BROOKLYN August 1—, “Our firing is the start of something, not the end of something!” One of “Fired Four” part timers, an adjunct lecturer, addressed the crowd of over 150 students, staff and faculty at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (CUNY). Though there was torrential rain and flooding all over the city, people showed up to fight back against the politically motivated firing of four adjunct professors who took a stand against U.S. imperialist genocide in Gaza.

Members and friends of the communist Progressive Labor Party (PLP), comprising students and faculty from several CUNY campuses, have been actively involved in organizing to widen this campaign to rehire the Fired Four into a mass struggle. We have participated in meetings, and some of us have been active in a rank-and-file caucus challenging the present union leadership and bringing students to meetings and rallies.
Ultimately, the only way to smash rising fascism in New York City and genocide in Gaza is through building campus student-worker-solidier alliances, building a mass international Progressive Labor Party, and building a red army that can destroy this imperialist system once and for all!

CUNY Fired Four: a racist attack on students

At the rally, we distributed CHALLENGE, and we had some good conversations with workers and students. We carried signs calling for international solidarity and the unity of students and CUNY workers. We also met after the protest to make plans for organizing in the fall semester.

We discussed how the attack on the Fired Four was primarily an attack on students and reflects a sharper turn toward full-blown fascism. As our campuses physically collapse from racist defunding, the U.S. bosses are fighting for political control over education. Meanwhile, student-led outrage over the genocide in Gaza is hurting the U.S. ruling class around the world. More importantly, this fightback is robbing the bosses of willing soldiers as the U.S. prepares for even bigger wars. Russian and Ukrainian workers are – so far – dying by the thousands for imperialist war, and the U.S. needs a similar level of commitment from workers, especially our students.

Fight big to win: SHUT IT DOWN!

CUNY is the largest urban university system in the U.S. and has a proud legacy of student-faculty struggle throughout the years. It has also been built on contingent or adjunct labor, part-time instructors who have the least amount of job security, earn low wages, and have little job protection. The Fired Four were all fired by Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez in a preemptive strike so that he could report to the gutter fascist House Committee’s “Anti-Semitism in Higher Education” hearing that he was disciplining professors for criticizing Israel.

These four professors did not receive negative reviews from their chairs or coordinators, proving that the firings were purely politically motivated. There was also a suspension of a student leader from City College. The bosses’ free speech and academic freedom talk is just that – talk - when imperialists are on the march!

The faculty and staff union at CUNY (PSC-CUNY) has organized letter-writing campaigns to the Chancellor, the Brooklyn College president, and the chairman of the CUNY Board. This is a good start, but the only way for these professors to return would be by organizing mass militant action, like one-day strikes on as many campuses as possible and sit-ins at the Chancellor’s fancy home (he has, of course, more than one home paid for by CUNY).

While one union leader led a chant of “shut it down,” there is little evidence that these are more than words. We must organize not only union members to strike, but also the most powerful group of all, the hundreds of thousands of students at CUNY. To win big, we must organize big and shut it down! But we must also prepare for the long run by building the Progressive Labor Party. As the imperialists build for world war, we must fight to turn their war into a war for communism, where the working class rules.

Racist cuts for more racist police terror, imperialism

This means connecting the bosses’ attacks on the Fired Four with their attacks on public education and student opportunities. At one CUNY campus, Kingsborough, we have seen all academic and student support departments cut to the bone over the years. Library hours have been slashed. Hallways in many buildings are filled with trash cans to catch water that comes from the ceilings when it rains. Like many CUNY campuses, this results in high mold levels from years of deferred maintenance, with serious physical and mental health consequences. At the same time, KCC campus police have increased staffing, promoted Officer Pierre who tackled and beat a student (see CHALLENGE, 11/30/22), and increased surveillance infrastructure and ID-scanning technology. 

Hostos Community College, Bronx Community College, and Brooklyn College have no cafeterias. They cannot provide the most basic of services to students and workers–food. At Hostos, PL’ers and friends organized trips to Costco. The administration did manage to find a way to sell coffee, but only at airport prices. We opened a “People’s Pantry” to provide fresh food for students on both campuses, which also had the effect of increasing student awareness about the lack of food options and organizing to fight back.

This fall: up the ante, bring the fight to campus!

As we prepare for the fall, we are operating in a rapidly changing environment. Immigrant workers and students, as well as citizens, are being kidnapped by fascist ICE militiamen, academic departments are losing grants due to the attacks by the federal government on diversity efforts, and the administration is attacking anyone who speaks out on genocide.

While we organized rallies last semester denouncing ICE at our campuses and have been volunteering this summer at immigration court to show solidarity with immigrant workers, we know we need to up the ante. We pledge to continue our involvement in the campaign to rehire the Fired Four, to defend immigrant workers and to demand full funding at CUNY. We know that these attacks on workers will only stop when workers seize state power and smash this racist, genocidal system for good. Winning students and workers to PLP will move us toward that victory! J