CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

A participatory project to collect and preserve the histories of the City University of New York

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Letter: Economic Disparity

In this letter addressed to President Irwin Polishook of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), Jonathan Lang, Chair of the Doctoral Students’ Council (DSC), outlined the differences in salaries between adjunct and full-time faculty and expressed [...]

Doctoral Students Council News: Murphy's Optimism

This Doctoral Students’ Council (DSC) newsletter, published in 1982, covered adjunct news that ranged from notes on a meeting the DSC steering committee had with Chancellor Murphy to a satirical piece entitled “How not to be an Adjunct”. The [...]

The Graduate Students' Union 1983-84: A position paper

Written by the Graduate Students’ Union (GSU) in 1983-84, this position paper stated the intentions of the recently formed organization. The aims enumerated were to advance the interests of CUNY graduate students as employees (or prospective [...]

The Refuse: On Representation or Decertification

This issue of The Refuse (December 1983-January  1984), a Doctoral Students’ Council newletter, addressed the issue of retrenchment at CUNY, pointing to several articles that had mischaracterized CUNY’s relationship to labor precarity and [...]

Deconstructing Chancellor Murphy's Comments on Adjuncts

The Association of Part-Time faculty (APTF) sent out this correspondence to full -and part-time faculty asking them to send letters to CUNY Chancellor Joseph Murphy who had called the adjunct employment situation “catastrophic” but, according [...]

PTU Newsletter (vol. 1., no. 1)

The debut newsletter in 1986 of PTU View, was published by a group devoted to fighting for the rights of part-time staff at CUNY. Included were listed contacts at various CUNY campuses; announcements of several Spring meetings; and a detailed [...]

GSU Denied Room for Meeting

This document, filed in 1986, included both the original memo from the Graduate Center's Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, Geoffrey Marshall, and the Graduate Student Union’s (GSU) response. In the initial memo, the permission to use a room [...]

PTU View

The August 1986 PTU View newsletter called for adjunct faculty to sign a "union authorization" card. In addition to listing how the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) had failed to represent the interests of contingent faculty, the PTU’s demands [...]

Being an Adjunct is a Dead-End Street Flyer

Created by the Part-Time Instructional and Research Staff Union (PTU) in October 1986, this flyer bemoaned the status of adjunct faculty on CUNY campuses and argued for the election of the developing part-timers' "union". While acknowledging that [...]

Trench Scholar!

Will Petry, an adjunct who had recently been elected Chairperson of the Doctoral Students' Council (DSC) at the Graduate Center, wrote this 1986 editorial in Refuse. Petry recounted a series of specific events in relation to his employment as an [...]

"Student Voices Breaking the Silence: The Asian and Pacific American Experience"

This article was written by Paula Y. Bagasao for the November/December 1989 issue of Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning features the narratives of 10 Asian and Pacific American student voices from across the country, including those of three [...]

CUNY Advocate Archives

This item links to the digital archive of The CUNY Advocate. It includes links to issues from 1989 to 2016. The Advocate serves as the newspaper for the students, staff, and faculty of the Graduate Center, CUNY. It is published six times per [...]

Black Nations/Queer Nations? Conference Video

This panel was one of many held during CLAGS’ Black Nations/Queer Nations? conference held at the Graduate Center from March 9 to 11 1995. It brought together famed, queer, black literary figures Samuel R Delaney, Coco Fusco, and Essex Hemphill. [...]

"We're all in this Together": CUNY in Solidarity with the Home Care Strike

This flyer promoted an April 17th CUNY rally held in opposition to budget cuts and tuition hikes. The CUNY rally participants joined Local 1199 and DC 1707 home care workers on the picket line. One of the core tenets of the Graduate Student [...]

“Graduate Center Student Strike Update”: 16 Demands

On April 18th, a "Graduate Center Student Strike Update" document confirmed the students' 16 demands and announced that a negotiation process had begun with Graduate Center administrators. Some of the demands were tied directly to the building [...]

"Jeopardizing the Life of Institution" – Letter to the Students from President Cahn

Addressed to the students on April 18, 1991, and signed by Steven M. Cahn, the acting Graduate Center president, this letter stated that the student strikers who had occupied the Graduate Center were "jeopardizing the life of the institution" they [...]

No Budget Cuts – No Givebacks – Join CUNY Students

City University of New York’s (CUNY) struggles were “no different from labor’s fight for economic and social justice.” This 1991 flyer appealed to NYC labor movement members to join CUNY student strikers, arguing that the attacks on CUNY [...]

The Struggle Continues

Promoting solidarity and coalition building across CUNY campuses, this flyer called on students at Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Hostos Community College to join a May 2, 1991 rally at Hostos Community College in the Bronx followed by [...]

