Dept. chairs &summer payUnder the contract, depart-ment chairs are entitled topay for work done during thesummer. Is this provision implemented correctly onyour campus? PAGE 5

The State budget is expected to be finalized soon. The PSC brought 105,453postcards to Albany on April 14 to protest Governor Pataki’s proposed budgetcuts and tuition hikes. On May 3, it’s your turn, at a huge Albany rally for pub-

lic education. With buses coming from all over the state, organizers expect itto be the biggest protest Albany has ever seen. Find out how you can sign upfor a seat on the bus. SEE PAGES 6-7

RSI – RepetitiveStrain Illness

HEALTH & SAFETY

It’s the leading cause ofhealth problems in the USworkplace today and thereare no national guidelines forsafety. But you can take stepsto help prevent it. PAGE 9

Mass meetingset for May 12

NEXT CONTRACT

PSC members can discuss thenew contract demands. PAGE 5

YOUR RIGHTS

●

AMERICAN ASSN. OF UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS ● AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS ● N.Y.C. CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL ● N.Y.S. AFL-CIO ● N.Y. STATE UNITED TEACHERS

105,453 POSTCARDS!

TAKING IT TO ALBANYTAKING IT TO ALBANYStrummer in the struggle

CULTURE

Former Clash guitarist JoeStrummer, 50, recently died.He could do more than playthe guitar – he was an ardentsupporter of labor rights inBritain. PAGE 9

Joe

Putr

ock

ClarıonNEWSPAPER OF THE PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS / CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK APRIL 2003

Get on the bus!March in Albany May 3

PAGE 7

CorrectionThe March Clarion mistakenlyidentified LaGuardia student Yass-er Hussain as a member of Phi BetaKappa. Hussain is in fact a memberof Phi Theta Kappa, the interna-tional honor society of the two-yearcollege; all Phi Beta Kappa chaptersare located at senior colleges.

● Both Republican and Democraticstate legislators, as well as the me-dia, constantly talk about the state’s$11.5 billion revenue shortfall as if itwere a condition beyond anyone’scontrol. They talk about the shortfallas if it were an act of nature, like adrought. The only remedies, mostlegislators say, are borrowing andcutting services. No one is willing tomention that since 1994, GovernorPataki has pushed through tax cutsthat will reduce State revenues by$13.5 billion in 2003-2004. If our stateofficials would simply scale backthese tax cuts, which favor thewealthy, there would be no need forborrowing – and there would bemoney for the public schools, hospi-tals, libraries, parks, environmentalprotection, and for SUNY and CUNY.

Bill CrainCity College

QCC views on the war● The article entitled “Antiwarviews gain strength in labor” doesnot accurately represent what oc-curred at Queensborough Communi-ty College via our e-mail ballot on the issue of the US Labor Against the War (USLAW) resolution. The e-mail poll was sent to over 600 indi-viduals , but only 30 responses werereceived (a 5% return rate). While itis correct to state that “most com-ments ran against PSC support...”(there were 12 for and 18 against), thevery small number of returns shouldhave been mentioned in the article.We made a point of saying this atthe Delegate Assembly. We feel thatno conclusion can be drawn as towhat the chapter as a whole might

take as a position, based on such asmall response. It should also be not-ed that previous e-mail and depart-ment pollings on similar issues havebeen thoroughly mixed at QCC.

Additionally, the article says thatQCC was the only chapter wherecomments ran against USLAW.Among those chapters reporting atthe DA, QCC was the only onewhere this occurred. Several chap-ters did not report and thus their re-sponses are unknown.

Jay Appleman, QCC Chapter ChairPhil Pecorino, QCC Vice-Chair

Editor’s note: It’s one of the con-stant frustrations of journalismthat there is never enough room forevery relevant detail. We stand bythe accuracy of our reporting, butare glad to publish Appleman andPecorino’s letter that providessome additional context.

At the January Delegate Assembly,chapters were asked to discuss theUSLAW resolution and report back tothe February DA, where a vote wouldbe held. In chapter meetings at BMCC, BxCC, Brooklyn, CCNY,COSI, City Tech, Queens and Yorkand in an online discussion at La-Guardia, member comments strong-ly supported the USLAW resolution.QCC’s online comments are de-scribed above; the union’s other chap-ters did not organize discussions.

Connect the dots● I am involved in several PSC com-mittees, and with hundreds of mycolleagues have attended anti-warprotests, CUNY support demonstra-tions and lobbying activities.

Most PSC members connect thedots: billions for unending “preemp-tive wars” (Iraq is only the first), taxbreaks for the wealthy, assaults oncivil liberties and the economy, theenormous toll that a war budgettakes on our public institutions, andmanagement of the news by theBush administration.

A few of us serve on PSC’s Inter-national Committee and are tryingto put together a curriculum on thewar. I know that many of my col-leagues have connected the dots intheir classrooms. Have any of youtalked in your classrooms about thecampaign to bring a Uniting forPeace Resolution before the UN’sGeneral Assembly (greenpeace.org)? Do you know about Ohio Con-gressman Dennis Kucinich’s Reso-lution 20, which would deprive Bushof his ability to wage war? Do youhave useful Web sites, articles orcurriculum ideas you can share?

If you’d like to help create and dis-tribute a curriculum on war, peaceand justice, please contact the PSC International Committee by e-mail (miriam_thompson@qc.eduor srausher@nyc.rr.com).

Miriam ThompsonQueens College

TIAA-CREF responds● In the March Clarion, a letter tothe editor titled “Prisoners of TIAA-CREF” cited provisions for CUNY’sretirement plan accumulations.Several points require clarification.

● If eligible for retiree health care,CUNY permits two-thirds of the ac-count to be cashed out. While mar-

ket fluctuations affect amounts, em-ployees retain ownership of thefunds; TIAA does not “appropriateadditional funds.” One-third of theaccount cannot be cashed out sothat funds are available for healthcoverage. TIAA-CREF, MetLife andThe Guardian are required to ad-here to this CUNY policy. Alternatepayment options are available forthis one-third.

● In 1991, TIAA introduced mov-ing TIAA traditional accumulationsinto variable accounts for all partic-ipants including CUNY employees.

● Rollovers from CUNY’s Retire-ment Plan to an IRA maintain theNY State tax-free withdrawal sta-tus; earnings accrued in IRAs donot. A tax advisor should be con-sulted for personal situations.

● Article 27 of the Agreement be-tween CUNY and PSC/CUNY states“members of the ORP who have sep-arated from CUNY service and arecollecting a retirement benefit basedon their service at CUNY shall be el-igible for coverage in the CityHealth Insurance Program.” There-fore, employees must receive annu-ity income or interest payments onat least a minimum portion of theiraccumulation.

For additional information, pleasemeet with a TIAA-CREF Consultantwho visits your campus monthly.

Rosemary MarkowskiTIAA-CREF

2 NEWS & LETTERS Clarion | April 2003

How to solve State budget crisis

Write to ClarionLetters should be no more than 150-200 words in length and are subjectto editing.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR | WRITE TO: CLARION/PSC, 25 W. 43RD STREET, FIFTH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10036.E-MAIL: PHOGNESS@PSCMAIL.ORG. FAX: 212-302-7815.

The PSC-CUNY Research AwardProgram needs faculty members tohelp distribute grants in their areaof expertise. Interested full-time fac-ulty can volunteer or nominate col-leagues to join the University Com-mittee on Research Awards(UCRA); those who serve on theUCRA will help form grant reviewpanels, establish grant guidelinesand select recipients. The deadlinefor nominations is May 12.

MANY AREASThe UCRA is looking for people to

coordinate each of the following ar-

eas: art history and visual arts; com-parative literature and languages;computer science; education; healthand human services; health sci-ences; psychology and physiologicalpsychology; sociology. Applicantsare recommended by the UniversityFaculty Senate Committee on Re-search and appointed by the Chan-cellor. An in-service allotment isprovided for service on the UCRA($6,000 over three years of service).

For more information call Stasia Pasela in the UFS office at212-794-5538 or e-mail her at Stasia.Pasela@mail. cuny.edu.

Committee on facultyresearch funds

CUNY law school case settledMaivân Lâm, a former facultymember at the CUNY School ofLaw, has settled the grievance shefiled over the law school’s refusal togrant her tenure. The agreementgives Lâm, an expert in interna-tional law, promotion and tenure ina post at the CUNY Graduate Cen-ter, where she will serve as associ-ate director of the Ralph Bunche In-stitute for International Studies.Lâm’s case was the subject ofprotests by students at the lawschool during the 2000-01 academicyear. “I feel very very good about itindeed and I feel very grateful tothe people who were of immensesupport for me throughout, includ-ing students at the law school, PSC grievance counselor HowardPrince and my wonderful lawyerDeborah Karpatkin,” said Lâm.

LaGuardia CC in top five for Latino gradsLaGuardia Community College wasnamed as one of the top five com-munity colleges in the nation in thenumber of associate degrees grant-ed to Latinos. LaGuardia was theonly college in the Northeast in thetop ten of the list compiled by “His-panic Outlook in Higher Educa-tion.” Latino high school graduateshave the second highest college en-rollment rate of any major ethnicgroup, but they trail other groups inearning undergraduate degrees.

Schmidt named Board ofTrustees ChairBenno C. Schmidt, Jr., the vicechair and acting chair of the CUNYBoard of Trustees, was named as the permanent chair of theTrustees by Governor GeorgePataki in April. Schmidt, a Trusteesince 1999, has been acting chairsince Herman Badillo resigned torun for mayor. In appointingSchmidt, Pataki praised him for his leadership at CUNY and hiswork on former mayor Guiliani’stask force, which called CUNY “aninstitution adrift.” Schmidt, the for-mer president of Yale University,is also the chair of Edison Schools,Inc., a for-profit company, that is aleading group in privatizing publicschools nationwide. In acceptingPataki’s appointment, Schmidt saidthat he was honored to be part of“this historic turnaround” at CUNY.

CUNY IN BRIEF

The PSC joined the New York Public Library Guild (AFSCME Local 1930) in April ata rally against layoffs at City libraries. At center is Local 1930 President Ray Markey.

PSC-CUNY Grants

By TOMIO GERON

Students, faculty and staff use li-braries at CUNY every day, study-ing everything from poetry tophysics to protest movements. Butthere are growing concerns thatthey could be watched.

