The recent college budget submitted to the Board and approved by the Board is a recipe for failure. Recent Budgets have resulted in the loss of about 80 Full Time lines in the past 2 years.
Once again, I feel we must remind you of the services provided by the full time faculty. We serve as academic advisors to tens of thousands of students; we serve as student club advisors to over 100 clubs; we serve in the 27 Academic Senate Committee; We are the Department Chairpersons, the Personnel and Budget members, The Promotion and Tenure Committee and the Sabbatical Committee members. We serve as the Union, whether we are in the Classroom, Library, Student Personnel Services, the Tower or every other nook and cranny on this campus. We serve in Political Action, public relations, health and safety and member benefit administration. We serve the New York State United Teachers, The American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the NYS Faculty Council and the LI Federation of Labor. We serve our community both on and off campus using our expertise in the arts, sciences, professional studies and charity. We serve as the conscience and advisors to this Board of Trustees.
Without the full time faculty, Nassau Community College would cease to exist as you know it. If you don’t know that fact, I would be shocked. Yet, more telling is that I suspect you do know that fact. And, yet, you continue to support a President and Administrative policies that only began with a Vote of No Confidence by the full time faculty and the situation just keeps getting worse. You hear the examples of mismanagement month after month and still you maintain your support of these policies.
Considering the dysfunction in the County Legislature, I am sure they will be pleased with a budget with no additional county contributions and without the political heat of a tuition increase. How low have we set the bar that we are setting this college up for failure in order to acquiesce to a dysfunctional county. Regardless of the role of the county, I stand before you beyond disappointed, beyond depressed and beyond disgusted. You are responsible for the imminent collapse of this college; you are responsible for the imminent failure in the fulfillment of the college mission; you are responsible for the loss of full time lines and the unparalleled, incalculable services we provide to our students, our college and our community.
The policies implemented under Dr. Astrabs and supported by this Board is; anti-education, anti- student, anti-community, anti-labor and your constituents will hear from us loud and clear. You will have to explain your actions to them.
It will be interesting to see how you do that in 3 minutes.
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NOTE: Video of the May 31 Board of Trustees meeting can be found on our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/nccft