I have sat on this column for almost three years now; because somewhere and sometime back there, uneasiness met procrastination on a crowded corner of my then troubled mind. Together, they conspired to freeze-up my typewriting-fingers: until tonight; when sleep takes a backseat.
You see, I am directly involved in this issue. And yes; it is political. It nearly always is. As I have said many times before: “politics is the only game in town”.
The roots of the New York City University system (CUNY) can be traced all the way back to 1847. It has a fascinating history. Tuition was free back when the vast majority of CUNY students were white. Today, as the vast majority of students happen to be non-white, annual tuition costs keep steadily increasing somehow: but that’s another column; and that’s another issue.
Today, there are more than two dozen CUNY campuses and/or programs in existence. They offer various degrees at four academic levels (AA, BA, MA and PhD). They also offer non-degree programs for those who so choose. There is a CUNY institution in every borough of NYC: with close to half a million people enrolled as either full time, part time or non-degree students.
This brings me to the crux of this story: The Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College.
The idea for specific undergrad and graduate programs within CUNY -that would be geared towards “the working class”- germinated back in the seventies. The proponents were a collective of trade-unionists, progressive politicians, community activists and some left-leaning academics and economists.
By 1981 CUNY established the Center for Worker Education, offering graduate degrees to people with full-time or part-time jobs; with union-members being given some preference(s). Courses were tailored to suit the working hours of union members and others, with the vast majority of courses generally being offered after 5pm.
Now don’t get this all twisted by thinking that only “working-class-people” were accepted into this program. On the contrary; students of varied backgrounds came from all over the USA (and the world at large) to attend. This was not an exclusive union-members-only program.
At various times, due to the recruiting efforts of the executive director, administrator and office staff, there was an avalanche of applicants. The GCWE at Brooklyn College kept striving and thriving as the years went by.
As much as GCWE had a certain level of autonomy, it came under the auspices and general supervision of the Political Science Department, with students having full access to all courses offered therein; and also to courses offered at Brooklyn College at large. Although GCWE offered a significant number of courses on their own -and even had a lot of sway in terms of staffing and all the other ancillary functions- major decisions (financial and other) of the GCWE, made by the executive director and his staff- had to approved and authorized by upper-echelon CUNY staffers, professionals and committees. In the present imbroglio of which I now write, this is one of the contentions at hand: was the executive director a dangerous runaway train?
Nowadays, whenever you look around and see many unions offering a college education to their members, do note that this has come about because of the vision and hard work, of those who were mainly in the progressive and left-leaning political camps back in the day. If left unchallenged, right-wingers would just go about exploiting workers daily, rather than educating them for a more enriching life.
The Graduate Center for Worker Education has grown to two branches within CUNY; one is established at Brooklyn College and the other exists at City College. I have been fortunate in that I have lectured at both, and they turned out to rather interesting experiences.
If memory serves me right, the GCWE at Brooklyn College once offered -in conjunction with Brooklyn Law School- a combined JD in law / Master’s degree in political science. Anyone brave enough to face the rigorous academic challenge could graduate from this particular program in roughly three to four years. The center also offered an MA or MSc in Urban Policy and Public Health, amongst other academic areas.
As the years went by, these centers saw increased enrollment from Blacks, Hispanics and other non-white minorities: with more females graduating when compared to males; over time.
These centers paid their freight without any doubt; but racism is a sunuvabitch. And despite the perpetual denial from too many Caucasians in the USA (United States of Amnesia), there is nearly always a racist jackass (black, white, red, yellow, brown or whatever) lurking in the craggy corners of the racist-underworld. In this regard, academia is no different to some nameless department store.
The New York Times did a story on GCWE but they would never tell it like I would. Their reporters never even considered in-depth interviews with staff members, students, lecturers or ex-alumni. What a shame. Yet the “Times” was quite willing to do a hatchet job on the center’s executive director Joseph Wilson. And yes: Joseph Wilson is a black man.
Dr. Joseph “Joe” Wilson took over the role as executive director for Brooklyn College’s Graduate Center for Worker Education, almost twenty years ago. He is a mild-mannered tenured professor at BC; having obtained his doctorate in political science, from Columbia University in New York. He has had a doctorate since the nineteen-eighties. He is a self-avowed leftist. He is a political activist and one of the many bright persons I have met in my travels and travails.