Libraries and booksellers acrossthe country are worried by provi-sions of new security legislation thatmake it easier for government togather data on people’s readinghabits. “America’s libraries are disturbed by the PATRIOT Act,” library faculty member Scott Whitewrote in a recent LaGuardianewsletter. The Act “pro-vide[s] law enforcement officials with broader sur-veillance powers thatlessen the current legalstandards needed to obtainsearch warrants,” Whiteexplained, “and forces li-braries to surrender cir-culation and user informationrecords.”

At least one CUNY library has re-portedly had an FBI inquiry sincethe Act was passed. At Bronx Com-munity College (BCC) last July, As-sistant to the Vice President for Ad-ministration and Finance AlyceZimmerman called an administra-tive assistant in the library’s Learn-ing Resource Center (LRC) andasked for sign-in sheets for comput-er use from certain dates. Therecords were promptly delivered.

LRC supervisor Laroi Lawton wason vacation, but was disturbed tolearn of the incident upon his return– especially when Zimmerman toldhim that the records had been need-

ed for the FBI and other law en-forcement officials.

“On one level, I can understandwhat they were doing,” said Lawton,“but on another level, this is intru-sive. One of the things I told [admin-istrators] is that I felt we’d been vio-lated.” Lawton told Clarion that hadhe been there, he would have resist-ed turning over the information.

The inquiry focused on a studentat BCC, but it is unclear exactly whythe government’s interest wasaroused. “Someone got into a Web

site that they shouldn’thave,” was all that Zim-merman would tell Clar-ion. BCC administratorswould not say whetherthe investigation fell under the PATRIOT Actor normal criminal law.Details of the case “are

really not open to disclosure,” saidBCC legal counsel Mary Rogan.

Theresa McManus, chief librarianat BCC, would not comment on thespecifics of the incident. But she didsay that those working in CUNY li-braries should not give patronrecords to administrators withoutbeing shown a subpoena or searchwarrant, as happened in this case.“It’s part of professional ethics,” Mc-Manus said. “My policy is theywould never just offer it up. If myboss came and said, ‘I want to seewho checked out this book,’ I’d say,‘I’m sorry this is confidential.’”

A New York State law adopted inresponse to past FBI abuses statesthat library records should be treat-

ed as confidential, except when in-formation is sought with a subpoenaor a court order.

Records of which books individu-als check out of CUNY libraries aredeleted from the system after thebook is returned, according to Mc-Manus. Sign-in sheets for computeruse in BCC’s Learning ResourceCenter used to be saved in order tocompile an anonymous end-of-se-mester report on computer usage –but Lawton said he now compilesthat information daily and then de-stroys the sheets.

GUIDELINES?If a librarian is presented with a

subpoena or a search warrant fromthe FBI as part of a PATRIOT Act in-vestigation, the Act states that he orshe is not allowed to tell others. Butan anonymous survey of over 900US public libraries, conducted in Oc-tober 2002 by Dr. Leigh Estabrook ofthe University of Illinois Library Re-search Center, found that over 10%had recently faced FBI or other lawenforcement inquiries about theirpatrons.

A similar survey of PSC mem-bers working in CUNY librariesdrew 41 responses out of 300 ques-tionnaires sent out. These includedonly one report of questioning byFBI or other law enforcement, a sec-ondhand description of one or moreinquiries at Baruch. When Clarionasked Arthur Downing, chief li-brarian at Baruch, for comment, hesaid that there had been only oneFBI inquiry at Baruch, and that it

had concerned financial fraud, notalleged terrorism. One survey re-spondent commented that Univer-sity librarians need “step-by-stepand case-by-case CUNY guidelineson how to manage when FBI or oth-er law enforcement agents requestinformation.”

CUNY General Counsel Freder-ick Schaffer said a policy is alreadyin place. “The general procedure for anyone around the Universitywho’s contacted by a law enforce-ment officer is to contact my officeto evaluate it,” he said. But aware-ness of this policy seems low; mostlibrary faculty that Clarion spokewith did not know about it. “Thereis no written policy,” said MadelineFord, head reference librarian atLehman and president of the Library Association of CUNY (LA-CUNY). “However, we’ve been told

to contact our chief librarian andthe chief librarian will determine ifthey have to contact the [Lehman]legal office.”

CIVIL LIBERTIESFord said that librarians are wor-

ried about the effect of the PATRI-OT Act on civil liberties and studentprivacy. “It is a major concern be-cause we don’t want to be in a posi-tion to have to give up informationfreely,” she said. “It has an impacton students and their ability to trustus in what we do.”

Many librarians and booksellersbelieve the Act infringes on theconstitutional right to privacy, saidLaGuardia’s White. “I think it’ll bechallenged as unconstitutional inthe courts,” said White. “I thinkthat cooler heads will eventuallyprevail.”

By PETER HOGNESS

After months of preparation that in-cluded membership surveys, smallcommittee work, input by union del-egates and intensive research bythe negotiating committee, the PSCExecutive Council presented a pro-posed list of contract demands to theunion’s March Delegate Assembly.

Delegates will vote on the de-mands at their next meeting, onMay 1, and the approved list of de-mands will be published in Clarion.On May 12 there will be a massmembership meeting on the con-tract, where members can discussthe demands with the PSC’s negoti-ating team.

The union has been preparing forthis round of collective bargainingsince the fall. On September 25, 2002,the PSC sent CUNY management aformal request to open bargainingand to start with the subject of intel-

lectual property, an area unresolvedin the last contract talks. But man-agement did not agree to begin withintellectual property, and the PSCsubsequently filed charges at thePublic Employment Relations Board.

MEMBERS’ IDEASMeanwhile the Executive Council

studied the results of the fall mem-bership survey and listened to hun-dreds of delegates and memberswith ideas for demands. The resultis a shorter and more focused listthan the one that delegates ap-proved in 2000.

“When the last negotiations be-gan, we laid out an agenda for trans-forming CUNY,” PSC President Barbara Bowen told Clarion. “Wehave kept that perspective, but now

we’re in a position to move directlyto some key issues.”

Behind each demand, Bowen said,are months of research and analy-sis. The bargaining team examinedthe last negotiations, looking at boththe PSC’s gains and the demandsthat were not won. Detailedstudy of union contracts atother universities helpedshape the new contract pro-posals, and both the Decem-ber and January meetingsof the Delegate Assemblydiscussed which issuesshould be the PSC’s prioritydemands.

A key test for each proposed de-mand was whether members wouldmobilize in its support. “We canhave all the logical arguments we

want,” Bowen explained, “but that’snot enough. In the last round of ne-gotiations, we saw that while argu-ments are important, bargaining isreally about power.” Member mobi-lization is especially important at a time of austerity budgets, sheadded: “We need to recognize thecurrent economic situation withoutcapitulating to it.”

The draft demands, approved bythe Executive Council onMarch 20, fall into sever-al basic categories. Eco-nomic demands includepay increases for all ti-tles, so that CUNYsalaries will again becompetitive with othermajor universities. An-other focus is job securi-

ty, a particularly pressing issue forHEOs, CLTs and part-time faculty.On workload, the proposal calls foran overall reduction in teaching load

to bring CUNY in line with otheruniversities, and for redressing in-equities that affect specific job titlesand colleges.

Equity for adjuncts is addressedin demands on pay, time and leave,seniority, professional treatmentand benefits. The proposed packagealso includes specific demands for li-brary and counseling faculty, andfor PSC members at the Education-al Opportunity Centers and theHunter College Campus Schools.

In several sections there is an em-phasis on quality-of-life concerns,such as health and family issues.Proposed improvements in childcare and family leave provisionsaim to make CUNY a more “family-friendly” workplace. Other parts ofthe package would strengthen thePSC-CUNY Welfare Fund and tight-en health and safety protections.Improvements in the grievance pro-cedure are also on the agenda.

Clarion | April 2003 NEWS 3

Contract demands move forward

Watching what you read

The proposedpackageincludesdemands onhealth care &family leave.

Monitoring CUNY libraries

Delegates to vote May 1

“America’slibraries aredisturbed by the PATRIOT Act.”

At least one FBI inquiry was made at Baruch’s library, above.

Tanv

ir Ra

quib

Department chairs give extraordi-nary service to CUNY. As facultymembers elected by their peers,they carry the heaviest burden ofthe shared governance on which auniversity is built. They often puttheir own research agendas onhold to devote three years or moreto their colleagues. With the steadyerosion of public funds fromCUNY, the chairs’ job has becomeeven harder: they find themselvesstretching department budgets andlobbying for full-time faculty lines,administering large cohorts ofpart-time faculty, and making diffi-cult decisions about their nearestcolleagues. This contractual provi-sion, if properly implemented,could go a long way toward sus-taining pivotal members of the uni-versity community.

PRORATED SALARYThe heart of the provision is that

department chairs will be paid a pro-rated portion of their normalsalaries if their departments aredesignated as requiring either oneor two months of work by the chairduring the contractual annual leave.Annual leave, as defined in Article14.2 of the contract and revised inthe current agreement, extendsfrom the day after spring Com-mencement until August 30th of thatyear (or for an equivalent consecu-tive period). During this time, full-time teaching faculty are officiallyon leave from all college responsi-bilities.

Especially with the inordinatelyheavy teaching loads we carry atCUNY, annual leave is essentialtime for one’s own research, writingand creative work – also for rest. A symptom of the increasing man-agerial control of academic life is ablurring of the boundary betweenwork and private life; we all have

somethingat stake in protecting annualleave. Department chairswho agree to work for their depart-ments during this period should becompensated at their normal rate of salary.

ADMINISTRATIVE If the department is designated

as requiring one month of addition-al work during the summer annualleave, the chair will receive one-ninth of his or her annual salary; ifthe department is designated as re-quiring two additional months, thechair receives two-ninths of the an-nual salary. (Faculty salaries are fornine months of work, paid over 12months.) The provision should besimple: it acknowledges that de-partments have often required ad-ministrative work during the periodwhen faculty are contractually onleave, and provides for fair paymentfor chairs who do. Management,however, has made it difficult by

stalling on thedesignation of de-

partments and claim-ing that there are no funds to

cover the costs. I want to be clear: the CUNY

Chancellor and Board of Trusteesproposed the concept and signed offon this agreement; they are re-quired to adhere to it. For manyyears, CUNY colleges have beenpaying department chairs for ad-ministrative work during their an-nual leave. This agreement restruc-tures and regularizes that payment.Management made no attempt to at-tribute costs for this provision to ourcontractual settlement, as they did,for instance, with the cost of the re-assigned time or the HEO/CLT pro-fessional fund.

