Dear Colleagues;   Please make sure to fill out the PSC Contract Priorities Survey; it is important to weigh in on the contract negotiations which will commence when our current contract ends in February.  The survey closes Friday 6/24.  Please find your individual link that was sent to you by PSC2334b at pscmail.org on May 11 and May 23.  Please do fill out the survey entirely.  Quite a few John Jay faculty and staff started, but did not finished the survey.  If that includes you, you may bring it up by typing survey monkey as the web address in the browser you used, but following the original link in your email will do the trick, too.

Does the picture of PSC marchers, as far as the eye could see, approaching the Brooklyn Bridge, convey how exhilarating Sunday was? It felt like thousands of us going over that span.  Thanks to all who participated, understanding that  “the union is us.“  Such a show of strength and unity may help persuade the legislature to that full funding now is essential for student success and a thriving CUNY in the future.

Meanwhile, as you know, the chancellor had ended the mask mandate for the university as a whole. Attached please find our letter to Provost Yi Li, noting that the chancellor’s abrupt change to our working conditions risks endangering some, and places the onus on those at risk.  We are encouraged by Yi’s response (also attached), that faculty can set a mask standards in their classrooms.  The college has ordered 10,000 masks, which are available at the college entrances. Supporting widespread mask-wearing helps ensure the safety of our workplaces and strengthens our community, fully including those who are still at risk.

Please join us this Friday at 1 o’clock, when our joint zoom forum with Baruch College will introduce three of the PSC committees that are engaged with social justice issues. Come hear Nancy Romer of the Environmental Justice Working Group, Lawrence Johnson, chair of the Anti-Racism Committee, and Jonathan Buchsbaum of the International Committee describe the vital work of their respective committees.  That work contributed to the PSC resolution of solidarity with Palestine last June. This forum will include an open mic for PSC members to share their views on that resolution. Finally, PSC President James Davis will comment, and present the recent changes to our union’s resolution process. Please check your email for the link to register.

Finally, we hope to see you in early April at our next Chapter meeting, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, April 5th.

Solidarity,
Zabby & John

Dear President Mason and Provost Li,

We view with alarm the continuing high city-wide rate of Omicron Coronavirus infections, especially considering the vulnerable people in many households of John Jay colleagues, staff and students. Until the infection rate slows significantly, no one who can work remotely should be obliged to come to campus.

We would like to share Chancellor Matos Rodriguez’ optimism that the pandemic will soon be behind us, but we believe now is the time for clear-headed planning in light of the Omicron variant’s high transmission rates. In person courses will be approximately 70% of the total, and there will be twice as many people on campus as Fall 2021. We want a return to campus that all can greet with enthusiasm, not super-spreading. The murkiness of last semester’s start – delayed application of CDC guidance and shifting vaccine deadlines – should not be repeated.

Therefore, we urge you, President Mason and Provost Li, to announce immediately that all classes for the first two weeks of the spring semester will be in online mode. Of course, all work performed by HEOs, CLTs and faculty would also be online, not on campus, so long as infection rates are high. Why not use the example of Queens College? Well in advance of the fall term, Queens College announced a uniform online start, in response to local Covid transmission rates, which were then less than 1/20th of what John Jay’s local rates were this week (115.6 per 100K v. 2760.86). City College also started with an all-online modality, despite having lower local transmission rates than John Jay did.

Our students travel long distances. We are asking them to use public transit to come to a vicinity where infection rates soar above where they were when the 70% goal was set. Announcing a science-based online start for all courses and services would also give faculty, staff and students the time to obtain and document the vaccinations, boosters and negative test results that the Governor now requires. It would also allow the College time to procure the necessary PPE to comply with the most updated CDC safety recommendations.

The clarity and improved planning enabled by an announcement such as this from you now would help ensure the safety and well-being of the entire John Jay community, and as smooth as possible a start to the academic semester.

Sincerely,

John Pittman and Zabby Hovey, Co-Chairs
John Jay College Chapter, Professional Staff Congress

Dear President Mason and Provost Li,

    Many members of our PSC bargaining unit share the concern of all New Yorkers about the unprecedented surge of COVID among the vaccinated, compounded by inadequate testing opportunities throughout the City. The city’s COVID positivity rate nearly doubled in the 3 days from December 9 (3.9%) to December 12 (7.5%). On Friday, December 19, New York City’s positivity rate broke the record for a single day.

    Many universities and colleges have shut down in response to this alarming situation, yet we have had no communication from CUNY’s central leadership. If the campus is not shut down immediately, we think that guidance needs to be immediately provided to the John Jay community that endorses limiting travel to campus.

    Since you have recognized the importance of safety first and flexibility, we ask that you generally endorse working remotely for all faculty and staff whose tasks do not require an on-campus presence. It seems particularly burdensome to require 35-hour-a-week employees to come to campus, if they are able to work online, since online is where most people will seek services. The local rate of transmission is presently eight (8) times higher than what the CDC counts as “high,” 4 times higher than it was all fall.

     We ask that you allow all remaining finals to be administered online. Many faculty, in response to students’ concerns, may have already moved their finals to an online format. Others, who feel vulnerable as contingent faculty, may be afraid to do so. However, since many of our students have likely already been exposed, received positive results, or are awaiting results, this step would act to limit the risk of exposure to both students and faculty.

     We ask you to provide voluntary testing to all John Jay employees who need to come to campus as long as the current surge continues. We suggest extending the days and times that the NYC H&H mobile rapid/PCR testing van is available at the college’s entrance. Please urge CUNY to renegotiate with Applied DNA to make the testing facilities at John Jay and other CUNY locations available to all documented members of our CUNY community, not just the unvaccinated or those chosen for surveillance testing.

      In the interests of reducing exposure to the Omicron variant and increasing the safety of the whole John Jay Community, we ask you to make an immediate announcement that:

• Reminds all community members how to self-report a positive COVID test and/or known exposure.
• Suggests that all faculty with final exams for in-person classes on Monday or Tuesday move these activities to an online format where feasible.
• Encourages students to stay off campus and use the remote provisions of support services and the library whenever possible.
• Endorses pivoting services back to remote options, with minimal in-person services, if any, until the start of the Spring semester.
• Encourages all community members to test before coming to campus.
• Explains what steps you will take to broaden access to free on-campus testing.

     Since stress can undermine individual immune systems, we hope that you will communicate assurances to the John Jay community over the weekend.

Sincerely,

Zabby (Elizabeth) Hovey and John Pittman, Co-Chairs

John Jay Chapter, Professional Staff Congress

Because of the uncertain circumstances in which re-opening is taking place, the John Jay PSC Chapter will have a pre-semester chapter meeting this coming Monday at 11 am to discuss next steps: