BY MARYANA AVERYANOVA
On September 3, protesters rallied outside the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan in support of four Brooklyn College adjunct professors who were fired over the summer after participating in demonstrations against Israeli actions in Gaza. According to the organizers, the goal of the rally was to show that their case cannot be ignored and that the issue of reinstating the professors will follow the CUNY administration everywhere.
The rally began at 11:35 a.m., and lasted for an hour. By the beginning of the event, two police cars were already in front of the building and six law enforcement officers were in their positions. About fifty people, including students, teachers, and activists, participated in the rally. They held banners and shouted “If you come for four, you’ll face us all,” demanding that the “Fired Four” be reinstated.
Anthony C. Allessandrini, professor of English at Kingsborough Community College and Middle East Studies at the Graduate Center, was the first to speak. He emphasized that these firings are directly related to the pressure on freedom of expression. Allessandrini shouted, “If management can fire four of our colleagues based on their political expression, then in reality we do not have academic freedom.”
Evan Rothman, chapter co-chair of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) at the CUNY Graduate Center, noted that the protest goes beyond one specific conflict. When asked what this protest meant to him, Rothman replied, “One of the reasons we are out here today is we want the chancellor and the rest of the CUNY administration to know this isn’t something they can confine — it is going to follow them wherever they go.” He added, “The folks that were fired — they are not just active in Palestine organizing, they are also union activists. And right now Brooklyn College is going after the union, including full-timers who stood with their colleagues. So it affects all of us.”
Among the speakers was Corinna Mullin, until recently an adjunct professor of political science at Brooklyn College and John Jay College, one of the “Fired Four.” She emotionally shared, “Over the summer, CUNY fired four adjunct faculty members through non-reappointment, a process that requires no justification. All four of us had strong teaching records and the support of our departments. What do we share in common? We are all active in the Palestine solidarity movement and in the union.”
Mullin also emphasized, “Adjuncts are treated as disposable, and now that precarity is being weaponized to target us for political speech.”
Venus Blue, a member of the Brooklyn College Student Union also spoke. Her speech linked the firings to a broader campaign of pressure on activists and students. “This isn’t about safety. This is about our right to free speech, which has been sold by the board of trustees to the authoritarian war mongers in Washington, D.C.,” said Blue.
During the rally, there were calls for Graduate Center President Joshua C. Brumberg to take a clearer stance in defense of students and professors. Participants shouted, “Hey Josh, what do you say, will you stand with students today?”
The rally ended with calls to continue the campaign. As Rothman said, “We are gonna keep fighting because we’re gonna win.”
The organizers stated that they will push for the reinstatement of the “Fired Four” and are ready to take further actions this fall semester.