But the pay for department chairsis emphatically not an “unfundedmandate,” as some campus man-agements have called it. An unfund-ed mandate is a requirement im-posed by an outside authority: thisprovision is part of the agreement

management signed and, in fact,originates in a management de-mand. We are well within our rightsin insisting that it be implemented.

The provision also must be imple-mented as written. Some collegepresidents have offereddepartment chairs lumpsums for summer work or proposed that chairswork at the pro-rated rate for less than a month.The contract is control-ling: individual arrange-ments by college presi-dents with departmentchairs, however well in-tentioned, would be in violation ofthe agreement.

With that said, let me clarify howit should work. The agreementstates that the “President of the col-lege, after consultation with the De-partment Chairperson, shall desig-nate each department as having anine-month, a ten-month, or aneleven-month Department Chair-person.” The designation is of thedepartment, not the individual whoserves as chair.

The only exception to the right ofthe President to make the designa-tion is the case of an incumbent department chair: in that case, the chair is required to agree to the designation. But where an elec-tion is being held this spring, theagreement states that the presidentmust make the designation “no lat-er than one month before the elec-tion.” On many campuses, thathasn’t happened, and the PSC hasbeen forced to file a grievance tomake it work.

DEPARTMENT STATUS Because the timing for designa-

tion of the department’s status istied to departmental chair elections,it would be possible for college pres-idents to make determinations thisspring about some departments andnot others. The PSC insisted thatcurrent department chairs not beforced to accept summer work, butwe did not want the implementationof this provision to be dragged outover three years. The union has taken the position that the only eq-uitable way to implement this pro-

vision is to make the designation ofall departments at once, for summer2003. Otherwise, chairs in differentdepartments will be paid at differentrates, a situation the union finds un-acceptable.

The agreement does notspecify criteria for desig-nation of a department asrequiring one or twomonths of work by thechair in the summer, but itdoes set the normal con-tractual limit on hours foradministrative work: 120hours of professional oblig-ation per month. The addi-

tional month or months of workneed not occur in the same calendarmonth – for instance, the time couldbe split between the beginning andthe end of the summer – but the ad-ditional time must be in one-monthincrements. Chairs have enumerat-ed many responsibilities that mightconstitute additional work duringtheir annual leave.

EXISTING PRACTICESOne final point is that the union

won an explicit guarantee in thecontract that the designation of a de-partment as requiring nine, ten oreleven months of work “shall not af-fect existing agreed-upon practicesconcerning coverage of the Depart-ment Chairperson’s duties whenhe/she is unavailable to performthem.” If active scholars and re-searchers are to continue acceptingpositions as department chairs, it isessential that current practices al-lowing for occasional substitutechairs continue.

Unfortunately, the memorandumfrom CUNY’s Office for Faculty andStaff Relations to college presidentsis in error on this issue; it states,“The University bargained for theservices of the officer DepartmentChairperson, not an ad hoc substi-tute.” This is flatly contradicted bythe contractual agreement, which isexplicit that “agreed-upon practicesconcerning coverage” will continue;established practices do not result inad hoc substitutes. Chairs and col-lege presidents should be guided bythe language of the contractualagreement. – BB

By BARBARA BOWENPSC President

The articles in this series so farhave tried to clarify some of the ma-jor innovations of the current con-tract: adjunct professional hours, re-assigned time for untenured faculty,HEO workload committees and oth-er issues. It has been gratifying tosee that what was at first vexed hasnow become fairly routine, at leaston most campuses. None of this hashappened without intervention by

the union, but part-time faculty arenow regularly being paid for officehours, College Language Immersionteachers have finally received theirlongevity increments, untenuredfaculty have begun to plan for reas-signed time, and the HEO workloadcommittees have started to con-vene. The structural change weworked for in the contract has be-gun. But only begun: some members

have found that the new featuresare not being implemented smooth-ly, and the union has already beenforced to grieve infractions.

LEGALLY BINDINGPlease let us know or contact yourchapter chair if you’re finding thatthe new elements of the contractare not being observed on yourcampus. There is no excuse for fail-

ure to implement the contract; itsprovisions are legally binding.

That the union has to do battlewith management to implement acontract to which they agreed is ab-surd. I find it especially so when PSCmembers have responded as neverbefore to the call to support the Uni-versity in its struggle to gain budgetrestorations from Albany. The twocontractual elements I discuss here

have been particularly subject tomanagerial foot-dragging, and theunion continues to work both on thecampuses and from the central of-fice to press for resolution of re-maining issues. With this month’scolumn on contractual rights comesa message to management: As weenter a new round of collective bar-gaining, the best way to create aproductive climate for negotiationsis to stop forcing the union to fightfor implementation of rights wehave already won.

4 THE CONTRACT Clarion | April 2003

Implementation is the key issue

Your rights under the contract

The CUNYChancellor andBoT proposedthis conceptand signed offon thisagreement.

Pay for department chairsduring annual leave

John

Eth

erid

ge

For the first time, the contract givesHigher Education Officers and Col-lege Laboratory Technicians accessto substantial funds to support pro-fessional development. The con-tract ensured funding at half a mil-lion dollars every year forthis purpose. The unionand the University areconsidering a proposalthat the PSC manage thefunds, which will be placedin a separate account. Theunion’s lawyers will workwith the University to en-sure that we meet the le-gal requirements for suchaccounts. We expect thatthe fund will be adminis-tered by a board oftrustees, and it will reportpublicly on how the moneyis disbursed.

A committee of HEOs, CLTs andmembers of the negotiating teamhas been meeting to develop imple-mentation plans. To apply for fund-ing, a HEO or CLT will submit ashort application form providing de-tails of the proposed budget and adescription of the project. Appropri-ate projects are as varied as thework CLTs and HEOs do: a HEO whoworks in student services mightseek funding for a course on devel-oping Web sites to communicatewith students; a CLT who worksin the slide room of an art de-partment might apply for trav-el money to visit major muse-ums and improve thedepartment’s collection ofslides; a HEO who runs aCaribbean Studies programmight ask to attend an acade-mic conference at the Univer-sity of the West Indies; a CLTwho works in a chemistry labmight seek advanced trainingin new scientific equipment.

The goal of the fund is to en-hance the professional lives ofthe thousands of our memberswho do academic work thatis not teaching. Its effectwill be felt by all of us, fac-ulty and students as wellas staff – as colleagues re-turn to their work renewedby the activities the fund supports.

PANELThe plan is for decisions

on applications to be madeby a panel that includestwo HEOs, two CLTs and one management de-signee. The HEOs andCLTs on the panel will bechosen for their experi-ence with professionaldevelopment and grantfunding. We have mod-eled the decision-makingprocess on the PSC-CUNYAward: applications will bejudged on a professional,academic basis, and decisions willbe final. Whether there will be one

panel for all applications or panelsat each campus is still being ironedout. The amount of money availablefor each campus and CUNY centraloffice where HEOs work will be pro-portional to the number of HEOs

and CLTs at each work-place. In the interests offairness, preference inawarding grants in subse-quent years will be givento those who have not yetreceived funding. Appli-cants are free to requestany amount up to $2,000,depending on the nature oftheir projects. At the com-pletion of the project, ap-plicants will be asked tosubmit a brief account oftheir work, similar to theone faculty submit on com-

pletion of a PSC-CUNY grant. Time spent on funded projects

has to be approved by the individ-ual’s supervisor, but will not becharged to annual leave. Once youreceive the grant and your supervi-sor’s approval on the scheduling,the days you spend on a funded ac-tivity will be considered part of yourjob. Union and management are stillfinalizing the process for gaining thesupervisor’s approval for activities

that require time during workinghours, and we will notify HEOs andCLTs of the details in a separate let-ter on the fund.

ALLOCATIONBecause of the delay in starting

the grant program this year, fundsfrom this year’s allocation will beavailable for grants next year. Nomoney will be lost, or absorbed intothe general budget. Our hope,shared by management, is that infuture years all the funds will be dis-bursed during the academic year inwhich they are allocated so thatthere can be maximum use of thegrant. HEOs and CLTs will hearfrom the PSC directly about the de-tails of the application form and thetiming of submissions. The union al-so plans to offer workshops on grantapplications for those who haven’thad experience with applications;many of our HEOs and CLTs havesecured major grants for the Uni-versity and themselves, and will bewilling to provide guidance to oth-ers. The establishment of this fundhas taken too long, but it will be a real boon to our members when itbegins to work, a major advance inrecognizing the professional needsof CUNY’s professional staff. – BB

Clarion | April 2003 THE CONTRACT 5

HEO and CLT professional fund

The goal of the fund is toenhance theprofessionallives of ourmembers who do non-teachingacademic work .

The annual PSC Pre-Retirement Conference will be held on Friday, June6, 2003, from 9 to 4 at the CUNY Graduate Center. This conference is de-signed for members who are about five years away from retirement. Theconference will feature speakers on financial planning, health benefitsand taxes. If you wish to attend, please return the form below. Breakfastand lunch will be provided. If you wish kosher food, please send a notewith your registration.

I will attend the PSC Pre-Retirement Conference. Enclosed is $________ registration fee for ________ places at $20 each.

Name ________________________________________________________________

Address _____________________________________________________________

City ____________________________ State ______ Zip ___________________

Retirement System __________________ College ________________________

Date of original CUNY employment ____________________________________

Make checks payable to Professional Staff Congress and return by May 27,2003 to: Clarissa Gilbert Weiss, PSC, 25 W. 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036

Pre-retirement conference

The CUNY ESL Council and the Professional Staff Congress present

Testing The Limits: A Colloquium on High-Stakes Testing in Higher Education

Friday, May 2nd, 10AM-6PM

City College/CUNYSteinman Hall, 140th Street and Convent Ave, 1st Floor

Peter Sacks, writer for The Nation, Chronicle of Higher EducationJames Purpura, Teachers College/Columbia UniversityRobert Schaeffer, Fairtest Public Education Director

William Crain, City College/CUNY

Registration $25 full-time / $20 adjunct, part-time$5 off for pre-registration; for more information

e-mail mawlc@aol.comContinental breakfast included; lunch available at additional cost.

