Science and Environmental Psychology, Graduate Center)

Claire Messud (MFA Faculty, Creative Writing, Hunter College)

Nicholas M. Michelli (Presidential Professor, Ph.D. Program in Urban Education, Graduate Center)

Karen Miller, Associate Professor, Social Science Department, LaGuardia Community College)

Jennifer Mitchell (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Hunter College)

Rebecca Mlynarczyk (Professor of English Emerita, Kingsborough Community College and Graduate Center)

Jayne Mooney (Associate Professor of Sociology, John Jay College)

Joyce Solomon Moorman (Associate Professor, Music and Art Department, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Russ Morisi (Adjunct Lecturer, College of Staten Island)

Ron Morris (Associate Professor of Sociology, John Jay College)

Kate Moss (Adjunct Lecturer, School of Professional Studies)

Roopali Mukherjee (Associate Professor of Media Studies, Queens College)

Catherine P. Mulder (Assistant Professor of Economics, John Jay College)

Carolina Bank Muñoz (Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center)

David Nasaw (Distinguished Professor of History, Graduate Center)

Janet Neary (Assistant Professor of English, Hunter College)

Boon Lin Ngeo (Adjunct Faculty, Women and Gender Studies, Hunter College)

Chamutal Noimann (Assistant Professor of English, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

David O’Brien (Professor of Psychology, Baruch College)

Veena Talwar Oldenburg (Professor of History, Graduate Center and Baruch College)

Brigid O’Keeffe (Assistant Professor of History, Brooklyn College)

Jennifer Oliveri (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Susan O’Malley (Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College, and Liberal Studies, Graduate Center, retired)

Susan Opotow (Professor of Criminal Justice, John Jay College and Graduate Center)

Erin M. Orjuela (Adjunct Faculty, School of Social Work, Hunter College)

Rupal Oza (Associate Professor of Geography and Chair of Women’s Studies, Hunter College, Graduate Center)

Michael Paris (Assistant Professor and Pre-Law Advisor, College of Staten Island)

LaRose T. Parris (Assistant Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College)

Megan Paslawski (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of English, Queens College)

Marianna Pavlovskaya (Associate Professor, Department of Geography, Hunter College, and Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center)

Frank Percaccio (Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Journalism Program, Kingsborough Community College)

Ramona Lee Perez (Adjunct Assistant Professor, Urban Studies, Queens College)

Rosalind Petchesky (Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Kristofer Petersen-Overton (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Political Science, Lehman College)

Howard Pflanzer (Adjunct Associate Professor of English, Bronx Community College)

Leigh Phillips (Assistant Professor of English, Hostos Community College)

Melissa Phruksachart (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Brooklyn College)

Brian Pickett (Adjunct Lecturer, Speech and Theatre, Queensborough Community College)

Marianne Pita (Chairperson, Department of English, Bronx Community College)

Tanya Pollard (Associate Professor of English, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center)

Tim Portlock (Associate Professor, Film and Media Dept, Hunter College)

Peter Ranis (Professor Emeritus of Political Science, York College and Graduate Center)

Shirley Rausher (Lecturer in English, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Wendy Raver (Lecturer, Program in Religion, Hunter College)

Jeremy Rayner (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Hunter College)

Conor Tomás Reed (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Baruch College)

Abby Reilly (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Sara Remedios (Adjunct Lecturer, Baruch College)

Carol Rial (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of English, Hunter College)

Susan Ribner (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Hunter College)

Lynn Roberts (Assistant Professor, School of Public Health)

John Robertson (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Political Science, Baruch College, and School of Social Work, Hunter College)

Corey Robin (Associate Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College and Graduate Center)

Julia Miele Rodas (Assistant Professor of English, Bronx Community College and School of Professional Studies)

Diana Romero (Associate Professor of Public Health, Hunter College)

Martin Ruck (Assistant Professor of Psychology, Graduate Center)

Patricia S. Rudden (Professor of English, New York City College of Technology)

Sara Rutkowski (Teaching Fellow, English Department, Hunter College)

Laura Ryan (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of English, Borough of Manhattan Community College)

Talia Schaffer (Professor of English, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Seamus Scanlon (Assistant Professor and Librarian, Center for Worker Edcuation, City College)

Josh Schneiderman (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Hunter College)

Sarah Schulman (Distinguished Professor of English, College of Staten Island)

Sigmund Shen (Associate Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College)

Ira Shor (Professor of English, College of Staten Island and Graduate Center)

Timothy Shortell (Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College)

Nancy Silverman (Adjunct Lecturer, LaGuardia Community College and HEO, Graduate Center)

David Singer (Adjunct Instructor, Sociology Department, John Jay College)

Brijraj Singh (Professor (Emeritus) of English, Hostos Community College)

Thomas R. Sleigh (Distinguished Professor, English Department, Hunter College)

Carly Smith (Adjunct Lecturer, Baruch College)

