Higher Education and the Stimulus Bill

For background on this issue, see Marc Bousquet's latest blog entry, which outlines the real actions we need to take to salvage the university system and thereby stimulate the economy, including converting part-time faculty lines to full-time, making tuition free or nominal, and reducing student labor.

The following is an email I received through an academic listserv from the president of the Professional Staff Congress, the faculty union at CUNY; the message urges people to contact their senators and congressman regarding the slashing of higher education funding from the federal stimulus bill:

Dear Colleague,

On Monday I asked you to contact your U.S. Senator about public higher education funding in the federal stimulus bill, and the response was tremendous. Thank you. The fight has now moved from the Senate to the joint House/Senate committees, and eventually to the White House. As I’m sure you’ve read, the Senate stripped higher education funding through the states from the stimulus bill it passed on Tuesday. But it is not too late. The House of Representatives version of the bill included $79 billion for state funding—some of which would go to higher education—and a further $6 billion for college and university construction. We must press the House to hold firm to their support for these funds as they reconcile their bill with the Senate’s. And we must call on President Obama to insist that higher education funding through the states be an integral part of any stimulus he will sign. Decisions on the bill are expected to be made quickly, possibly before Monday. We have only days to act. I ask you to do these three things right away:
1. Click here to send a letter to President Obama.
2. Click here to send a similar message to your Representative in the House. (The system will find your representative for you.)
3. Forward this message to all of your personal e-mail lists—colleagues, students and friends.

Through the AFT, I shared our letter to the Senate with higher education unions across the country. Unions from Illinois, Florida and beyond are borrowing from our letter and amplifying the message. Together, we may be able to turn this around. Please send your letters now. Thank you.
In solidarity,
Barbara Bowen President, PSC

P.S. Don’t forget to pass this on to your own networks. The letter is designed to be sent by anyone concerned about public higher education.

Granted, students at Trinity may not feel immediately impacted by these concerns since it is a private institution, but this controversial issue nevertheless demands attention, discussion, and action.