The New York City Council overrode Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s veto of and passeda law in April that will give welfare recipients a better opportunity to take CUNYcourses. The bill, Intro. 93-A, passed easily, 46-5, and supporters of the measure,above, broke into cheers and hugs. People receiving public assistance should soonbe able to count education and training activities (including ESL, GED and voca-tional courses, and 2- and 4- year college study) full-time towards their 35-hourper week “work requirement.” PSC members were active in the Coalition for Ac-cess to Training and Education (CATE), which pushed for the bill. Lorraine Cohenof the PSC Women's Committee spoke at a CATE rally before the final vote.Bloomberg responded to the vote by saying that “the Council has chosen to turnback the clock on welfare reform,” and vowed to challenge the bill in court.

Lisa

Qui

ñone

s

John

Eth

erid

ge

By TOMIO GERON

This year’s New York State budgetbattle is different – and not only be-cause of the astonishing overalldeficit of $11.5 billion.

Governor Pataki’s budget wouldslash State funding for CUNY byover $100 million, a 12.5% reduction.Senior colleges would be hit with an$82 million cut; community collegeswould see base aid reduced by $345 per full-time equivalent stu-dent. Higher education opportunityprograms such asSEEK would losehalf of their fund-ing statewide.Pataki is callingfor a CUNY tuitionhike of up to$1,200, with simul-taneous cuts in fi-nancial aid.

Unions and oth-er critics arguethat this year’s budget crisis is self-inflicted, a consequence of past de-cisions to reduce State revenues.They note that Pataki has pushedthrough $13 billion in tax cuts in the last eight years, largely to thebenefit of New York’s wealthy. Leg-islative support for some kind of taxincrease is growing, but the gover-nor says he remains opposed.

DEADLINE PASSESState legislators missed the April

1 deadline for adopting a new bud-get, for the 19th year in a row. In thepast, a budget was often not passeduntil months later. But this year, theseverity of the crisis may lead to anearlier resolution: with tax collec-tions down, the problem only getsworse with every passing day.

In early March, Assembly Speak-er Sheldon Silver, Senate MajorityLeader Joseph Bruno and Patakiagreed on a revenue estimate of$40.3 billion for the new fiscal year.

Agreement on a common figure isthe first step in budget negotiations,and in other years this has not oc-curred until the summer.

But a bumpy road still lies ahead.Early April saw the collapse of a ten-tative deal on borrowing $4.2 billionagainst money owed to New Yorkfrom tobacco lawsuits.

Most statehouse observers expecta budgetby May –but with somuch influx andthe bar-gaining be-hind closedd o o r s ,there arefew predic-tions about

what this year’s budget agreementwill look like.

Members of the PSC LegislativeCommittee, officers and other ac-tivists visited members of the As-sembly and State Senate throughoutMarch and April, both in their dis-tricts and in Albany. The union’smessage was that the Legislaturemust restore and increase Statefunds for CUNY. Thegrass-roots lobbyistsemphasized that restor-ing cuts to TAP andcommunity college baseaid – which the Legisla-ture has done in recentyears – is not enough:senior college cuts mustbe restored as well.

Every PSC chaptertook part in a hugepostcard campaignagainst the CUNY cuts,with a big push on theMarch 26 “CUNY Day

of Action.” On April 14, a union del-egation delivered 105,453 cardssigned by students, faculty, staffand community members to Gover-nor Pataki in Albany (see cover).Meanwhile campus chapters arebusy signing people up for a mas-sive “March for Public Education”on May 3 (see story at right).

These efforts were combined witha media campaign: in March andApril, a PSC television ad ran in Al-bany and on NY1 in New York City(see inset photo at left). “Protect thefuture,” the ad concludes. “STOP thecuts at the City University of NewYork.” (You can see the ad atwww.psc-cuny.org/cdad.htm.)

All this PSC activity was part of agrowing outcry from unions andcommunity groups against Pataki’seffort to slash public services. Over30,000 health care workers floodedthe capital on April 1 to protestagainst $2 billion in proposed healthcare cuts. Also, a coalition of laborgroups, including NY State UnitedTeachers, CWA and the New YorkState AFL-CIO, bought televisionads to urge a fair tax program in-stead of drastic cuts to educationand health care.

In mid-April, Bruno and Silversaid they had reached a "conceptualagreement" to restore $1.9 billion ofPataki's cuts, but kept mum on de-tails. The governor blasted their an-nouncement, and Bruno admittedthat the two-house deal could fallapart.

Seventy-seven percent of NewYorkers think that some form of taxincrease should be used to solve thebudget deficit, according to a Febru-ary poll. Only 18% said that the bud-get shortfall should be solved en-tirely through spending cuts.

6 NEWS Clarion | April 2003

$11.5 billion deficit

A wave of action swept across the city as all CUNY campuses partici-pated in the March 26 CUNY Day of Action. Clockwise from left (on thispage): over 300 students attend a reading by Piri Thomas, author ofDown These Mean Streets, at York College; Anthony Andrews, memberof the PSC Legislative Committee, urges the crowd at York to go to Albany; PSC Legislative Director Cecelia McCall speaks with City Coun-cil member John Liu at the PSC CUNY Day breakfast; a student at LaGuardia Community College signs a letter to state legislators.

State budget up for grabs

A Day of Action

Tom

io G

eron

(al

l but

top

right

) G

ary

Scho

iche

t

By TOMIO GERON

May 3 is your best chance to havean impact on the State budget cutsproposed for CUNY.

A massive “March for Public Edu-cation” will be held in Albany onthat day, timed for maximum impacton the budget debate. With a finaldeal expected by mid-May, themarch and rally will probably occurwhen lawmakers are in the midst ofcrucial decisions on education fund-ing. Organizers aim to make this thebiggest demonstration that Albanyhas ever seen.

“We’ve rented the buses, we havea permit, we’ve told the press andthe politicians,” said PSC PresidentBarbara Bowen. “Now there’s only

one question – will you be there?”Bowen urged members and stu-

dents to sign up for a seat on one ofthe many union-sponsored busesthat will leave from CUNY campus-es. “If you have ever felt that it’s an outrage that public highereducation is not funded in this state, this is yourchance to press foran alternative,” shetold Clarion. “Evenif you haven’tthought of your-self as an activist,this is a criticalmoment. It’s crucialthat we have astrong showing fromCUNY faculty and staff –our numbers will be counted.”

Governor Pataki has proposed a12.5% cut to CUNY’s budget, and tu-ition increases of up to $1,200 peryear. School districts statewide arefacing deep cuts as the state looks toplug a $11.5 billion budget deficit –the largest in real dollars since theGreat Depression.

But the march and rally – from1:00 to 2:30 p.m. at the Empire StatePlaza in Albany – is not just to turnback this year’s cuts. Organizershope it will set the stage for years ofState support for education. “We’renot just directing this at this year’sbudget,” said Tony Bifaro, spokes-person for New York State UnitedTeachers (NYSUT), one of the mainorganizers of the rally, “but on long-term infrastructure and investmentfor education for this state.” Theprotest will highlight need for new State revenues to ensure high-quality education.

ALL LEVELSThe march aims to unite those

concerned about every level oflearning, from pre-K through post-grad. By early April, over 20,000 peo-ple had already signed up to attend.

PSC chapters throughout CUNYhave been signing members up forthe trip. “We’re getting an over-whelming response from students,faculty and staff who want to go,”said Joan Greenbaum, chair of the

PSC chapter at LaGuardia, whichsigned up over 100 students, staffand faculty during the March 26CUNY Day of Action.

“They’ve been writing letters,sending faxes and now they want

to go to Albany,” Greenbaumsaid. “They’re very en-

thusiastic about want-ing to do something,

and they recog-nize that we haveto respond onmany fronts.”

...AND A FREE HATTo sign up for a

seat on the bus, PSCmembers can either

contact their campuschapter chair or fax in the

coupon below. Buses will departfrom CUNY campuses at approxi-mately 8:00 am, and return around7:00 in the evening. A free lunch andbottled water will be provided, andeveryone who goes will get a freePSC hat. There will be entertain-ment before the rally starts, andplenty of food vendors and restrooms during the day.

The coalition organizing thedemonstration includes virtuallyevery education organization in thestate. It was initiated by the two major umbrella groups on public education, the New York State Edu-cational Conference Board and Pub-lic Higher Education ConferenceBoard, and has grown to include advocacy groups such as the NewYork Public Interest ResearchGroup (NYPIRG), Citizen Actionand the Campaign for Fiscal Equity.In the unlikely event that a Statebudget is passed before May 3, themarch will still go forward.

“Many people who support publiceducation are coming together,”said PSC Secretary Cecelia McCall,chair of the union’s Legislative Com-mittee. “We’re sending a messagethat public education must be fund-ed. Public higher education must bea large and visible part of that mes-sage – and that’s why PSC membersand their students and families mustcome to Albany on May 3.”

Clarion | April 2003 NEWS 7

May 3 rally in Albany

Get on the bus!

Top: Students throughout CUNY like this one at New York City College of Technology used the PSC’s ACT NOWsoftware to lobby Albany – 3,386 letters were sent using the software on March 26. Bottom: Students, fac-ulty and staff march at Bronx Community College on March 26.

TICKET TO ALBANYNAME:

WORK PHONE:

HOME and/or CELL PHONE:

EMAIL:

WHICH CAMPUS TO GET ON BUS:

Fax to 212-302-7815 or e-mail this info to macarlese@pscmail.org.For more info, contact your campus chapter chair or call Mary AnnCarlese at 212-354-1252, x225.

Lisa

Qui

ñone

s (t

op),

Gar

y Sc

hoic

het (

bott

om)

By TOMIO GERON

As part of the effort to stabilize thePSC-CUNY Welfare Fund, the Fundwill switch to a new dental planprovider, effective May 1, 2003.

After extensive discussion andanalysis, the Welfare Fund hasmoved to Guardian DentalGuardPreferred, the third-largest dentaladministrator in the country. Allmembers will receive detailed infor-mation about the new GuardianDentalGuard Preferred plan by May1, 2003.

Under the Guardian plan, a den-tist belonging to the Guardian net-work will charge according to a re-duced fee schedule – typically a 35%discount from usual and customaryfees. These negotiated fees will varydepending on the location of thedentist.

PREVENTIONMembers’ out-of-pocket-costs will

be further reduced for selected pro-cedures. The deepest reductions willbe in preventive procedures, be-cause medical evidence shows thatpreventative care is the most im-portant factor in dental health.

