Academic Freedom Letter To Gould 02.05.13

PSCcuny/ Professional Staff Congress / City University of New York 61 Broadway, Suite 1500  New York, New York 10006  212/354-1252  Fax 212/302-7815 Visit our website at http://www.psc-cuny.org OFFICERS Barbara Bowen President Steven London First Vice President Arthurine DeSola Secretary Michael Fabricant Treasurer George Brandon Jonathan Buchsbaum Penny Lewis Costas Panayotakis Michael Spear University-wide Officers Robert Cermele February 5, 2013 Dr Karen L Gould Office of the President Brooklyn College, CUNY 2900 Bedford Avenue, Rm 2129 Boylan Hall Brooklyn, NY 11210 Vice President Senior Colleges David Hatchett Blanca Vazquez Alex Vitale Dear President Gould: Senior College Officers Anne Friedman Vice President Community Colleges Lorraine Cohen Sharon Persinger Felipe Pimentel Community College Officers Iris DeLutro Vice President Cross Campus Units Alan Pearlman Andrea Vasquez Paul Washington I write to express the support of the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY for your January 28, 2013 statement reaffirming that your administration will "uphold the tenets of academic freedom" at Brooklyn College The 25,000 members of the PSC appreciate your holding firm, even when under fire, to the principles of free speech and academic freedom We share your position that "it is incumbent upon us to allow our students and faculty to engage in dialogue and debate on topics they may choose, even those with which members of our campus and broader community may vehemently disagree." Cross Campus Officers Marcia Newfield Vice President Part-Time Personnel Michael Batson Susan DiRaimo Steven Weisblatt Part-Time College Officers Bill Friedheim Eileen Moran Retiree Officers Irwin H Polishook President Emeritus Peter I Hoberman Vice President Emeritus Cross Campus Units STAFF Deborah E Bell Executive Director Naomi Zauderer The Brooklyn College Political Science Department's co-sponsorship of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions forum on Israel is not, as you point out, an endorsement of the views expressed by the BDS movement Academic freedom is a hallmark of a true university and a necessary condition for the intellectual growth of its students Not only students benefit when academic freedom is protected, but the whole community gains insight into controversial issues The production of new knowledge, an important objective of universities, often occurs at the margins of what is generally accepted and is often controversial The entire society gains when ideas - both good and bad - are exposed to the light of public discourse Protecting academic freedom is upholding the role of the university as a public good For this reason, among others, the PSC-CUNY Collective Bargaining Agreement makes academic freedom a contractual right Associate Executive Director Faye H Alladin Coordinator, Financial Services Debra Bergen Thank you for standing firm for the core values of a university, particularly a public university Your statement honors Brooklyn College and supports the community it serves Director, Contract Administration & University-wide Grievance Counselor Deirdre Brill Director, Organizing Sincerely, Ida Cheng Assistant to the President Fran Clark Communications Coordinator Barbara Gabriel Coordinator, Office Services & Human Resources Brian Graf Dr Barbara Bowen President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY Organizing Coordinator Jared Herst Coordinator, Pension & Health Benefits Peter Hogness Editor, Clarion Renee Lasher Coordinator, Contract Administration Albert Muñoz Cc: Dr Matthew Goldstein, Chancellor, City University of New York Dr Paisley Currah, Chairperson, Political Science Department, Brooklyn College Dr Scott Dexter, Chapter Chair Brooklyn College PSC Dr Rudy Fichtenbaum, President, American Association of University Professors Coordinator, Contract Administration Kate Pfordresher Director, Research & Public Policy Arsenia Reilly Coordinator, Contract Administration and Outreach Diana Rosato Coordinator, Membership Peter Zwiebach Director, Legal Affairs American Federation of Teachers Local 2334 New York State United Teachers  New York State AFL-CIO American Association of University Professors  New York City Central Labor Council