Vol. 23, No. 1                                                                                November 22, 2004

TURKEY TIPS
AND THE QUEEN OF RELEASED TIME

      This is turkey season. It is also a season during which you will see Susan O'Malley arising and showing her face on the Kingsborough campus in order to solicit your precious vote. Susan wants to continue -- for yet another term in the Senate, thus making her the longest-running KCC senator in the history of Kingsborough CC.

       Why she is trying to hold on to this office so long is not a mystery. Simply speaking, this so-called teacher of English and former editor and occasional contributor to Radical Teacher, needs released time to play her cello, brag about her scholarly activities in Europe, relax in attractive vacation spots around the country, and attend meetings of the Board of Trustees (without a vote), where every one around her avoids eye contact, for she is known to all as the one with the most far-out radical agenda - the radical agenda of the 1960's. Furthermore, if she suggests changes to resolutions at the Trustees' meetings, she is ignored. According to minutes, authored by O'Malley herself, of a meeting of a Board Committee, twice "Nobody agreed" to what O'Malley had to say (see Senate Forum of November 15, 04) Is it not the time for the faculty to send her back to playing her cello, rather than to the University Faculty Senate?

       We believe that Susan O'Malley has broken the CUNY record in terms of getting released time in order to avoid teaching. Do you know when she last taught at KCC, her home college?

       Over the years, she is known to have found and grabbed every single clever opportunity to get released time so that she will not have to teach. Currently, she is getting full released time from her teaching responsibilities for being the Chair of the Senate. She is also on the Executive Committee of the Professional Staff Congress, our Union.

       The Central PSC, whose Cadillac-liberal leaders own luxury boats and residences in the rich neighborhoods of upstate New York and beautiful apartments in Manhattan (not affordable to the lowly professoriate whom they represent) are known to have a social agenda that is promoted with YOUR DUES MONEY. After raising our dues, they now have over one percent of the CUNY payroll - and they think they have license to use that money (your money) to solve the social, religious, cultural, and economic problems of the world.

       O'Malley is part of that gang of thugs - the Central PSC's Executive Committee, the decision-making body that approved the appointments that led to reduction of your dental, prescription drug, and other benefits, and total loss of your paid life insurance. As a member of the Central PSC Executive Committee, she also votes in favor of your dues money being spent for demonstrations, parades, buses to Washington, DC, protests against the war and whole lot of other activities which have nothing to do with the Contract or its implementation. As a member of the Central PSC Executive Committee as well as Chair of the Faculty Senate, she has done absolutely nothing to stop the PSC leadership's spending your dues money on non-essential activities. On the contrary, she has enthusiastically encouraged and participated in the reduction of your benefits.

So, in the sprit of Thanksgiving, The Patriot is pleased to offer these Turkey Tips:

• If the Queen of Released Time calls and you recognize her voice, say "Turkey" and hang up;
• If you see the Queen of Released Time in the hall, Turkey Trot in the other direction;
• If the Queen of Released Time knocks on your office door, make a sound like a turkey and she will go away;
• If you just could not avoid her, ask her one or more of the following questions:

1. As Chair of the University Faculty Senate, what have you done specifically for Kingsborough faculty and what have you done in general for CUNY faculty?
2. When did you last teach a full load at Kingsborough?
3. As a senior member of the faculty, why do you grab every office, every position, and every opportunity for released time? Don't you think others might have something valuable to say or to contribute? Why don't you want others to succeed?
4. When are you going to be a mentor to junior faculty and help them get elected or selected for something important?
5. When have you helped another woman in her career?
6. You talk a lot about minority rights, but when and where have you helped an actual real-life African American or an actual, real-life Asian American?
7. You sit on the PSC's Executive Committee, but what have you done to stop the reduction in prescription drug and dental benefits?
8. What have you specifically done for the betterment of KCC faculty?

WELCOME, DR. PERUGGI,
TO THE COLLEGE BY THE SEA

       Since the passing of our beloved President Leon M. Goldstein, this is probably the first semester that Kingsborough has been able to breathe a sigh of relief - a refreshing change is in the air.

       We do wish to caution you, though, about the current administrative structure being kept too long. Some HEO's, who were pushing chairs a few months earlier, were being made deans, and a lot of shenanigans went on in administrative restructuring by your predecessor - the 'interim'. We need a brand new and broad based experienced structure brought in from outside, in its entirety. Bringing new executives at different times would not give you a well-settled administration for a long time to come, an error the previous president made. Your Dean of Faculty should come from outside, with solid experience and a good doctorate from a reputable school rather than, as rumored, some one from the College with no experience and with a doctorate from a non-traditional out-of-state educational institution.

       One should also be on guard. There are a few individuals on the KCC campus who are being trained and groomed in the radical school of those who are currently in positions at the University Faculty Senate, with their global agenda of social change. They come from both teaching and non-teaching departments, and are constantly off campus, attending every meeting of every group, as long as those meetings take them away from their work at KCC.

       On a pleasant note, though, you may find some very dedicated department chairs, along with some good administrative, custodial and maintenance staff.

       Kingsborough has been visited by such dignitaries and celebrities as Ted Kennedy, Mohammad Ali, Jane Fonda, George Pataki, Al Gore and others. From Robert Wagner to Rudy Giuliani, each Mayor showed his love and admiration for Kingsborough by visiting us. We are confident that you will succeed in having Mayor Bloomberg, Bill Gates and His Holiness the Dalai Lama find their way to Kingsborough in the near future.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!