As we prepare to round the corner towards mid-semester, I’m brought back in memory to a moment two years ago (or was it a lifetime?). My wife and I decided to travel into Manhattan to see a movie in what turned out to be our final attempt at life as we knew it. It was Friday, March 6, 2020–the day before our governor declared a state of emergency due to the COVID crisis.
The movie was The Exorcist (okay, in retrospect, not especially conducive to a sense of normalcy). The city was already an uncanny scene, aside from what was happening on the screen: 42nd Street was hauntingly empty, as was the movie house. And the next day, people were hunkered down in their homes, staying off the roads and away from the stores, and our lives abruptly turned “fully remote.” Suddenly, the idea of losing our autonomy to a terrifying, alien force of demonic ferocity became very real indeed. Few of us could have imagined then the devastating toll this pandemic would take, how drastically things would change, or how long it would take for us to “get back to normal.” Here we are now, two years later, still dealing with the COVID pandemic, feeling (once again) like we are finally on the verge of emerging—but still wondering what new developments await us around the corner, whether related to global health concerns or (more recently) military action overseas.
Here we are now, two years later, still dealing with the COVID pandemic, feeling (once again) like we are finally on the verge of emerging—but still wondering what new developments await us around the corner, whether related to global health concerns or (more recently) military action overseas.
As I wrote in my previous FTConnect message, hopeful signs do abound—as do the challenges, both those we face in putting this pandemic behind us, and those that have persisted over the past decade, but have been exacerbated by COVID. The dramatic shifts we’ve seen over the last two years cannot obscure the fact that community colleges, and higher education generally, have been grappling with a changing and challenging landscape long before the pandemic.
We now find ourselves adjusting to new protocols for increased face-to-face delivery of our services, as well as the potential for both new technologies and new perspectives. We are also grappling with steep enrollment drops, along with attendant reductions in tuition revenues and state aid (which had already long fallen short of legally mandated levels). And these issues take on heightened urgency amid a national conversation still replete with political upheaval, polarization regarding social justice movements, and increasingly pointed questions about the value of higher education overall. In this shifting environment, we are urged to be “agile”–“nimble”–“flexible.” And we are, and we will continue to be, as dedicated professionals who care deeply and passionately about our life’s work.
Amidst all the changes and challenges, your union remains the constant, advocating on your behalf.
Amidst all the changes and challenges, your union remains the constant, advocating on your behalf. We relay your concerns in our input on the policies developed by the College’s Pandemic Response Team. We’re monitoring issues around your job expectations and workload, and battling for improvements in working conditions and compensation through contract negotiations. We are alerting our elected officials to our institution’s needs (as seen most recently in our conversation on adjunct issues with Westchester County Executive George Latimer at the February membership meeting). We’re defending freedom of speech in the classroom and safeguarding faculty ownership of course content.
We are alerting our elected officials to our institution’s needs (as seen most recently in our conversation on adjunct issues with Westchester County Executive George Latimer at the February membership meeting).
Our Grievance Committee (now including shop stewards) is protecting faculty from arbitrary or unfair discipline. With colleagues at our state affiliate union, NYSUT, we are working to improve on Governor Hochul’s proposed Executive Budget and restore community college funding to sane and sustainable levels.
The changes and challenges will always remain, even as they take on new forms. We are naturally disappointed to see free community college dropped from the Build Back Better bill, for example; but we’re heartened that President Biden, one of our most pro-labor presidents in recent history, has accepted some 70 recommendations of his task force on promoting the organization of workers. He sees what many of us have come to know from first-hand experience: that when people can pull together and speak in solidarity, changes and challenges can be safely navigated, and even turned to productive and positive results. That’s what “union” is about—and on that you can safely rely.
