Letter to the LIU President Demanding an End to the Faculty Lockout

September 9, 2016
Dear Dr, Cline

I am urging you to end the lock out of LIU faculty on its Brooklyn campus which, in my judgment, represents the worst attack of faculty rights and governance by a university administration in my lifetime,

I say this as a scholar and teacher with a long and deep attachment to Long Island University. I have lectured at the University on numerous occasions, taught courses in its honors program, have mentored some of its students and am close friends with several distinguished scholars and teachers on its faculty, among them Professor John Ehrenberg and Professor Jose Sanchez. In my experience, the faculty at LIU Brooklyn campus are some of the most talented and dedicated teachers I have ever met, people who are deeply committed to educating the largely working class, first generation college students LIU attracts. Many of them had opportunities to teach at other universities serving a more affluent population, but were committed to LIU's mission to serving first and second generation immigrants and students of color.

It is quite simply appalling to see your office decide, in the midst of labor negotiations of a kind that take place in almost every university in the nation, to lock them out of their office, cut off their emails, and stop paying their health insurance. Rest assure that this action will, when it is publicized provoke the outrage of college faculty around the nation, as well as elected officials, union leaders, and social justice activists in New York City and New York State. I, for one, will be raising the alarm among all these groups until this lockout is ended

This lockout is an attack on every faculty member who believes in teaching under served populations, as well as on the labor rights of all working people in New York City and New York State.
I strongly urge you to end the lock out now, before your own reputation, and the reputation of your University, are permanently damaged

Sincerely,
Mark D Naison
Professor of African American Studies and History
Fordham University

cc. Honorable Betty Rosa, Chair, New York State Board of Regents
Father Joseph McShane, President, Fordham University
Randi Weingarten, President. American Federation of Teachers
Dr. Diane Ravitch, Professor Emeritus, New York University
Dr. John Ehrenaberg, Professor of Political Science, Long Island University
Dr. Anne Fernald, President, Faculty Senate, Fordham University
John Mogulescu, Dean of School of Professiona Studies, City University of New York