Carol Smith (Associate Professor, SEEK program (retired), City College)

Cheryl Smith (Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Cheryl C. Smith (Associate Professor of English, Baruch College)

Neil Smith (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Graduate Center)

Madeline Sorel (Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Art, Kingsborough Community College)

Leah Souffrant (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Baruch College)

Ben Spatz (Adjunct Faculty, College of Staten Island)

Robyn C. Spencer (Assistant Professor of History, Lehman College)

Martyna Starosta (Adjunct Lecturer, Film and Media Department, Hunter College)

Karl Steel (Assistant Professor of English, Brooklyn College)

Bernard L. Stein (Professor of Journalism, Hunter College and Graduate School of Journalism)

Carolyn Steinhoff (Adjunct Faculty, Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Christopher Stone (Associate Professor of Arabic and Head of Arabic Division, Department of Classical and Oriental Studies, Hunter College)

Sara Jane Stoner (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Brooklyn College)

Jill Strauss (Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dispute Resolution Program, Department of Sociology, John Jay College)

Enid Stubin (Assistant Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Celina Su (Associate Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College)

Patrick Sweeney (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Psychology, Hunter College)

Laura Tanenbaum (Associate Professor of English, LaGuardia Community College)

Mary N. Taylor (Adjunct Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Hunter College)

Jeanne Theoharis (Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College)

Tara Thompson (Adjunct Lecturer, English Department, Kingsborough Community College)

Lorna Thorpe (Associate Professor and Director, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College)

Junior Tidal (Assistant Professor and Web Services and Multimedia Librarian, New York City College of Technology)

Saadia Toor (Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, College of Staten Island)

Julie Torrant (Assistant Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Víctor M. Torres-Vélez (Assistant Professor, Department of Africana and Puerto Rican/Latino Studies, Hunter College)

Jason Tougaw (Associate Professor of English, Queens College)

Ellen Tremper (Professor and Chair, English Department, Brooklyn College)

Jeffrey Twu (Graduate Teaching Fellow, English Department, Hunter College)

Brian Unger (Adjunct Faculty, Kingsborough Community College)

Jason VanOra (Assistant Professor of Psychology, Kingsborough Community College)

Alex S. Vitale (Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College)

John R. Wallach (Professor of Political Science, Chair, Hunter Human Rights Program, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Donna-lyn Washington (Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Kyle Skully Waugh (Adjunct Faculty, Baruch College, Graduate Teaching Fellow, Brooklyn College)

Jane Weiss (Assistant Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Monique Whitaker (Adjunct Lecturer, Hunter College)

Maurya Wickstrom (Associate Professor of Theatre, Graduate Center, City University of New York and College of Staten Island)

Gary Wilder (Associate Professor in Anthropology, Graduate Center)

Jocelyn Wills (Associate Professor of History and the Graduate Center for Worker Education, Brooklyn College)

Joshua Wilner (Professor of English and Comparative Literature, City College and Graduate Center)

Avra Wing (Department of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Barbara Winslow (Associate Professor, School of Education, Brooklyn College)

Eben Wood (Associate Professor of English, Kingsborough Community College)

Susan L. Woodward (Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center)

Steffie Woolhandler( Professor of Public Health, CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College)

Tommy Wu (Graduate Teaching Fellow, Queens College)

N21 [TODAY!]: CUNY-Wide March Against Tuition Hikes and the Defunding of Education

Posted on November 20, 2011 by keith

Occupy The Board of Trustees!
Monday, November 21

Say NO! to Tuition Hikes and the Defunding of Public Education

3pm: All-Students Rally @ SW Corner of Madison Square Park (23rd & Broadway)
4pm: March to the Board of Trustees Public and Budget Hearing
Baruch College Room 14-220 (55 Lexington Ave. at 24th St.)
Inside of Baruch: CUNY students will voice their grievances to the Board of Trustees
**Bring your CUNY ID if you wish to attend the hearing**
Outside of Baruch: All students will participate in a Mock Trial and All-Student General Assembly!
Download printable flyers for N21 and other ongoing student actions

Students protest in front of Federal Hall in 1989 against proposed CUNY tuition hikes

Occupy the Board of Trustees!

Have your voice heard! Tell the Board of Trustees that our education is not for sale. A budget funded by increased tuition while increasingly exploiting precarious adjunct labor is not OK! Click on the image below (or here) to download a poster that illustrates the privatization and systematic defunding of one of the largest and most diverse public universities in the country.

With over 250,000 full-time students, over 250,000 professional and continuing students, and millions of New Yorkers with degrees from CUNY, working at CUNY, with children and friends attending CUNY…Who is CUNY?

CUNY IS NEW YORK CITY!