The move is part of the WF’s ef-fort to control costs. The Fund hasrun an operating deficit in 11 of thelast 14 years, and currently spends$4 million per year on dental bene-fits. After extensive discussionswith members (see Clarion, May-

December 2002), the WF Trusteesset a target of saving $1.5 millionfrom the dental plan to help stabilizethe Fund’s finances. “Unfortunately,there is no way to reduce costs by$1.5 million without reducing bene-fits for some,” said Steve London,PSC First Vice President and Wel-fare Fund Executive Officer. “Whilethis has been a difficult process forthe Trustees, we have been forcedto take a new look at the Fund’s den-

tal benefit to see how we can bestget our money’s worth. It is true thatsome members will experience ahardship, but many will see an im-provement in dental coverage.”

A major problem with the oldSIDS dental plan was that it paidparticipating dentists at very lowrates – and as a result, there was ashrinking number of dentists in itsnetwork. When PSC members wereasked about the SIDS plan in the re-cent membership survey, most re-spondents said they did not use adentist in the plan. Only 15-20% usedSIDS dentists for expensive proce-

dures. The new Guardian Plan willgive members access to over 6,000dentists in the tri-state area andmore than 64,000 dentists nation-wide, six times as many as before.The Trustees sought to balance thegoal of getting PSC members thebest price for dental services withthe goal of obtaining the largest pos-sible group of participating dentists.

IN OR OUTUnder the new plan, there will no

longer be a deductible for partici-pating or non-participating dentists.Out-of-network benefits will still beavailable, but for expensive out-of-network procedures the subsidy willbe small.

The new plan does not have sepa-rate orthodontia coverage or a sep-arate fee schedule, but use of partic-ipating orthodontists will meansignificant savings over the usualand customary fees. Those alreadyin orthodontic care under the oldplan as of April 1 will be allowed tocomplete their course of treatment.

On May 1, 2003, the day that theGuardian plan goes into effect, theSIDS plan will end. After April 1,2003, SIDS will not process pre-esti-mates for dental work. Pre-estimatesalready issued by SIDS must be com-pleted and filed within six months.

If you have further questions af-ter you receive the detailed infor-mation in the mail, call the WelfareFund at 212-354-5230.

8 BENEFITS/CALENDAR Clarion | April 2003

Trying to understand legal docu-ments can sometimes feel like read-ing medieval English. For those ofus who are neither lawyers nor me-dievalists, the words can look famil-iar without actually making sense.

Fortunately for PSC members,New York State United Teachers(NYSUT) offers an inexpensive legalservice plan to help cut through theconfusion.

CALL ANY TIMEFor an annual fee of $65 – less

than it would take to get in the doorat many New York City law firms –NYSUT offers a range of services.Members get unlimited access to le-gal advice over the phone, toll-free,weekdays from 9 am to 5 pm. A hot-line provides help with urgent mat-ters at other times. Close to 30,000members of NYSUT belong to theplan, some joining directly and oth-ers affiliated through their localunions.

Sometimes a letter or a phone callfrom a lawyer is all it takes to re-solve a problem, and NYSUT planlawyers do that for members on adaily basis. The plan also providesfor two free hour-long office consul-

tations with NYSUT’s law firm orone of hundreds of referral firms inNew York State and nationwide.NYSUT’s firm, Feldman, Kramer &Monaco, has been given the highestpossible rating by the legal researchcompany Martindale-Hubbell.

If a legal problem can’t be re-solved with a phone call or letter,the NYSUT plan will refer membersto an attorney who will charge a dis-counted rate – 60% of their normalhourly fee or $105 per hour,whichever is lower. Members can al-so purchase additional packagesthat focus on the needs of smallbusinesses or senior citizens, in-cluding family members.

The program is popular as a cost-effective way to handle big lifechanges, says Jean Kissane of NYSUT Member Benefits. Whenmembers call, she notes, “they needan attorney quickly.”

Kissane says that the two most

common reasons NYSUT membersseek out the legal plan are to gethelp with real estate (e.g., closing onan agreement to buy a home) or di-vorce. Other areas of need are bank-ruptcy and criminal representationfor a relative.

CREATE A WILLAnother often-used provision of

the plan is creating or updating onesimple will per year. “Some peoplejust enroll to get the free will,” saysKissane. “They really feel they needto get a will in place.”

All PSC members in active ser-vice are eligible for the plan. The

plan also covers the member’sspouse, domestic partner, depen-dent children under 19 and depen-dent parents, all at no extra cost.

Members of the PSC’s RetireeChapter are eligible for NYSUT’sRetiree Legal Service Plan, whichcosts $36 per year. The retiree planoffers just one half-hour of in-personconsultation per year, but adds theprovision of a simple power of attor-ney; its other features are generallythe same.

For more information on theplan, call NYSUT Member Benefits(800-626-8101) or contact them by e-mail (benefits@ nysutmail.org).You can apply over the phone or on the Web at http://memberbenefits.nysut.org. – TG

Affordable help with legal issues

YOUR BENEFITS

$65 a year, from NYSUT

Trustees choose new provider

THURSDAY, MAY 1 / 2 pm: March toGovernor Pataki’s NYC office toprotest his proposed $1,200 tuitionhike and budget cuts for CUNY.Meet at 2 pm at 59th St. and 5thAve., march to Pataki’s office at 41stSt. and 3rd Ave. Organized byCUNY4All, a student and faculty ac-tivist group. Endorsed by Jobs WithJustice, NYPIRG, SLAM! and a hostof CUNY student government asso-ciations and clubs. Call 718-292-7620for more info.

FRIDAY, MAY 2 / 10 – 6 pm: “TestingThe Limits: A Colloquium on High-Stakes Testing in Higher Educa-tion.” Sponsored by the PSC and the CUNY ESL Council; see p. 5 fordetails.

✔ SATURDAY, MAY 3 / March for Pub-lic Education in Albany. Stop theCUNY budget cuts! See p. 7 fordetails, transportation.

MONDAY, MAY 5 / 1 pm: PSC RetireesChapter Meeting. Laurie Kupper-stein, of the PSC’s state affiliate,NYSUT, will speak on NYSUT so-cial services for retirees. At theCUNY Graduate Center, 34th St.and 5th Ave., Rooms 9206-9207. AllPSC members welcome.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7: TIAA-CREF atthe PSC Office. At 25 West 43rdStreet, Fifth Floor. Call Jenny Rosaat 1-800-842-2733 ext. 7288 to sched-ule an appointment where you candiscuss retirement options, asset al-location, tax-deferred annuities, etc.

FRIDAY, MAY 9 / 6 pm: Labor Goes tothe Movies presents “The People’sChoice”: Salt of the Earth (1954),runaway winner of this year’s au-dience voting. Based on actualevents, a gripping film about astrike by Mexican-American min-ers – and how women of the com-munity took over the picket linewhen the courts tried to stop thestrike. At the Center for WorkerEducation, 99 Hudson St., betweenFranklin and Harrison. $2 suggest-ed donation.

✔ MONDAY, MAY 12 / 6 – 8 pm: MassMembership Meeting to discussthe union’s contract proposalsand upcoming contract campaign.All points of view welcome, foropen forum with the negotiatingteam. For location or other de-tails, see the PSC Web site(www.psc-cuny.org) or call MaryAnn Carlese at 212-354-1252.

TUESDAY, MAY 13 / Tenant Day of Action in Albany, one month beforerent control and rent stabilizationlaws expire. For bus information,call Tenants & Neighbors at 212-608-4320 x401.

THURSDAY, MAY 15 / 6 – 8 pm: ThePSC Women’s Committee meets atthe PSC. 25 West 43rd Street, FifthFloor. For more information, con-tact Norah Chase at nchase@kbcc.cuny.edu or call 212-354-1252.

CALENDAR

YOUR BENEFITS

Welfare Fund dental changes

The Greek American UniversityProfessionals of CUNY is an associ-ation of instructional and supportstaff employed in CUNY. Its goalsare to promote networking amongprofessionals, assist students and

offer programs of special interest tothe Greek American community. Tojoin or to be placed on the associa-tion’s mailing list, please contact itssecretary, James Demetro, at 718-289-5736.

Greek Americans at CUNY

Clarion | April 2003 HEALTH/CULTURE 9

Repetitive strain illnesses (RSIs)may result when workers performrepetitive motions – such as typingon a keyboard – without a break.

Symptoms of RSIs include ten-derness, swelling, tingling sensa-tions, shooting pain in your wrists,fingers, arms, or elbows, and theloss of hand strength and coordina-tion. An umbrella term encompass-ing more than 20 types of cumula-tive trauma disorders, RSIs includebursitis, carpal tunnel syndrome,and tendonitis. RSIs are also knownas musculoskeletal disorders be-cause they damage the muscles, ten-dons, ligaments, joints, cartilage,

and spinal discs; nerve damage is al-so a key part of many RSIs.

In medical terms, RSIs are calledcumulative trauma disorders be-cause the condition progressivelyworsens with each repetitive motionmade in an awkward position. Thisis why variety in work routines andperiodic work breaks are an impor-tant part of any preventive strategy.

Among computer users, one im-portant cause of RSIs is constantlyflicking the wrist from side to side to

reach different keys, or to move themouse. Good typing posture in-cludes keeping the wrist in a neutralposition: flat (not bent up or down)and straight (not bent left or right;see diagram below).

Instead of moving your hand at

the wrist while your arm stays im-mobile, use the larger muscles inyour shoulders to move your entirearm, positioning your hand over thekey you want to type. Similarly, youcan move the mouse by using yourentire arm, not just the wrist.

NO ACTIONMany people are unaware how

much they flick their wrists fromside to side while typing becausethese motions are so unconscious.Try typing in slow motion and

watch what happenswhen you reach forthe “Esc” or “Delete”keys. Using a wristrest while typing isgenerally a bad ideabecause it encour-ages people to planttheir hands in onespot and make all mo-

tions from the wrist. A “split” key-board can help you keep your wristin a neutral position, but no productwill prevent RSI by itself: re-trainingyourself in how you type is the key.

There are many other aspects togood typing posture, including howyou hold your arms, neck, upperback and shoulders. And there areseveral other important ergonomicsissues for computer users, includingeyestrain and vision problems. Formore information, here are a fewuseful Web sites:

• ergo.human.cornell.edu/ergoguide.html (See points #7-9 on typing/mousing posture.)

