Dear Colleagues,
If you haven’t voted already, please make sure you vote for the Biden/ Harris ticket on the Working Families Party (WFP) line (row D in NYS). The WFP is a grass-roots, ‘fusion’ party that aims to run progressive candidates for local office AND push the Democratic Party to the left by mobilizing support for a progressive, pro-labor electoral agenda while helping to defeat the most reactionary political forces. The WFP — because of recent attempts in Albany to kill it — must mobilize a significant showing in tomorrow’s general election to retain its ballot status. Your vote for Biden/Harris on the WFP line will count as a vote to ‘dump Trump’ while also strengthening the prospects for independent progressive politics in New York State.
As long as we’re talking ‘”small ‘d’ democracy,” all who are concerned about the electoral outcome and any attempts to misrepresent, stifle, or thwart the popular mandate should sign up with Labor Action to Defend Democracy. Take the pledge there. Just in case! Another NGO working to ensure that electoral results are honored is Protect the Results (As of this writing, plans are already afoot for local actions on Wednesday the 4th; a national action is also planned for Saturday, November 7th.)
Those of you who missed the virtual mass meeting last Thursday night will want to know about the class size petition on the PSC website, CUNY Needs Smaller Classes. The petition calls on the CUNY Chancellor and the BoT to make deliberate haste to assure that course caps for online classes are decreased to align them with “class-size standards established by the relevant disciplinary organizations.” Please do sign on.
Last Thursday’s meeting also heard calls for a renewed push to organize and mobilize PSC members through a campaign of one-to-one member phone conversations. This mobilization is called for because a variety of factors — the pandemic, the Trump administration’s obsessive focus on the ‘needs’ of the 1%, the unwillingness of the CUNY management to forcefully and publicly advocate for full funding, and the intransigence of the governor in the face of calls for a wealth tax to increase funding to save CUNY — suggest our vigilant mobilization is essential. They suggest an escalation around the corner of the assault on our university. We want you to participate. If you do want to get involved at John Jay, please get in touch with us at email JJayPSC@ gmail.com
Finally, please mark your calendars for two PSC events coming up in the next couple weeks. First is an elections debrief sponsored by the PSC Legislative Committee on November 10th at 6:30. Please register in advance here. Second, our next John Jay chapter PSC meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 19th during common hour.
In solidarity, and with bated breath,
John Pittman and Zabby Hovey, co-chairs.
JJayPSC@gmail.com
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