Dear Commons Community,

The Huffington Post is reporting that an Arizona gun club is offering a chance for children and their families to pose for photos with Santa while holding pistols and military-style rifles.

One image shows Santa in a wingback chair with a snowflake background, a Christmas tree behind him and flanked by an $80,000 machine gun and a tripod-mounted rifle. Next to Santa is a man standing behind a boy, who is holding an unloaded AR-15 with an attached grenade launcher.

It was less than a year ago that nineteen people were shot, six of them fatally, during an open meeting that U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was holding with members of her constituency in a  Tucson supermarket parking lot.  You would think that there would be a modicum of sensitivity to say nothing about the message of “peace on earth” that the Christmas season is suppose to bring.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

In her New York Times column today, Maureen Dowd analyzes Newt Gingrich’s candidacy and new found popularity in the Republican presidential primary.  With tongue in cheek, her main point is that Newt maybe the ideal man to fix Washington’s dysfunction since he is the one who made it so dysfunctional.  In a word, “He broke it so he should own it.”

In comparing him to the rest of the Republican field:

“next to Romney, Gingrich seems authentic. Next to Herman Cain, Gingrich seems faithful. Next to Jon Huntsman, Gingrich seems conservative. Next to Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, Gingrich actually does look like an intellectual.”

In looking at his past hypocrisy:

“Gingrich was part of the House Republican mob trying to impeach Bill Clinton for hiding his affair with a young government staffer, even as Newt himself was hiding his affair with a young government staffer…. Gingrich has excoriated Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for dragging the country into a financial spiral and now demands that Freddie Mac be broken up. But it turns out that he was on contract with Freddie for six years and paid $1.6 million to $1.8 million (yacht trips and Tiffany’s bling for everyone!) …He risibly rationalized his deal, saying he was giving the mortgage company advice as a prestigious historian rather than a hired gun.”

Well worth the read!

Tony

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/opinion/my-man-newt.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

Dear Commons Community,

Last night the CUNY Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition while students and faculty waged a peaceful demonstration outside of Baruch College.  The vote by the Trustees raises tuition at the rate of $150. per semester for the next four years. The present tuition for full-time undergraduates is $5,130 per year and by 2015-16 , tuition will rise to  $6,330 with about $500 a year in additional fees.  The vote was 15 to 1 with the only dissenting vote coming from the student representative on the Board of Trustees.

Chancellor  Goldstein said that the increase was intended, in part, for “the protection of our faculty and staff from the kinds of layoffs that other public higher education systems have experienced in recent years,” which he said would be unavoidable otherwise.

Below is University Faculty Senate representative Sandi Cooper’s account of the Trustees meeting.

Tony

===========================

Dear colleagues

To capture the full flavor of the board of Trustees meeting, you really need to watch the podcast, particularly the opening speeches by the Chair of the Board and the Chancellor.  I really urge you to do that.

At the outset of the meeting, following Chair Schmidt’s reading of the standard statement regarding the Board’s interest in hearing the public at the prescribed fora (public hearings, borough hearing, letters) he read the statement against disruptive audience members, promising they would be removed.

Prof Bill Crain (CCNY) stood up, moved forward to break through the rope separating the huge rectangular table of trustees, chancellery and presidents from the audience.  He yelled loudly that the Board syould take responsibility for the police violence against students on Monday, Nov 21 and was hustled out of the room by plain clothes security guards.

In his remarks the chancellor went to great lengths to defend the tuition policy and emphasized the amount of aid to be available to poor students for whom anything beyond the full TAP award would be covered by a designated $5 million fund.  He reported that about 100,000 students attended CUNY for free at present (this via a combination of TAP, Pell, stafford loans, CUNY guaranteed loans, scholarships from private funds)

Vice Chancellor Allan Dobrin summarized the chronology of the confrontation between students and CUNY police on Monday 11/21, concluding that no major injuries or beatings by police were recorded on any video.  The 15 arrests were for resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, refusing to leave the premises of the Baruch lobby.

The Chancellor added that CUNY will bring in an outside consultant group that specializes in dealing with situations such as last Mondays to suggest ways that CUNY might improve its handling of protests.

Trustee Beal who presided over the Monday hearing on Nov 21 (attended by Beal, Foster, di Martino from the appointed trustees as well at the student and faculty trustee) corrected the remarks made by some of the speakers who were “confused” about the tuition or health care issue.  Trustee Pantaleo enthusiastically praised the Chancellor for managing to preserve CUNY, to grow the faculty and to serve so many students (including 100,000 who attend without paying tuition) amidst one of the gravest fiscal crises in recent memory.  Unlike numerous other universities, there were no mass layoffs, departmental closings, firing of faculty or staff.

Several trustees avowed their commitment to providing access to excellence.

