Bernie Sanders Urges Cuomo to Raise CUNY Professors’ Pay

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/15/nyregion/bernie-sanders-urges-cuomo-to-raise-pay-for-cuny-professors.html?_r=0

By KATE TAYLORDEC. 14, 2015

Senator Bernie Sanders has called on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to provide funding that would allow faculty and professional staff members at CUNY to get raises. Credit Brian Snyder/Reuters

While the rest of the presidential field was talking about how to confront global terrorism, Senator Bernie Sanders in recent days had a very local issue on his mind: getting a raise for professors at the City University of New York.

Roughly 25,000 CUNY faculty and professional staff members have been without a contract since 2010, and have not had salary increases in that time. Part of the reason is that the amount of per-pupil funding CUNY receives from the state has declined, adjusted for inflation, since before the recession; roughly 45 percent of the system’s $3.2 billion budget comes from the state.

Mr. Sanders, a candidate for the Democratic nomination, on Friday sent a letter to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo that called on him to provide funding for a new contract with raises.

“As a college degree becomes increasingly important for economic security in our vastly unequal society, CUNY has historically represented the possibility that a college education of the highest quality could be accessible to all,” the Vermont senator wrote. “It should continue to represent that possibility.

FULL story at link.