DOMINIC WETZEL

Despite a rainstorm of biblical proportions, the student- and PSC-sponsored Campus Equity Week protest at the CUNY Board of Trustees meeting went off undeterred. The demonstration, held on Monday, October 27 at the Hunter College of Social Work and designed to air the plight of adjunct faculty and other part-timers at CUNY, saw a surprisingly strong turnout of 100-120 people. In fact, it was impossible for all the picketers to fit inside the petite protest pen set up by police, let alone fulfill the legal requirement of a moving picket to actually move.

Campus groups came from all corners of the CUNY system with colorful signs to thrust about for passersby and Board members to see on the busy corner of 79th and Lexington Avenue. Demands for equal pay, tuition remission, health care benefits, job security and seniority recognition for adjuncts featured prominently. Part-time pay isn t funny CUNY show us the money! one sign proclaimed. Teachers Working Conditions Equal Students Learning Conditions read another. Student groups from various CUNY campuses came out in full force FreeCUNY and the Doctoral Students Council (DSC) represented the Graduate Center, the Student Liberation Action Movement from Hunter (joined by its new chapter at City College) marched and chanted, while loyal radical youth from BMCC waved hand-made signs.

Giant headless street puppets bobbed ominously above the picket line, poignantly suggesting the invisible faculty status of most adjuncts at CUNY campuses. While adjuncts teach more than half the classes at CUNY, they are paid 1/8th of the wage paid to full-timers. As another sign put it, Who needs Halloween? Being an Adjunct is Scary Enough!

Inside the lobby of the Hunter School of Social Work, a second, drier group of about 50 protestors stood waiting for a direct, face-to-face confrontation with the CUNY Board. The aristocratic, well-heeled members of the Board walked in (many of them late), shaking the rain off their umbrellas and overcoats, clearly relieved to have made it past the picket line, only to find a second crowd awaiting them inside. Many couldn t help smiling at the spectacle, yet with the sinking realization that they were cast as the central act: Surprise! You re on candid camera! Hey CUNY, quit stalling/Part-time pay is appalling shouted PSC VP for Senior Colleges Mike Fabricant, as he led his colleagues through the rounds of chants. He appeared quite at home on his own turf; he is also the Chair of the Social Welfare PhD program, located at Hunter. Don t make CUNY Sweatshop U! he urged the Board members.

While the crowd inside swelled, union leaders led a lusty rendition of It s a Just Cause a song telling of adjunct woes composed by former long-time CUNY adjunct Joyce Solomon and with lyrics by current VP for Part-Timers Marcia Newfield, a long-time adjunct. The picketers were soon on key and carried the song through several rounds imploring CUNY Board Members to Change the Budgets! and Re-write the Laws! to treat adjuncts equally.

Meanwhile, the CUNY Board Meeting proceeded in the halls above. PSC President Barbara Bowen rallied the troops for the contract fight ahead, contrasting the city and state s rhetoric of scarcity with the record billions recently allocated for war. Kicking off the beginning of Campus Equity Week, she reminded picketers of the hard-fought gains from the last contract, including pay for office hours and the introduction of partial tuition remission. Reminding full-timers and adjuncts that it is in the interest of both groups to fight the two-tiered wage system, she forecast the coming negotiation battles over equal pay, healthcare benefits, job seniority and security for adjuncts.

Several students went upstairs to observe the meeting. Denise Ingram, a PhD student in sociology, remarked on the cluelessness of most Board members: Does anybody [on the Board] ever do anything else besides congratulate themselves? Nothing serious was being discussed there appeared to be no agenda, other than Ôhere s why we [the administration] should get a raise. Indeed, while the adjunct problem went entirely unaddressed, Board members voted to give CUNY Executive Management, comprised of administrative staff including the Chancellor and college presidents, a 14% raise.