“Hear our roar, hear our call! Come for four, face us all!” 

On Thursday July 31, in the midst of torrential rain, 150 faculty, staff, students, activists, and community members gathered for a rally to demand the reinstatement of the Fired Four — a group of adjunct faculty members at Brooklyn College who were fired despite the reappointment recommendations of their departments, and share the common thread of all having been involved in the movement for Palestine on and off campus, as well as in union activism. These firings — what the union is saying has “all appearances of an ideological purge” — occurred not long before CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez testified before Congress, where he touted his disciplining of four faculty, multiple students, and increased policing at CUNY.

The rally was called by PSC-CUNY, the union for approximately 30,000 faculty, staff, and graduate assistants at the City University of New York, in order to stand up and fight back against what is being dubbed “the new McCarthyism”: a wave of attacks on universities, free speech, and the movement for Palestine. 

James Davis, the President of the union, spoke at the rally, saying:

We will win these jobs back. These four are talented instructors, mentors, experts in their academic disciplines. Their departments gave them the green light [… ] We know the context of these firings, it’s a series of attacks straight out of the authoritarian playbook. It’s an attack on research, teaching, medicaid, immigrants, climate science, judiciary, media, law firms and more. It’s a campaign of fear and extortion. Let’s call it what it is. It’s the blueprint of Steven Miller and Chris Ruffo. President Anderson and the Chancellor should see this for what it is.

All four professors fired have stellar teaching records and were reappointed by their departments. Three of the professors were reappointed by their departments, only to have their departments be told by Human Resources that they could not be hired — a very unusual move. While they were not provided with any reasons, the CUNY Chancellor in front of Congress named one of the fired 4, Corinna Mullin, stating that she no longer worked at CUNY. Since then, the Brooklyn College President has sent an email stating that the faculty were not fired for speech, but for conduct. But three of the fired four have not yet been told what conduct resulted in their non-reappointments. 

One of the four faculty has been provided a reason, and at the rally, a Brooklyn College PSC Executive Committee member read a statement from this fired faculty, in which she told parts of her story:

At the end of May, I was preparing for my summer course when I discovered that I had been fired for “Conduct unbecoming of staff.” What conduct, I asked? HR refused to tell me. The chairs of my department had no idea what happened. It wasn’t about my classroom performance– my evaluations are consistently high, as is the case for all 4 fired adjuncts. For several weeks, Brooklyn College wouldn’t tell me what the alleged conduct was. Finally, as a result of a Taylor Law information request, I was given an answer. The other 3 adjuncts have still not been given an official reason for their firings.

So what’s the reason for my firing? Alongside students, I had passed out a flier that used the word “CUNY”– although it clearly stated this was not official CUNY literature and clearly stated its authors. HR also cited a voluntary sign up sheet– where people could scan a QR code to sign up for more information. Once again, the sign up sheet clearly stated this wasn’t official CUNY literature. And HR also cites a voluntary 5 dollar donation sent to my private venmo account by a fellow faculty member. 

Do we really want a university where students and faculty can’t use CUNY in their name of fliers for CUNY-based activism? I’m proud to be part of the CUNY community– the largest urban public university in the country. I’m proud of the tradition of struggle at CUNY– and the numerous activist groups that have used the CUNY name. 

How many of us have given or collected a donation? Or had a sign up sheet? Or identified ourselves as part of CUNY or been in a group that used the CUNY name? I bet most of us here have done all of this.  Are these fireable offenses?

Another one of the Fired Four, Corinna Mullin, also spoke, emphasizing the importance of student-worker solidarity and reminding everyone of some of the organized right-wing forces behind her firing, which “followed a sustained doxxing campaign led by right-wing politicians and organizations that are anti-labor, racist, and intent on dismantling the politically engaged and vibrant CUNY community—one that has been built over decades of struggle in the face of ongoing repression. These are not the forces one would expect a university that claims to be “the people’s university” to align itself with.”

As the speakers at this rally demonstrate, these firings aren’t about a five dollar donation, but about shutting down faculty who have stood up for Palestine, as well as a broader attack on free speech. 

Chenjerai Kumanyika spoke on behalf of the Association of American University Professors (AAUP), calling the firings “an attack on academic freedom, a disgrace to the mission of higher education, and an assault on democracy. […] They started out by attacking elite universities, Columbia, Harvard, the capitulation at Brown university is absolutely disgusting…But then they started showing their true colors, they came after the university of Nebraska, they came after Michigan and now, they are trying to come after one of the greatest working class university, CUNY.” 

The rally closed with a statement read by a member of the Brooklyn College Student Union, with several other student union representatives standing at his side. The students proclaimed their solidarity with the Fired Four and pointed out that, given CUNY’s contracts with various weapons manufacturers, there is a “colossal disparity” between the administration’s interests and “the student body’s desire for instructors who share our concerns and are advocates for the same global causes.”

This attack on free speech and the movement for Palestine opens the doors for more attacks on students and faculty, as well as on the right to protest. These four faculty are the canary in the coal mine for deeper and stronger attacks on academic workers, students, and people everywhere. We must stand firm against these firings. If they touch four of us, we all rise up.

Reinstate the Fired Four!

We are in the process of uploading videos of the rally speeches to Instagram and TikTok.

The post CUNY Workers, Students, and Allies Rally at Brooklyn College, Chanting “McCarthyism No More, Reinstate the Fired Four” appeared first on Left Voice.