Trustee Wiesenfeld decided to introduce a hook — by stating that one of CUNY’s biggest problems was an individual who whipped up anger and rancor and who wanted to capitalize on the Occupy Wall St events — the head of the PSC, Barbara Bowen.

Ths opening session concluded with an encomium by Benno Schmidt on the brilliant success of Matthew Goldstein for over a decade in turning around a sinking ship, and for putting into place the kind of reforms that his owncommission has proposed in 1999 — including suggestions that led to the compact.

The rest of the meeting was the usual business — voting positively on everything on the calendar.  The student trustee who votes voted no on the tuition increase and abstained on the increases for the professional doctoral programs. (There was a promise that the GC would degray the tuition overage for students who could not manage it)

Thus the asking budget for next year was approved — both operational and capital;  the by law changes were approved; the retrenchment guidelines will move to the Manual of General Policy from the by laws; the academic proposals were approved including a Letter of Intent from CSI to create another Doctor of Nursing Practice despite anger from graduate school faculty leadership that its authority over doctoral programs is being sidelined again –an argument that carries no weight with the chancellor’s staff;  an interesting possible change regarding child care facilities would allow non matric students and some faculty to enroll children IF the needs of matriculated students were met.

This is NOT meant to be a verbatim minute but rather a report of what seemed to be highlights to me.

DO WATCH THE PODCAST

Sandi

Sandi E. Cooper, Chair

University Faculty Senate — CUNY

Dear Commons Community,

In anticipation of protests during tomorrow night’s meeting of the CUNY Board of Trustees, Baruch College president, Mitchel Wallerstein, has cancelled all classes that begin after 3:00 pm tomorrow, Monday, November 28^th.  The classes have been rescheduled for Friday, December 2^nd.

These actions are being taken “to ensure the safety of all students, faculty and staff during the period surrounding the meeting of the CUNY Board of Trustees in the Newman Vertical Campus on Monday afternoon. For this reason, student presence in the Vertical Campus after 3:00 p.m. will be limited only to those completing a class already in progress and initial access will be granted only to those with an urgent and legitimate need to be in the building. We are determined to avoid any repetition of the regrettable events that occurred in the narrow confines of the NVC lobby during the CUNY Board’s public hearing last Monday.”

The full text of President Wallerstein’s message appears below.

———————————————————————————————————————————
The College has decided to re-schedule all classes occurring in the Newman Vertical Campus (NVC) only that begin after 3:00 p.m. on Monday, November 28, 2011. These classes will be re-scheduled for Friday, December 2nd in the same room and at the same time. Existing Friday afternoon sections will be rescheduled. Please check the college registrar web page, which will be updated by Monday morning, or the instructor’s Blackboard account, for the latest scheduling information.

All administrative staff who work in the NVC only are also being granted administrative leave, beginning at 3 p.m. on Monday. Individual unit managers and division directors are authorized, however, to move essential personnel to a different work location as they deem necessary.

These actions are being taken to ensure the safety of all students, faculty and staff during the period surrounding the meeting of the CUNY Board of Trustees in the Newman Vertical Campus on Monday afternoon. For this reason, student presence in the Vertical Campus after 3:00 p.m. will be limited only to those completing a class already in progress and initial access will be granted only to those with an urgent and legitimate need to be in the building. We are determined to avoid any repetition of the regrettable events that occurred in the narrow confines of the NVC lobby during the CUNY Board’s public hearing last Monday.

It is indeed fortunate that no Baruch students were arrested last week, and that none of those who were arrested was seriously injured. According to the information reaching me, all of these individuals were charged with a misdemeanor; and contrary to certain information in circulation, no one has subsequently been denied access to any Baruch College facility.

I want to restate again my commitment to the right of free expression on the Baruch College campus. Until such time as we are able to obtain an outdoor public plaza, we will work to identify other public spaces where members of the Baruch College community can gather to express their views in a peaceful and orderly fashion.

Mitchel Wallerstein

President, Baruch College

Dear Commons Community,

The constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s healthcare legislation will
surely be the most watched activity of the U.S. Supreme Court this coming
year.  Besides the usual battle lines of right versus left leaning opinions is the question of conflicts of interest of Justices Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan.

The Huffington Post is reporting that Democrats are calling for Clarence Thomas to recuse himself because of his wife’s involvement with several groups that opposed the health care overhaul. As stated in the article:

“From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife’s financial stake in the overturn of health care reform is blurred,” 74 Democrats wrote Thomas in February …

One lawmaker who signed the letter, Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., said she feels even more strongly now that Thomas has a conflict. She wants the Justice Department to investigate Thomas for omitting his wife’s employers, including the Heritage Foundation and the tea-party linked Liberty Central, from his annual financial disclosure reports.

Republicans meanwhile have serious concerns about Elena Kagan’s involvement because she was solicitor general during the crafting of the healthcare legislation.

