With Their Union's Help, Nontraditional Remediation Instructors at CUNY Make Strides toward a More Equitable Contract

Abstract

This article examines an underreported and mislabeled form of part‐time labor at The City University of New York (CUNY), and uses CUNY's own data, an overview of recent history, and interviews with faculty and staff to demonstrate the need to change the status of the CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) and CUNY Start instructors. Despite teaching more hours than full‐time professors, instructors in CLIP and CUNY Start are classified as part‐time, continuing education teachers, and as such are not covered by many of the contractual provisions that apply to CUNY faculty and professional staff. But CLIP and Start instructors are essential to the functioning of CUNY since they help bridge the permanent “skills gap” between New York City public high schools' academic standards and the requirements to be deemed proficient by CUNY, and CLIP instructors in particular help students overcome significant language barriers. Over the past two years, CLIP and Start teachers have begun to organize, and with the help of their union, the Professional Staff Congress, hope to improve their status in years to come.