NYSUT members continue
to take on many challenges
and threats to the
state's public colleges, universities
and hospitals.
"We believe affordable, accessible
public education should be a civil
right and a human right," said United
University Professions President
Fred Kowal to the more than 15,000
people at the "One Voice United"
rally. UUP represents more than
35,000 academic and professional
faculty at the State University of New
York.
"We are going to take on those
who would take our public colleges
and universities and public hospitals
and make them places of profit, instead
of places that teach and heal."
Kowal was referring to the call for
increased funding to the three SUNY
teaching hospitals — Stony Brook
Health Science Center on Long
Island, Upstate Medical University in
Syracuse and, especially, Downstate
Medical Center in Brooklyn.
UUP members at Downstate are
in a dogfight to keep the hospital
open, viable and public in the face
of a long history of crippling budget
cuts and privatization threats. The
state hospitals only received $87.8
million from the state this year.
Part of the union's goal this summer
and beyond will be to send the
message that "we are all consumers
of public health care. If Downstate
is privatized, it will soon happen to
teaching hospitals in Stony Brook
and Syracuse. We cannot let this
happen," said Rowena Blackman-
Stroud, UUP Downstate chapter
president.
Members say they will also be
working hard for passage of a New
York state DREAM act, which would
make undocumented college students
who were brought to the United
States as minors by their parents
eligible for financial aid.
Higher education members will
also be pressing for more full-time
faculty and for funding of public colleges
and universities by the state
instead of through tuition increases.
"With public education underfunded
at every level, a show of
force from educators and parents
is sorely needed," PSC President
Barbara Bowen said. "PSC members
will demand a full investment in
higher education going forward, and
an end to corporate control of public
education."
The issue of more faculty lines will
be especially important for NYSUT's
community college members in the
coming year. Community colleges received
an increase of $150 per fulltime
student in the new budget, one
of the highest per-student funding
increases ever, but many community
colleges still rely heavily on adjunct
faculty.
"The future of public education is
in all our interests; this is about the
future we want for our children and our
students and ourselves," said Ellen
Schuler Mauk, chair of the NYSUT
Higher Education Council and immediate
past president of the Faculty
Association of Suffolk Community
College. Along with Andy Sako, president
of the Faculty Federation of Erie
Community College, she speaks to
community college issues on the
NYSUT Board.
Schuler Mauk and Sako were
among the many community college
members who attended the June 8
rally. Sako said excessive testing of
K-12 students detracts from the kind
of creative and critical thinking they
will need when they get to college.
"Every student has differences in
the way they learn, as well as individual
strengths, and we as teachers
can build on these strengths and
differences," Sako said. "We must
demonstrate our strength to the policy
makers for change to occur."