“Republican lawmakers recently have stepped up their effort against Kagan, complaining that the Justice Department has not fully revealed Kagan’s involvement in planning the response to challenges to the law..

‘The public has a right to know both the full extent of Justice Kagan’s involvement with this legislation while she was solicitor general, as well as her previously stated views and opinions about the legislation while she was serving as solicitor general,’ the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said Tuesday in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.”

Neither Justice Thomas or Kagan have given any indication that they will recuse themselves from the case.

Tony

Dear Commons Community.

The NY Times has a troubling article on the drop-out rate of Mexican students in New York City based on an analysis of the latest US Census data by CUNY’s own Andrew A. Beveridge and Susan Weber-Stoger, demographers at Queens College. Forty-one percent of all Mexicans between ages 16 and 19 in the city have dropped out of school.  No other major immigrant group has a drop-out rate higher than 20 percent, and the overall rate for the city is less than 9 percent.  The article goes on to state:

“This crisis endures at the college level. Among Mexican immigrants 19 to 23 who do not have a college degree, only 6 percent are enrolled. That is a fraction of the rates among other major immigrant groups and the native-born population.

Moreover, these rates are significantly worse than those of the broader Mexican immigrant population in the United States.

The problem is especially unsettling because Mexicans are the fastest-growing major immigrant group in the city, officially numbering about 183,200, according to the Census Bureau, up from about 33,600 in 1990. Experts say the actual figure is far larger, given high levels of illegal immigrants.”

The reasons for the high drop-out rate are attributed to a number of factors including language, fear of deportation, and the need to seek employment but do not explain why the rate is so much higher in New York City than other parts of the country.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

Even in difficult economic times, first and foremost, we remember to give thanks for all we have in this country.  We remember the original meaning of Thanksgiving as established by the Pilgrims.

And we take the children and grandchildren to Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

More information and video have become available on the confrontations that occurred on Monday evening at Baruch College during a CUNY Board of Trustees hearing on tuition increases.  Below is a message from CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein.  There are also a number of videos at youtube on the events.  Here are several links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6yK5gt4udA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9nmD4od6Q8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teGANxYR1mA

We are going to hear a lot more about this considering that on Monday, November 28^th, the CUNY Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on the tuition measure.

Tony

Dear Commons Colleagues,

Below is a an email sent by Sandi Cooper describing last night’s CUNY Board of Trustees meeting at Baruch College.

Tony

================================

Nearly 100 speakers signed up to address items on the Board’s calendar (to be voted 11-28-11) and about 65-70 spoke.   A number who were signed up were thrown out of the hearing by security before the reached the podium because of “disruptive” behavior, including a human microphone that attacked the basic authority of the Board to make policy for a people’s university.  The meeting lasted about 2 1/2 hours.

The three issues raised most frequently:

1) The rational tuition policy

Students, from community college through the Graduate School attacked the concept of a rational tuition policy as well as the size of the increases ($300 per year for 5 years);  many reminded the Board and Chancellery Staff present that CUNY had once been free.  Some described unbearable hardships and many predicted that students would have to drop out in significant numbers because the offset funding (TAP, Pell, etc) were not available to many just above the poverty line.

Speakers in support of the tuition increase were exclusively members of college administrations — provosts, vice presidents for finance, for student affairs, for administration.

2) Adjunct health care benefits    

Powerful testimony by adjuncts whose lives depended on health coverage — literally:  cancer survivors, immune-suppressant medications following a kidney transplant;  medications to treat Type 1 diabetes;  medication for lung diseases contracted after 9/11 for faculty at BMCC  people with disabilities who nevertheless taught heavy loads as adjuncts to make ends meet.   There was praise for the Chancellery for including a funding request to cover this item in the asking budget and requests that CUNY follow through in Albany with negotiations to keep this item afloat.  SUNY part time faculty are covered.  There was concern that lobbying for this item might not be a whole-hearted affair.

3)  Changes to the By Laws

PSC officers observed that while some changes had been made to the original draft of the bylaws to meet PSC concerns, there were two articles that still threatened a major shift in CUNY — found in Art VI and XI, including such items as concentrating more power in the chancellor’s hands about what kind of appointments can be made;   de-listing previous job descriptions and titles and adding one that is not in the contract, removing job qualifications in some cases

In the meeting there were frequent students disruptions until many were forced to leave by security.  Outside the building and in the lobby an ongoing demonstration (which I did not see, but received e mails about) led to some scuffles and arrests.   I am awaiting a promised video taking during the police ejection of students sitting in in the entry hall.  CUNY officials deny violence;  students claim otherwise.  Some were arrested, handcuffed and either pushed or beaten with batons (maybe the video will show).

The meeting was not the usual perfunctory performance.

Sandi

Sandi E. Cooper, Chair

University Faculty Senate—CUNY