• www.nycosh.org/rsi.html• www.tifaq.com• www.ucsf.edu/sorehand/An RSI support group meets

monthly at Mount Sinai Hospital inManhattan. For information call 212-241-2606. – VM & PH

By VERNON MOGENSEN

Repetitive strain illnesses (RSIs)are the leading cause of work-relat-ed safety and health problems inthe United States today.

RSIs impose enormous socialcosts on American workers. TheU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics re-ports that more than 1.8 millionAmerican workers suffer from RSIsannually, one-third of which are se-rious enough to force workers tomiss at least one workday. Victimsof carpal tunnel syndrome, one of

the most common forms of RSI, losean average of 32 workdays, moretime than from any other illness.The economic cost to society of RSI-related injuries is estimated to be$50 billion a year.

Many repetitive-motion jobs areperformed by women, but computerwork stations are usually designedwith a man’s physique in mind. Thishelps to explain why women suffera disproportionately high percent-age of RSIs.

Fortunately, ergonomics – the sci-ence of designing the workplace to

meet the safety and health needs ofthe worker – provides methods ofpreventing RSIs. It takes a holisticapproach to the relationship be-tween the work environment andhuman factors such as the worker’smuscles, tendons, joints and nerves.Ergonomics aims to improve job de-sign in order to minimize monoto-nous and repetitive tasks, and limitwork speed-ups, which may con-

tribute to fatigue and stress. In ad-dition, ergonomics also examinessuch topics as vision problems (forexample, how fluorescent lightingcontributes to screen glare), or howexcessive noise and vibration con-tribute to stress.

Calls by organized labor andwomen’s groups for an ergonomicsstandard to help prevent RSIs wentunheeded by the Reagan and Bushadministrations until the problemreached epidemic proportions inmany workplaces. The Occupation-al Safety and Health Administration(OSHA) was finally permitted to be-gin working on an ergonomics stan-dard in 1990, but the effort ran intomassive corporate opposition. Ledby the so-called National Coalitionon Ergonomics, an alliance of morethan 300 corporations and trade as-sociations formed by the NationalAssociation of Manufacturers, oppo-nents delayed completion of a stan-dard for almost a decade.

SOUND SCIENCECorporate critics claimed it would

be too expensive and complicated toenforce, and asserted that RSIswere merely a matter of employeecomfort, not safety and health. Eu-gene Scalia, a corporate lawyer andson of U.S. Supreme Court JusticeAntonin Scalia, emerged as a lead-ing opponent of the ergonomicsstandard. He insisted that ergonom-ics was “junk science,” ignoring theresearch and conclusions of expertsin occupational health. In 1997 andagain in 1998, Congressional Repub-licans asked the National Academyof Sciences to evaluate whether theproposed ergonomics standard wasbased on sound science. Both timesthe Academy found that the pro-posed standard rested on a solidfoundation of over 2000 scientificstudies of workplace conditions.

President Clinton issued the er-

gonomics standard – weakened, andnarrowed in scope – just before the2000 election. But President GeorgeW. Bush and the Republican-con-trolled Congress used the Congres-sional Review Act of 1996 to repealthe ergonomics standard in March2001 – the first time an OSHA stan-dard was ever repealed.

Without a standard in place,workers must rely on the willing-ness of the Labor Department’s So-licitor General to use the OSHAAct’s “general duty clause” to pros-ecute employers who persistentlyfail to take steps to provide safeworkplaces. This option is problem-atic for two reasons: first, it is atime-consuming and uncertainprocess taken only after RSIs reachextreme proportions in a specificworkplace; and second, the SolicitorGeneral is now Eugene Scalia.

DISABLEDAt some companies, thousands of

workers have been permanentlydisabled by RSIs. Hardest hit are au-to assemblers, poultry cutters,meatpackers, garment workers,workers doing heavy lifting, as wellas word-processing and data entryworkers.

To convince Congress to repealthe ergonomics standard adopted in 2000, the Bush administrationpromised a “new and improved”version. However, more than twoyears have passed with nothingmore than voluntary guidelines forthe nursing industry. In that time anadditional 3.6 million workers havesuffered RSI-related injuries.

A new standard is not likely tohappen as long as the RepublicanParty, which controls both Congressand the Presidency, takes the volun-tary approach: only 16% of U.S. busi-nesses have volunteered to adoptergonomics guidelines. In the mean-time, unions and workers must takeaction on their own protect againstthe crippling effects of RSIs.

Vernon Mogensen is assistant pro-fessor of political science at KCC,and the author of Office Politics:Computers, Labor, and the Fight forSafety and Health (Rutgers).

Ergonomics vs. politics

Business resists worker protections

Typing can hurt

HEALTH & SAFETY

by MARC RIBOTMusicians’ Local 802

Many mourned the death last De-cember of Joe Strummer.

The former Clash guitarist, a truevoice of punk resistance, died inLondon from a congenital heart dis-ease at age 50.

Virtually unreported in the U.S.media was Strummer’s history ofsupport for labor, including his re-cent support of the British firefight-ers’ union during their fight for a decent national contract.

The firefighters showed theirgratitude in turn at Strummer’s fu-neral – the procession down Lad-broke Grove was led by a firetruck.

As his body was carried into thechapel, 12 uniformed members ofLondon’s fire brigades stood guardin silent tribute.

Andy Gilchrist, the 39-year-oldhead of the Fire Brigades Union,was a Clash fan, and claimed to havebeen first politicized at their 1978Rock Against Racism concert. 80,000

people showed up at that concert inHackney, a working class neighbor-hood of East London, to rock to theClash and also show their disgust atcertain established British rock fig-ures who had affiliated with theracist National Front.

“LONDON’S BURNING”But the firefighters’ presence at

Strummer’s funeral wasn’t just nos-talgia. Gilchrist has gone on to leadthe first U.K. union to seriously chal-

lenge the antilabor policies of TonyBlair’s deceptively titled “New La-bor” government. In mid-November2002, Strummer played a solidaritybenefit for the union at Acton TownHall. Former Clash bandmate MickJones also showed up – their first re-union performance in 19 years – andjoined Strummer for the encore,“London’s Burning.” As he left thestage, Strummer shouted, “Give ‘emmoney. And give the nurses and theteachers money too.”

Strummer’s final public shout,and the solidarity performance thatpreceded it were broadcast againand again on British television fol-lowing his death.

And although the negotiationsare still unresolved, the support ofStrummer and other musicians hasbeen critical in generating publicityand political support for the union.

Joe Strummer was a musician,recording artist and rock rebelwhose opposition went beyond hol-low rhetoric, phony gestures of re-sistance and a rad haircut. We coulduse more like him.

A longer version appeared in theApril issue of Allegro, newspaper ofMusicians’ Union Local 802; it isreprinted with permission.

Rocker, labor activist

Remembering Joe Strummer

HEALTH & SAFETY

Villi

am H

rubo

ucak

Incorrect hand position Correct hand position

10 FEATURE Clarion | April 2003

By TOMIO GERON

Examining patients near the WorldTrade Center site or doing researchon the streets of East Harlem maynot be most doctors’ idea of a day atthe office. But Dr. Steven Markowitzwould have it no other way.

Markowitz, director of the Centerfor the Biology of Natural Systems(CBNS) at Queens College, seeks outprojects that help those who don’thave access to proper health care.Most of his work is focused on occu-pational health and safety, assistingworkers who have been exposed tohealth risks on the job.

That includes day laborers whodid cleanup work in lower Manhat-tan after the World Trade Centerwas destroyed. “They were workingwith a lot of dust and they weren’tinformed about that risk,” saysMarkowitz, adding that almost noneof the workers had seen a doctor be-cause they lacked health coverage.

With 9/11 disaster recovery funds,Markowitz and CBNS staff workedwith the New York Committee onOccupational Safety and Health(NYCOSH) and the Latin AmericanWorkers Project to create a mobiletesting center.

“The workers were worried,”Markowitz says. Most of them didn’tlive in Manhattan, and made a spe-cial trip to get examined. In fiveweeks of testing, the Mobile Unitscreened 418 people.

They found that many of theworkers had respiratory problemsthat lasted for months after theyworked on the cleanup. Also com-mon were dizziness, poorappetite and sleeping prob-lems, symptoms that can-not be attributed directly totoxins and whose exactcause is still a mystery.

This type of medicalwork, on the street with pa-tients who have little mon-ey, is something that fewother physicians in the citycan or will take on. But it’swhat Markowitz has want-ed to do ever since he was a medicalstudent. After graduating from Yale,he enrolled at Columbia MedicalSchool in the 1970s. Markowitz end-ed up taking time off from the pro-gram to work with a dye workers’union in New Jersey.

“People who worked in the chem-ical plant got bladder cancer fromworking with these dyes,” he re-calls. Markowitz had to seek out in-formation on occupational healthhimself, as medical schools didn’trecognize the subject as a seriouscourse of study. “It’s really an or-phan topic,” he says. “At the most afew hours are spent on it in 4 yearsof curriculum.” Markowitz went onto train in occupational medicineunder the late Dr. Irving Selikoff,

the noted asbestos researcher atMount Sinai.

Last month Markowitz was hon-ored by NYCOSH for outstandingwork in the health and safety field in2002. “Steven has made so manycontributions to occupational safetyand health that it’s extremely diffi-cult to pinpoint a single reason thatNYCOSH is honoring him thisyear,” says NYCOSH spokespersonJonathan Bennett, “but what standsout is his enormously effectivehands-on work with large groups of

at-risk workers.”The award from NY-

COSH is a great honor, saysMarkowitz, but he believesoccupational health is inessence a straightforwardproblem. “Problems in thework environment are notdifficult to reverse,” hesays. “They are man-madeconditions. Change the con-ditions and you can preventpeople from getting sick.”

But prevention cannot be accom-plished just by working in an office.“To me it meant going outside theexamining room,” explainsMarkowitz, “dealing with worlds inwhich physicians don’t normallyfeel comfortable.”

For Markowitz, those worldshave ranged from the urban chaosaround Ground Zero to quiet ruralTennessee. For several years hehas directed a major health-screen-ing program for current and formeremployees at three plants in Ken-tucky, Ohio and Tennessee that pro-duce nuclear material for the De-partment of Energy. In cooperationwith the Paper, Allied-Industrial,Chemical & Energy Workers Inter-national Union (PACE), which

represents workers at these sites,Markowitz’s team has screenedover 8,000 workers for chronic lungdisease, kidney and liver diseaseand hearing loss. It is the largest occupational health testing pro-gram in the country.