Workers and Students, Fight Back Against Cutbacks

Calling for a general strike to support students, this May Day flyer argued that “When the police attack. . .workers and students will unite to fight back against cutbacks and police brutality.” Written in both Spanish and English, the flyer [...]

An Open Letter to all Cultural Anthropology Students and Faculty

Signed on May 18th by 20 students from the Graduate Center, this open letter announced the formation of an organization to address the concerns of the students in the Cultural Anthropology program. It specifically called for an improved grievance [...]

CUNY City-Wide Student Coalition

This CUNY-wide student coalition document outlined ten demands which included a call for Chancellor W. Ann Reynold's resignation, the elimination of tuition, no state cuts to education, student seats on multiple CUNY committees (including budget) [...]

Demand Amnesty for the Protestors

This City College memorandum was a call for supporters of the CUNY strike to contact President Harleston and Vice President Mac Donald and "demand amnesty for the [CCNY] protestors." The document explained that the students who had taken over the [...]

Fourth Internationalist Tendency Flyer: Support the Student Takeovers

This newsletter produced by the Fourth Internationalist Tendency (FIT, a Trotskyist group) supported the CUNY student takeovers. It stated that Governor Cuomo, CUNY Chancellor Anne Reynolds, and Mayor Dinkins's proposal to cut CUNY's budget by $96 [...]

Graduate Center Teach-in: A Speech calling for Action

“The struggle for the existence of CUNY is as old as the institution itself and. . .this struggle is political.” This speech, delivered by a CUNY Graduate Center student at a 1991 Graduate Center teach-in, sought to put the threat of a $92 [...]

Who's the Real Enemy?

Featuring images of Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds, Governor Mario Cuomo, and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, this two-sided flyer from 1991 asked, "Who's the real enemy?". "All of the above" was the answer because "they are all [three] willing to [...]

Your Voice Counts

"No Budget Cuts, No Tuition Hikes, No Police on Campus" This flyer called for Graduate Center students to show solidarity in support of the City University of New York (CUNY) strike by joining the CUNY Graduate Center (GC) takeover. The pamphlet [...]

The CUNY Crisis and the New World Order

Sponsored by City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Students Against the War, this flyer announced a symposium on “The CUNY Crisis and New World Order.” Well before the CUNY strikes of 1991, Graduate Center student organizations were [...]

Graduate Student Action Paper

Written by the Graduate Center Student Strike in April 1991, this action paper reported that the City University of New York's (CUNY) Graduate Center had been taken over by graduate students on the morning of April 16th in solidarity with the [...]

Emergency Call to Action

Dated April 15th, 1991 at 3:27 PM, this facsimile was an “emergency call to action.” It reported that students who had taken over City University of New York (CUNY) campuses, including New York City Technical College, Baruch College, and Queens [...]

Letter to Students signed Cahn

Dated April 23, 1991, and signed by the acting president of the Graduate Center Steven M, Cahn, this letter referenced an April 19th letter sent by the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School] students. The letter stated that the Graduate [...]

Graduate Center Newsletter on the CUNY Crisis

This  Graduate Center Newsletter on the CUNY Crisis , published on May 9, 1991, announced a teach-in on "Maintaining the Struggle after the Occupation," which focused on organizing efforts to continue putting pressure on the New York State [...]

The Graduate Student Advocate, vol 2 no 6

This 1991 issue of  The Graduate Student Advocate , the newspaper of the graduate students at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). Published six times per academic year, it included editorials, articles, interviews, and [...]

Item Type: Text (Newspaper / Magazine / Journal / Catalogue)
Etceteras Newspaper Volume 0 Number 0

Following the Graduate Center takeover, Etceteras Vol.0 No.0 featured reflections and commentary on the "Occupation 1991," which had lasted over a week. Various students from multiple programs not actively involved in the takeover of the Graduate [...]

A Form Letter: "You are Devastating the City University of New York"

Addressed to Governor Mario Cuomo, this form letter drafted expressly for a letter-writing campaign urged the governor to reconsider his proposed education budget cuts and tuition increases. It specifically drew attention to the reduction of funds [...]

Tabeling Statement: In support of CUNY Student Strikers

This statement, accompanied by a petition, was used at a tabling event held by City University of New York (CUNY) graduate students during the 1991 occupations of CUNY academic buildings. In protest of the $92 million cut in state aid, the $500 [...]

Harlem Demonstration

"Why pay more for less" read a protest sign. As student takeovers spread to more City University of New York (CUNY) campuses, CUNY students organized marches and rallies across the city. These images show students marching to City College in Harlem, [...]

Albany Demonstration: “Save CUNY, Stop the Budget Cuts.”

A series of photographs taken in 1991 at a rally in Albany, NY, ranged from Hunter College students from the School of Social Work and Bronx Community College students to a baby with a Tax the Rich sign. Union members, workers, and students [...]

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