From Joel Schlemowitz: Support Our Union! Support Parsons Fine Art Faculty!
When: Thursday, April 23, 12-1 pm Where: Directly in front of the New School administration building at 66 West 12th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues, New York City) What: ACT-UAW Local 7902, the union of part-time faculty at NYU and the New School, will sponsor a rally protesting mass dismissals of arts faculty at Parsons the New School for Design. In light of Interim Provost Tim Marshall's comment that the Parsons situation is "very typical of what happens in the school every single semester, all the time, all over the place," the event will also highlight a range of administration actions targeting part-timers across the university. This is a critical time for part-time faculty at the New School, with negotiations looming in advance of our contract's expiration on September 1. Come out! Bring your faculty friends, your artist friends, your neighbors, your kids! Make a sign! Blow a whistle! Send Fine Art Chair Coco Fusco, Provost Tim Marshall, and President Bob Kerrey a Message They Can't Ignore! See the attached statement for further background on the dismissals of Fine Art faculty. For more information, call the union office at 212-432-2120. ===================== ACT-UAW LOCAL 7902 STATEMENT ON FACULTY DISMISSALS IN PARSONS FINE ART On March 10, a dozen part-time faculty members in the Fine Art Department at Parsons the New School for Design received notice that their teaching contracts will not be renewed for fall 2009. ACT-UAW Local 7902 protests this unjust action and deplores the administrative mentality it represents. The union has filed a number of grievances related to the dismissals, but contract violations are only part of the problem. Administrators are trying to hide behind a smoke screen of "curricular change" and other management priorities to justify what amounts to the decimation of a department and the devastation of a faculty. This is both ethically wrong and institutionally counter-productive. It is needlessly cruel to hard-working faculty members at a time of terrible economic insecurity. It is also a terrible management decision, one that plays havoc with students' need for a stable, experienced faculty and a robust curriculum in subjects such as painting and drawing. It has set alarm bells ringing in the wider arts community, generating numerous statements of support for the Fine Art faculty and condemnation of the administration's actions from cultural institutions in New York and beyond. At a critical time for labor locally and nationally, this inflammatory move strikes a blow at our entire membership as we head into contract negotiations, with our current contract set to expire on September 1, 2009. Unfortunately, there is considerable truth in Interim Provost Tim Marshall's remark to a New York Times reporter that these dismissals are "very typical of what happens in the school every single semester, all the time, all over the place." The Provost's comment, and the dismissals themselves, signal all New School part-timers (89% of the total university faculty) that we are viewed by the administration as expendable. Apparently our talents, experience, and past contributions count for nothing in the face of corporate-style "innovation" from above. We view this attitude as part and parcel of the problems that led to the December, 2008 New School faculty vote of "no confidence" in the administration of President Bob Kerrey. We call on Coco Fusco, the Chair of the Parsons Fine Art Department, to make a course correction and re-appoint the affected faculty. We call on Provost Marshall and the Deans to embrace a model of change that includes substantive involvement of all sectors of the faculty, part-time and full-time, in the planning process. We call on President Kerrey to honor his recent commitment to accord part-time faculty a meaningful voice in decisions affecting curriculum. By drawing on the creativity and capacity for innovation of proven facultycan--and must--break exciting new ground while preserving successful programs' existing strengths so as not to short-change our students. Artnet News April 3, 2009 "Art Faculty Purge At Parsons The New School?" http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews4-3-09.asp New York Times April 4, 2009 "Parsons Faculty Is Cut Amid Protests by Artists" http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/arts/design/04pars.html?em --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