NUCLEAR WEAPONSThough details are classified,

some of the plants’ output was re-portedly used in nuclear weapons.Considering the scale of possiblehealth risks in these jobs, the work-ers had received relatively littlemedical attention before the screen-ing project was started.

“I think there was a lot of aware-ness about radiation,” saysMarkowitz. “I think there was verylittle awareness about chemicals.”The program has also broken newground by using a CAT scan for early detection of lung cancer. The screening has already detected20 lung cancer cases with this new procedure.

The workers’ union, PACE, hasbeen an active part of the project,holding educational workshops onhealth risks and the screening pro-gram. Union outreach to the work-

ers has played a vital role, as manydo not trust company doctors.

“This is not a service delivered byoutside professionals, but a true col-laboration in which the union is outfront and involved in every aspect ofthe project,” Markowitz says. “Incommunities, unions are the face ofthe project. We have rank-and-fileworkers in plants doing educationworkshops.”

This community aspect of healthcare is a central part of Markowitz’slatest effort, a pollution testing pro-ject in New York City neighbor-hoods that have high asthma rates.Markowitz and his team have set upa “mobile air lab” that will measureair pollutants at street level.

For years, advocates in EastHarlem and the South Bronx haveargued that heavy traffic from largetrucks and bus depots as well as fac-tories is a major reason why localasthma rates are among the highestin the country. But studies have notconclusively tied asthma rates topollution or any other particular fac-tor. Markowitz thinks better datamay help provide the answer.

“If you look at air pollution data,monitors are generally placed on

top of buildings, not in the neighbor-hoods,” Markowitz points out. “InEast Harlem, the closest govern-ment air monitors are on top ofBloomingdale’s [on 59th Street] andon other end, in the Mott Haven sec-tion of the Bronx. So if you want toknow if trucks produce pollution [inEast Harlem] you really can’t findout that information.”

The air monitoring is expected tobegin near local schools within thenext two months. Results could af-fect public policy in areas from landuse zoning to transportation tohealth care.

“The data can serve as very pow-erful information for communitygroups that want to participate inpolicy and important decisions,”Markowitz says. “It’s the kind of in-formation both residents and poli-cymakers need. Right now they justcount trucks’ smoke plumes.”

All this keeps Markowitz verybusy. He often travels to Washing-ton D.C. to develop support for hisnational projects, has served on theeditorial boards of several scientif-ic journals, and has worked as a consultant to the World HealthOrganization.

Based at CUNY since 1998,Markowitz says it’s been a goodmatch. “I’ve found the CUNY envi-ronment an excellent place for us to do our work,” he says, creditinghis colleagues at Queens with creat-ing a supportive and respectful atmosphere.

UNION OUTREACH“I don’t think it’s an accident that

none of the seven medical schools in New York City put a mobile unitdowntown,” he adds. “It was aCUNY institute that took on theday laborer project, because that’sour mission.”

That mission also shapes howMarkowitz and the roughly 30 peo-ple on the CBNS staff go about theirwork. “The common thread in allthis work is that we listen carefullyto what people are concerned about,whether it’s poor residents or work-ers in rural areas who build bombsbut never have access to occupa-tional health.”

That listening, he says, is the mostimportant part of a doctor’s job.

A PSC Profile: Steven Markowitz

The doctor is in – the streets

Kris

ten

Art

z/D

aily

New

s

Dr. Steven Markowitz examines a day laborer who did cleanup work near the WTC site.

Newspaper of the Professional Staff Congress/City University of New York, collective bargaining representative of the CUNY instructional staff. Vol. 32, No. 3.PSC/CUNY is affiliated with the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers (Local 2334), AFL-CIO, the New York CityCentral Labor Council and New York State United Teachers. Published by PSC/CUNY, 25 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036. Telephone: (212) 354-1252.Web site: www.psc-cuny.org. E-mail: phogness@pscmail.org. All opinions expressed in these pages are not necessarily those of the PSC.PSC OFFICERS: Barbara Bowen, President; Steven London, First Vice President; Cecelia McCall, Secretary; John Hyland, Treasurer; Stanley Aronowitz, Blanche Cook,Frank Deale, Susan O’Malley, Sheldon Weinbaum, University-wide Officers; Michael Fabricant, Vice President, Senior Colleges; Robert Cermele, Janice Cline, NancyRomer, Senior College Officers; Anne Friedman, Vice President, Community Colleges; Lou Alpert, Samuel E. Farrell, Ingrid Hughes, Community College Officers; IrisDeLutro, Vice President, Cross Campus Units; Steven Trimboli, Robbi Weaver, Cross Campus Officers; Marcia Newfield, Vice President, Part-Time Personnel; IrwinH. Polishook, President Emeritus; Israel Kugler, Deputy President Emeritus; Peter I. Hoberman, Harold Wilson, Vice President Emeriti, Cross Campus Units.STAFF: Deborah Bell, Executive Director; Mary Ann Carlese, Associate Executive Director; Faye H. Alladin, Coordinator, Financial Services; Debra L. Bergen, Director,Contract Administration & University-wide Grievance Counselor; Mary Crystal Cage, Director, Public Relations; Barbara Gabriel, Coordinator, Office Services andHuman Resources; Diana Rosato, Coordinator, Membership Department; D. Nicholas Russo, Director, Legal Affairs; Clarissa Gilbert Weiss, Director, Pension andWelfare Benefits.

Editor: Peter Hogness / Assistant Editor: Tomio Geron / Designer: Margarita Aguilar / Intern: Tanvir Raquib© 2003 Professional Staff Congress/CUNY

Clarion APRIL 2003

Unionoutreach is vital, as manyworkersdon’t trustcompanydoctors.

By MICHAEL FABRICANT

This is a watershed moment.The headlines convey theknotted lash of profoundthreat – yet this moment is also bursting with possibili-

ty. The divide is as thin as our capacityto transcend denial and draw uponvery finite resources to resist.

The expansive shadow of anti-democratic forces is chilling public dis-course and decision-making. The politi-cal choices of the Bush administration,unquestioned by a compliant media, areeroding the most basic assumptionsabout what it means to be an American.

Preemptive attack is presented asthe new basis of U.S. foreign policy;Bush advisors intimate that after Iraq, countries such as Syria, Iran and NorthKorea are next. The use of first-strike nu-clear weapons is discussed as a viableand potentially necessary option.

Civil liberties are quietly but dramati-cally rolled back and the new “PatriotLaws” used as a weapon against dissent.A common theme is the elimination ofany check on executive authority: air-plane ticket-holders placed on “no-fly”lists, non-citizens targeted for deporta-tion, and citizens declared “enemy com-batants” are all told that they have noright of appeal.

TAX CUTSTax cuts are proposed that nakedly

benefit only the wealthy and promise aballooning deficit. Hundreds of billionsare available for war while we are toldthere is “no money” for education orhealth care. Congressional leaders wel-come deficits as a tool to further cutspending on human needs.

The FCC is moving to further deregu-late media ownership. This regulatorypermissiveness green-lights a further con-centration of media control by a handfulof corporations. The last wave of mediaderegulation allowed Clear Channel Communications to emerge as a near-monopoly in many radio markets. NowClear Channel is sponsoring pro-war “Ral-lies for America” in cities across the coun-try, a foretaste of what further deregula-tion will mean for our political discourse.

The list of what is at stake in this in-tensifying grab for power by the farright and the economic interests it rep-resents can seem endless. It certainlythreatens the democratic horizons ofAmerican citizenship.

The ostrich in each of us wants to denythe seriousness of the moment. This tooshall pass. We’ll just wait it out or take afew cautious steps to register dissent. Ifwe are patient, they will run out ofsteam. These are but a few of the manyrefrains that litter our critical judgment,offer cover and provide a basis for nor-malcy. But can normalcy be imposed on apolitical moment that propagates fearand uses it as a battering ram for anti-democratic and empire-building policies?I suspect not.

Americanforeign and domestic policy are at

a crossroads. As the only remaining su-perpower, America has to choose a futurein relationship to both her own citizensand the rest of the world.

The road we are on today leads to anunending war against both the rest of theworld and those Americans who arestruggling to make ends meet. This maybenefit a small fraction of American citi-zens in the short term. However, the drive for international domination willproduce various forms of “blowback,” asit has in the past, and this will touch usall. The drive to yoke the rest of theworld to American economic interestscan only be enforced through an expan-sive and active military force and variousforms of occupation.

At home, this will create intensifyingsocial and class divisions that may be-come less and less tenable over time. Thedomestic cleavage and its potential after-shock will also accelerate the rush to asecurity state that polices citizen behav-ior and narrows the space for social dis-sent. These pieces, when assembled, willhave the acrid odor of neo-fascism.

NOT INEVITABLENone of this, however, is inevitable.

Another road beckons, if we can see our-selves in reciprocal relationships nation-ally and internationally. We simply can-not go it alone. This other road demandsa greater emphasis on diplomacy withoutthe threat of warfare; a reinvigoratedcommitment to dissent and civil liberties;and redistributive economic investmentsat home and abroad. This road offers lessof the illusory assurance of guaranteedoutcomes that military intervention andexclusive reliance on market forces claimto provide. It demands a basic commit-ment to solving human problems with theresources, patience and conversationthat we often dedicate to those whom wedefine as family or community.

We make such commitments in our

privatelives be-

cause we under-stand that this investment of caring andattention is most likely to succeed. Thereis, of course, no guarantee. But we haveno chance of success without a willing-ness to invest part of ourselves in a com-mon fate with others. We need to takethese lessons of private life and applythem to the public sphere. First, however,we will need to create more elastic andopen definitions of community. We willneed to take risks for people we havenever met. For that to occur, each of uswill need to consider what is at stake ifwe continue to embrace the illusion thatwe can protect our private lives withoutreconfiguring our relationship to the public.

CROSSROADSBecause we are at a crossroads, we

need to actively resist the onslaught ofpolicies that hurt so many people at homeand abroad. Little can be won if we do notcontest present policy. The courage toshed incapacitating denial and face thepresent threat, to visibly register dissentand risk some part of ourselves, has nev-er been more necessary.

Unending warfare would likely destroythe very democratic institutions most ofus wish to protect, and that most of uscount on for a “normal” private life. Thus,developing road maps that connect ourprivate lives to a public sphere is critical.Challenging American imperial preroga-tives at home and abroad through theemerging peace and justice movement isessential if our legacy is to be anythingmore than the ash of democratic edifice.This will require surrendering time, re-sources, position and sometimes our com-fort or security – because that is what itwill take for us to win.

