Facebook discussion of this IHE story led Chris Newfield (blog; book) to share this message from the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education (their FB page is here) mailing list. Other links: the CCSF faculty union and the"Save CCSF" website.
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Contingent faculty, friends and allies,
Please see the letter sent today from Alisa Messer, President of AFT 2121, which represents ALL faculty (over 1,000) at City College of San Francisco. This attack, among many other things, is an attack on some of the best conditions that have been won for contingent faculty (and therefore for their students) anywhere in the USA.
The accreditor's demands that particularly affect contingent faculty (which in CA cc's are the same as part-timers) include fewer FTTT faculty, cutting health benefits for part-time faculty, cutting job security, cutting preference for FTTT jobs, cutting the 80% plus pro rata pay part-timers now get, and much more. This is in the context of a more general attack on the breadth of the mission of the college, the historically decentralized and democratic governance structure (elected department chairs, who are separately unionized), a very large non-credit adult education program with many full-timers and pro-rata pay with credit teachers, and a militant commitment to educating the working class of San Francisco both for employment, for transfer to 4 year schools and for critical citizenship generally. This represents the attempted downsizing of CCSF, just as school closings in Chicago, and is part of a strategy of privatization, with the for-profit colleges playing the role of the charter schools in K-12.
This attack on CCSF and the faculty union there is the same sort of attack, and coming from the same ultimate source, as the attack on the teachers and students in Chicago and elsewhere. In fact, it is not too much to say that CCSF is now the Chicago of higher education and it is a battle we cannot afford to lose.There is not a full strategy for national support worked out yet, but listed below are some things people all over the nation, and outside the US, can do right now to help:
1. Inform yourself. Read the FAQs on the two websites President Messer mentions in her letter, http://www.aft2121.org/?p=1621 and http://www.saveccsf.org/ Then pass this message on to your own lists.
2. If you are or can be in the SF area, come to the march and demonstration from CCSF Downtown Center to the Dept. of Education offices, Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at 4 PM. Details below and on the websites.
3. Send letters of protest to ACCJC with a copy to the union. This can be individual, from your union or other organization and/or coalition group. Contact information for both are below.
*The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges Western Association of Schools and Colleges*
*10 Commercial Boulevard, Suite 204 Novato, CA 94949*
Telephone: 415.506.0234 ~ Fax: 415.506.0238
~ Email: [email protected]
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