March 17, 2015
By Marc Bussanich
New York, NY—Adjuncts rallied on campus on Monday afternoon and unveiled a report card on The New School president’s performance and he failed miserably in every subject area.
In the accompanying video, Marie Dormuth, unit chair with the Academics Come Together-UAW Local 7902, the union representing the adjuncts, explained why The New School’s president, David Van Zandt, got an “F” in every category. As the UAW Region 9A’s director, Julie Kushner, held up the report card, Ms. Dormuth elaborated.
For starters, Van Zandt got an “F” for job security. On affordable health care, Dormuth said he wants to raise everyone’s premiums!
“He wants families to pay 75 percent of the health premium. Is that social justice?” asked Dormuth. Needless to say, Van Zandt earned his second “F.”
On decent wages, Van Zandt still got an “F.”
“His wages are an insult to our contribution to this university, they’re miniscule, they’re insulting, and we are not going to accept it. We’re not going to take less than what we got in the last contract. During the Recession, he wanted us to accept fewer wages, but meanwhile he’s got the money for lavish salaries for himself and his administrators,” Dormuth said.
On fair standard evaluations, again Van Zandt earned a big “F.”
“When you get an email that you’ll be evaluated, sometimes you can’t even figure out what it is. You’re being told that they didn’t like the tone of your voice; maybe it was the way you looked, maybe they don’t like you or maybe they don’t want to pay your salary because you have seniority. We have to fight-back for fair standard evaluations,” said Dormuth.
Not surprisingly, Van Zandt also earned an “F” on promoting a respectful workplace, contributing to a final grade of “F!”