Important Resources

Check out the Student Week of Action website
View the CUNY faculty statement on violence against nonviolent student protesters
View the Board of Trustees public hearing notice. Please note that the second page contains the rules of conduct for the public hearing.
Get information for international students engaging in political actions.
View the inaugural statement for the ALL-CITY STUDENT OCCUPATION at 5^th Avenue & 14^thStreet (formerly a New School study space).
Follow us on Twitter for updates: @occupycunyGC or @NYStudentOccupy
If you don’t have a twitter account: send a text to 40404 with the message:
“Follow @occupycunyGC” or “Follow @NYStudentOccupy”

Click the thumbnail to download a printable flyer for N21:

All-City Student Occupation — Inaugural Statement

Posted on November 17, 2011 by studentweekofaction

We have occupied a new space in the heart of Manhattan. Here is the statement of the newly occupied space at 5th avenue and 14th st., formerly a New School study space, now a reclaimed as an open, all-city student occupation.

An Inaugural Statement of Purpose for the Occupation

Two days ago the NYPD, under the orders of a billionaire mayor who does not represent us, raided Occupy Wall Street with riot gear and batons. Today we occupy. Everywhere. On this historic day of global action, the students of New York City public and private universities and colleges, in solidarity with the 99%, Occupy Wall Street, labor, and all those dispossessed by our economic and political system, will expand the struggle and occupy a university space.

Today, the university is a supreme symbol of social and economic inequality. Skyrocketing tuition costs at public and private institutions deny us access to higher education and saddle us with crushing debt. We will reclaim this elite space and make it open to all. We will foster dialogue and build solidarity between students, workers, and others excluded or marginalized by economic and social inequalities. We will build community through the commonality of occupation. We will offer free education – this is systematically forbidden. We join a long tradition of student activism and struggle. We the indebted and the future unemployed and underemployed stand committed to this movement for our collective lives. We invite all to join us in this open occupation.

Workers, students, and the millions of this city unite!

Together we will be victorious.

ESCALATE the Struggle. EXPAND the Movement. OCCUPY!

CITY-WIDE STUDENT STRIKE

Posted on November 17, 2011 by studentweekofaction

STUDENT STRIKE!

Come out and join us today at Union Square at 3pm!

March with you colleagues and comrades from universities and high schools across New York City, stand up against tuition hikes, student debt, and the corporatization of the university system, and celebrate the growing student movement.

Come. Join us.

CUNY Faculty Statement of Support

Posted on November 16, 2011 by studentweekofaction

CUNY Faculty Statement of Support for Nov. 17 Student Strike in Solidarity with Occupy Wall Street

We faculty members of The City University of New York (CUNY) would like to express our solidarity with Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and the nascent student movement it has helped galvanize at CUNY. We support the movement’s stand against the structural inequalities that lead to the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the few and against austerity measures taken during the recent economic downturn. The costs of this crisis and current social order constitute a harsh reality for many New Yorkers and especially CUNY students because our student body has always been the 99%: working-class people of all colors with a strong commitment to education and democracy. The increasing tuition costs and growing debt burden foisted upon students undermines not only CUNY’s institutional goals, but also our students’ very futures.

This is why we support the student strike organized by our students on Thursday November 17, along with the protests on November 21 against the prospect of tuition hikes to be decided on by the Board of Trustees.

To sign the statement, write to: NSmith@gc.cuny.edu

Signatures

Neil Smith (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Graduate Center)

Susan Buck-Morss (Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center)

David Harvey (Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and Geography, Graduate Center)

Setha Low (Professor of Environmental Psychology and Geography, Graduate Center)

Cindi Katz (Professor of Environmental Psychology, Graduate Center)

Patricia Ticineto Clough (Professor of Sociology, Graduate Center and Queens College)

Kandice Chuh (Professor of English and American Studies, Graduate Center)

Peter Ranis (Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Graduate Center)

Rebecca Mlynarczyk (Professor of English Emerita, Graduate Center)

Carol Smith (Associate Professor, SEEK program (retired), City College)

Renate Bridenthal (Professor of History (retired), Brooklyn College)

Ruth O’Brien (Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center)

John Gerassi (Professor of Political Science, Graduate Center and Queens College)

Alyson M. Cole (Professor of Political Science and Women Studies, Queens College and Graduate Center)

Linda Martín Alcoff (Professor of Philosophy, Hunter College and Graduate Center)

Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach (Professor of Philosophy and Women’s Studies, Graduate Center)

Stanley Aronowitz (Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education, Graduate Center)

Ira Shor (Professor of English, College of Staten Island and Graduate Center)

David Chapin (Professor of Environmental Psychology, Graduate Center)

Marvin Carlson (Sidney E. Cohn Distinguished Professor of Theatre, Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies, Graduate Center)

Frank Kirkland (Associate Professor of Philosophy (Graduate Center and Hunter College)

Alex S. Vitale (Associate Professor of Sociology, Brooklyn College)

Ashley Dawson (Associate Professor of English, Graduate Center, College of Staten Island)

Caitlin Cahill (Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, Graduate Center, New Community College, and Kingsborough Community College)