This is a moment of both great possibil-ity and danger. Nothing is inevitable. Toshift direction, for ourselves and our chil-dren, we must act now before it is too late.

Michael Fabricant is a professor at HunterCollege and executive officer of the Ph.D.Program in Social Welfare at the CUNYGraduate Center, and a PSC Vice Presidentfor Senior Colleges.

TIME OF CRISIS

Clarion | April 2003 OPINION 11

The ostrich in each of us would rather not think about it.

One by Billy CollinsTomesThere is a section in my library for deathand another for Irish history,a few shelves for the poetry of China and Japan,and in the center a row of reference books,solid and imperturbable,the ones you can turn to anytime,when the night is going wrongor when the day is full of empty promise.

I have nothing againstthe thin monograph, the odd query,a note on the identity of Chekhov’s dentist – but what I prefer on days like theseis to get up from the couch,pull down The History of the World,and hold in my hands a bookcontaining almost everythingand weighing no more than a sack of potatoes,11 pounds, I discovered one day when I placed iton the black iron scalemy mother used to keep in her kitchen,the device on which she would placea certain amount of flour,a certain amount of fish.

Open flat on my lapunder a halo of lamplight,a book like this always has a wayof soothing the nerves,quieting the riotous surf of informationthat foams around my waisteven though it never mentionsthe silent labors of the poor,the daydreams of grocers and tailors,or the faces of men and women alone in single rooms– even though it never mentions my mother,now that I think of her again,who only last year rolled off the edge of the earthin her electric bed,in her smooth pink nightgown,the bones of her fingers interlocked,her sunken eyes staring upwardbeyond all knowledge,beyond the tiny figures of history,some in uniform, some not,marching onto the pages of this incredibly heavy book.

Billy Collins is a Distinguished Professor of English atLehman College and is serving as United States PoetLaureate for 2001-2003. The poem above was previous-ly published in Sailing Alone Around the Room (Ran-dom House, 2001). Collins’s latest collection is NineHorses (Random House, 2002).

POETRY

Wars in our future

John

Eth

erid

ge

By PETER HOGNESS

With nine classes to teach per year,it would seem almost impossible forcommunity college faculty at CUNYto do serious research. Yet they do– and the variety and scope of theirwork is unique among communitycolleges nationwide.

Community colleges (CCs) are of-ten defined as local institutions. Theimportance of their links to the sur-rounding community is reflected inthe very name. Yet a large propor-tion of scholarship at CUNY’s two-year institutions is international inscope.

A Hindu religious center in India,a Buddhist institution in Taiwan,and researchers at a Catholic col-lege in upstate New York are work-ing with BMCC psychologist TingLei to compare the process of spiri-tual transformation in different reli-gions and cultures. “We will com-pare those who have just enteredreligious training with those whohave been devotees for years, to seeif they follow the same sequence,”Lei explains. In past work, Lei hascompared student motivation andachievement in the US and Taiwan.

AVANT GARDEWhen Tony Pipolo of Queensbor-

ough CC was invited to Russia to doa seminar on American avantgarde film, he was in some wayscompleting a circle. An editor ofMillennium Film Journal, which fo-cuses on experimental cinema,Pipolo discussed and presentedfilms by several post-WWII Ameri-can directors – KennethAnger, Maya Deren andStan Brakhage – whothemselves had been influ-enced by avant garde filmsmade in Russia a genera-tion earlier. “They lookedback to all kinds of thingsdeveloped by Eisensteinand other early Soviet di-rectors in the 1920s,” Pipolo says.“Especially the use of montage –not just telling a story in a so-calledlogical way, but using shots andjuxtapositions in a way that pro-vokes a certain reaction in theviewer.” However, these Soviet cin-ematic pioneers – Dovzhenko, Ver-tov and others – had been out of fa-vor for so long that students at theMoscow Film School, the oldest inthe world, were largely unfamiliarwith their work.

The American films Pipolo pre-sented were even less familiar, but

students responded to the power ofthe work. After he showed threeshort films by Maya Deren, he re-calls, “this woman in the front rowwas weeping, audibly weeping.”

Some CC research is profoundlyinternational and at the same timeprofoundly local – for example, a re-cent study of English and Spanishusage in the Dominican communityin Washington Heights, by Sue Dick-er and Mahmoud Hafiz of HostosCommunity College. “There’s acommon perception among English-

speakers that Spanish-speakers [in the US] re-sist learning English,”says Dicker, author ofLanguages in America:A Pluralist View. “Theevidence shows just theopposite.” Among Latinoimmigrant families, saysDicker, “the switch from

Spanish to English usually takesplace within one generation.”

Dicker and Hafiz found a differentpattern in Washington Heights. “Do-minicans tend to use both lan-guages,” Dicker says. “They’relearning English, they want to par-ticipate in English-language culture,but they’re not giving up Spanish.”Dicker links this trend to the pat-terns of Dominican migration to theUS: “The Dominican Republic is soclose that it’s very easy to go backand forth. Kids are often sent backover the summer and of course they

need Spanish there.” Modern com-munications also make a difference.“People carry their cell phones withthem and get calls from a familymember in Santo Domingo,” Dickersays. “All this keeps the languagealive.” What has emerged among Do-minicans in Washington Heights, shesays, is “a transnational identity.”

As a public university in a city ofimmigrants, CUNY is a natural basefor such inquiry. The CUNY contextis also close at hand, in anothersense, in the work of Yi-Chun TriciaLin at BMCC.

CARIBBEAN COMPARISON“My students really helped me

look at my research material differ-ently,” says Lin. “They helpedchange my research orientation frombeing an Asian Americanist to amuch more comparative approach.”The experience of having so manyCaribbean American and Latino stu-dents in her classes, Lin explains,“led me to the idea of comparing Pa-cific Islander and Caribbean litera-ture.” In 1999, Lin was a fellow at aNational Endowment for the Hu-manities summer institute at theUniversity of Hawai’i, and used it foran in-depth examination of Pacific Is-lander literature. At subsequent con-ferences she has linked up with oth-er scholars doing comparative workon these two island regions. Lastyear Lin received another NEH grantand did further research in New

Zealand – or Aotearoa, as the Maoriscall their home.

As chair of the biology depart-ment at Bronx CC, John Davisknows what CC faculty can do in sci-entific research. Past work in his de-partment has dealt with microbialmetabolism, neurohormones in rats,and tumor development in fish inthe Hudson River. And as formerchair of the CUNY Research Foun-dation’s Faculty Advisory Council,Davis knows just how difficult it is.“To do research in the sciences youneed a grant of at least $100,000 or$200,000,” he says, and the grad stu-dents and lack of facilities at the CCsmake such work even harder. “It’sonly with tremendous motivationand commitment on the part of certain faculty members that it’spossible at all,” Davis says. Manywork with labs at CUNY senior col-lege campuses or private medicalschools.

Most scientific research projectsat CUNY CCs focus on student train-ing and development. “Teaching ismore central to the mission of acommunity college,” notes Davis.“That’s what’s beautiful about CCs:faculty who are completely devotedto teaching and their students, butstill committed to maintaining re-search activity. What some at afour-year college may view as aweakness, or something less thanwhat they are doing, I view as justthe opposite.”

In 1986, when Clara Wu firstasked students in her chemistryclass at LaGuardia if they’d like todo some research, Wu recalls, “I on-ly expected about six students, outof 48, to volunteer. Thirty raisedtheir hands. I said, ‘Wow, what hap-

pened?’ They told me, ‘We neverhad this kind of opportunity be-fore.’” Today Wu directs the Na-tional Institutes of Health “Bridgesto the Future” program at La-Guardia, which recruits 24 studentsto conduct research each year.

Describing a similar program atBCC, Davis notes that many CC stu-dents are the first in their familiesever to attend college. “They mightnot have dreamed of becoming sci-entists until they saw a flyer for theprogram on campus,” he says.

A focus on teaching is somethingthat CUNY community collegeshave in common with CCs acrossthe country. But being part of a re-search university makes CUNY CCsdifferent from most, even unique, intheir closer integration of teachingwith research.

This is not simply a result of Uni-versity-wide standards for tenureand promotion (though those stan-dards are very much on the minds ofnew CC faculty as they struggle withthe teaching load). Research is whatCUNY community college facultyhave trained for: 63% of full-time fac-ulty at Queensborough, for example,have PhDs, compared with 18% atpublic community colleges nation-wide. CUNY CC faculty do researchboth to satisfy their own scholarlycuriosity and because it enricheswhat they bring into the classroom.

BOTH WAYSThe link between teaching and re-

search flows both ways. Tricia Lin’sclasses at BMCC not only helpedchange the direction of her research– she also draws on her scholarshipto challenge her students.

In a recent English literature class,Lin used a Samoan novel that she de-scribes as “a young woman talkingback to Margaraet Mead.” The stu-dents found its pidgin English diffi-cult, and they let her know it. “Thefirst week they complained that itwas impossible,” she says. “The sec-ond week it got better. By the thirdweek they were loving it, and at theend they all said I should definitelyuse that book again.” Lin says this ina phone interview, but you can hearthe smile in her voice as she remem-bers. “To teach what I study,” shesays, “it’s very inspiring.”

Next: Grappling with the obstacles

12 NEWS Clarion | April 2003

15–MINUTE ACTIVIST

Connectionsbetweenteaching andresearch flowin bothdirections.

Each one, reach oneThis month’s 15-Minute Activist asksyou to do something more challeng-ing than a phone call or a letter: talkwith a colleague and persuade him orher to come with you to Albany onMay 3, for the statewide March forPublic Education (see p.7).

Talk with a co-worker who mightneed a nudge or some encourage-ment to make the trip, someone withwhom you usually talk about your de-

partment, your discipline, your stu-dents. Have a conversation about howwork you do at CUNY would be affect-ed by Pataki’s budget cuts, and whatwe can do to stop them.

It’s not an easy time to go to Albany,near the end of semester with papersto grade. But it will make a vital differ-ence to our future. And if you invite acolleague to come with you, it couldturn a “maybe” into a “yes.”

Research at CUNYcommunity colleges

Part I: The shape of things

Sue Dicker of Hostos does linguistic research in Washington Heights.

Lisa

Qui

ñone

s