Open Letter Regarding Threatened Pathways Reprisals at Queensborough Community College

The English Program at the the CUNY Grad Center kicks ass.  What follows below is an strong open letter of support from its faculty and program administrators for the faculty and staff at the English Department at QCC.   Please read and share widely.

An Open Letter Regarding Threatened Pathways Reprisals at Queensborough Community College from Faculty and Program Administrators in the Ph.D. Program in English, CUNY Graduate Center

We have read Karen Steele’s e-mail of 13 September 2012 to the Chair of the English Department at Queensborough Community College.  In this email, she outlines the repercussions to the QCC English department if it refuses to overturn its Wednesday vote rejecting the reduction of English composition hours from four to three.

We are appalled by these threatened reprisals, which include:

• An immediate cancellation of all job searches for full time faculty in the English Department
• The cancellation of all composition classes in Fall 2013, necessitating that QCC undergraduates fulfill these requirements at another CUNY institution
• The exclusion of Composition courses from QCC’s list of gateway courses for the English major
• The non-reappointment of all adjunct faculty for Fall 2013
• The reappointment of full time faculty in the English Department will be “subject to ability to pay and Fall 13 enrollment in department courses”

In the face of these threatened reprisals, we would like to offer our strong support to the faculty in the English Department at QCC.  This is a matter of great concern for the Ph.D. Program in English; many faculty members at QCC are our current and former students.  We stand in solidarity with the English Department at QCC as fellow members of the Professional Staff Union, as CUNY colleagues, and as educators passionate about the teaching and practice of writing.

We are shocked by the willingness of the QCC administration to compromise the education of so many students by threatening to cancel all Composition Courses in Fall 2013.  We note that this derails the very reason that Pathways was developed—articulation agreements and transferability of courses.  We are amazed that QCC administration would even consider the wholesale cancellation of first-year writing courses, which will surely have implications for QCC’s accreditation status. These reprisals, in fact, threaten the continued existence of the QCC English department, since English 101, 102 and 103 form such a significant portion of their course offerings.

Equally important to us is the issue of faculty governance. CUNY administration explicitly stated that Pathways would be a faculty-driven process. Instead we see intimidation and threats, particularly directed at the most vulnerable members of the professoriate—contingent faculty and the untenured.

The PSC CUNY statement on this matter (http://psc-cuny.org/node/3835) describes the actions of the QCC English department as “brave and necessary . . . they have demonstrated that we have the power to stand for the preservation of a quality curriculum that serves our students’ interests and that we need not succumb to the administration’s scare tactics.” We agree, and we would like to thank the QCC English Department for their bravery and resolve.  They have our full support as they meet on September 19th, and in their principled stance against any compromise to their educational mission.

Sincerely,

Carrie Hintz, Acting Executive Officer, Ph. D. Program in English (Fall 2012); Associate Professor of English, Queens/CUNY and The Graduate Center/CUNY

Ammiel Alcalay, Deputy Executive Officer, Ph.D. Program in English; Professor of Classical, Middle Eastern and Asian Languages & Cultures, Queens/CUNY; Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and Medieval Studies, The Graduate Center/CUNY

Hildegard Hoeller, Acting Progress Officer, Ph.D. Program in English; Professor of English, CUNY-CSI and The Graduate Center/CUNY

Joan Richardson, Progress Officer, Ph. D. Program in English; Professor of English, Comparative Literature, and American Studies, The Graduate Center

Nancy Silverman, Assistant Program Officer, Ph.D. Program in English, CUNY Graduate Center

Meena Alexander, Distinguished Professor of English and Women’s Studies, CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College, CUNY

Barbara Bowen, Associate Professor of English, Queens College and The Graduate Center

Rachel Brownstein, Professor of English, Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center/CUNY

Glenn Burger, Professor of English, Queens College and the Graduate Center/CUNY; Chair of English, Queens College

Kandice Chuh, Professor of English and American Studies, CUNY Graduate Center

Ashley Dawson, Professor of English, The Graduate Center; Chairperson of English, College of Staten Island

Jackie DiSalvo, Professor of English, Baruch College and The Graduate Center/CUNY

Marc Dolan, Associate Professor of English and Film Studies at John Jay Colllege, CUNY and The Graduate Center/CUNY

Duncan Faherty, Associate Professor of English & Director of American Studies, Queens College & The Graduate Center/CUNY

David Greetham, Distinguished Professor of English, Graduate School of the City University of New York, English

Anne Humpherys, Professor of English, Lehman College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Wayne Koestenbaum, Distinguished Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center

Steven Kruger, Professor of English and Medieval Studies, Queens College and The Graduate Center, CUNY

Jane Marcus, Distinguished Professor of English, City College and The Graduate Center/CUNY

Richard McCoy, Professor of English at Queens College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

Rebecca Mlynarczyk, Professor Emerita of English, CUNY Graduate Center & Kingsborough Community College

Tanya Pollard, Professor of English, Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, CUNY

David Reynolds, Distinguished Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center

David Richter, Professor of English, Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center

Talia Schaffer, Professor of English, Queens College and The Graduate Center/ CUNY

Ira Shor, Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center and College of Staten Island

Jon-Christian Suggs, Emeritus Professor of English, John Jay College and the Graduate Center/CUNY

Alan Vardy, Associate Professor of English, CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College

Joshua Wilner, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, City College and the Graduate Center

Nancy Yousef, Associate Professor of English, The Graduate Center and Baruch College, CUNY