CUNY Hires More Adjuncts & Adjuncts Protest For More Fringe Benefits

Recently, an adjunct faculty protest took place at the 25th Street entrance of Baruch College.

The protest was organized in part by the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), a union that represents educational workers at CUNY and the Adjunct Project, an adjunct advocacy group.

People who were familiar with the matter claim that the protest was planned earlier in conjunction to a scheduled CUNY Board of Trustees meeting at Baruch.

Brian Pickett, an adjunct from Queens College expressed his discontent about the situation.

“CUNY has been consistently increased the number of adjuncts; now more than half of the classes on the campuses of CUNY are being taught by adjuncts.” said Pickett.

“Yet, the university has consistently rejected our demands to fund health insurance for adjunct adequately,” he said.

Pickett believed that by staging the protest here was the best way to apply pressure to the trustees who were holding a meeting on the Vertical Campus 14th floor conference center.

Clark echoed this belief.

“Frustrating the board of trustees, the folks who make the decisions about CUNY budgets and policies is absolutely the right button to push.” said Clark.

According to a campus security officer who was present, the area surrounding the conference center was closed off to public by the college administration.

Due to the heightened security, students who wished to attend the meeting were diverted away by campus security officers.

Down on 25th Street, security barriers were set down to regulate the sudden increase in pedestrian traffics.

In addition to the security barriers, several NYPD officers were also present during the entire duration of the protest.

Shouting to overcome the protestors’ loud chants, Tristen Striker, an adjunct from BMCC and a member of the Adjunct Project, explained that the protest movement was first conceived by word of mouth.

“It spread very quickly because we have a very unified union and we have people who care. They worked real hard to get the words out.” yelled Striker.

He continued, “This a very big issue and something definitely worth fighting for. Because if they take an inch, they will take a yard.”