The one thing that strikes me is how cool he is: given his keen intellect. You would never suspect how much of a thinking man he is based on his demeanor. He is also a humanitarian. He would help anyone in need when capable. This guy is a genuine “brother”; not some arm-chair activist-theoretician. He is involved in “the struggle” and has been for years; but now it is clear that somewhere along the line this proud black man pissed off someone.
His vision for GCWE was to hire lecturers who were activists in their respective fields; hoping they would impart the wisdom gained from their travels, travails and other experiences, to the students; while preparing them for a lifetime of public service and political activism. And it didn’t matter whether or not the students ended up in the private sector. Wilson’s vision was for a well rounded grad-student capable of relating to a rapidly changing world.
Wilson not only hired folks who published texts and wrote extensively, but he also hired adjuncts who were community activists, trade-unionists, lawyers, sociologists, political scientists, media-folk, political consultants, candidates for public office, elected officials, professionals in varied endeavors, and the like. He developed a very diverse staff over time. I know. I worked there for four years. I first met this man long before I was hired there.
Students from GCWE were directly involved in the “Occupy Wall Street” protest movement; others have been involved in press conferences, demonstrations, various initiatives, and various protest marches against police-brutality; against elected-officials and their misconduct, corruption or inaction; against budget cuts, and other stuff of that ilk. I know because I have marched and protested with some of them; and I have also worked on political campaigns with others.
Back in 2008-2009, grad-students in a “media” course at GCWE, conducted a poll that found four in five city residents vehemently opposed to the term-limits extension then Mayor Bloomberg initiated. The results were published in the NYC blogosphere (see “Daily Gotham” and “Room Eight-New York Politics” blogs). I remember writing a column where I posited that this single issue would hurt the mayor more than anything he had accomplished.
As I said before, any day of the year you could find GCWE students working on political campaigns or community initiatives. Many served as staffers for electeds in their day job, and others interned as a way of bolstering their activist credentials. During election cycles, political candidates would call up looking for students to serve in various capacities. GCWE often supplied them.
Beyond all this, Dr. Wilson would take students off on fact-finding trips to places like Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Cuba, Venezuela, wherever. They would look at various aspects of government-functioning in other countries. For example, they have studied public health and the political systems of Cuba and Venezuela: first-hand. They have also studied the parliamentary systems of other countries, and have visited many public facilities in order to view directly, the administrative-functioning and maintenance aspects in different countries.
Many lecturers within the program, administrators, support-staffers, elected officials, plus ex-alumni, made some of these trips. I never did but I was surely looking forward to one. Then one day in December of 2011, I got the pink-slip; but that’s for another fun column that isn’t funny at all. You see, the new “powers-that-be” brought a cleaver to near all of the personnel Joe Wilson had recruited and hired.
So how did this all start? Who know? There is a lot of speculation. I can say this with certainty: one ominous day in New York, the “Post” newspaper wrote the first of quite a few stories on these foreign trips. You see, the former militant- black-panther turned elected-official (Charles Barron) went along on a couple of these trips. His wife Inez also came along on one. Now do remember that Barron once headed up the NY City Council’s Higher Education Committee, and has had long and healthy relationships with many within the program. Also note that he and his wife have both held elected office; and beyond that, they have been elected officials of the Democratic Party in Brooklyn for some time now.
Despite all these credentials and affiliations however, both Charles and Inez Barron are toxic: especially to those who are employed at the New York Post. The Barrons are seen as “radical black militants” to many on the political right.
Anyway, these “Post” columns appear to have put Joe Wilson on the political radar-screen; and reactionaries are vicious people. And furthermore -beyond these trips- Joe was one of those professors who supported and advocated for, many of those minority-focused programs: like multicultural and diversity programs, minority-support initiatives, ERIS and BMI (the “Black-Male Initiative”).
Do note that the “BMI” was a New York City Council sanctioned/funded program, which aimed to increase college attendance amongst young black males. Beyond the academic aspects, BMI also held job-readiness /training components.
From even before 2011 thru today, there have been extraordinary pressures brought to bear on Dr. Joe Wilson. This is something that is not only unfair and unjust, it’s evil too.
In 2011, there was a coup within the political science department and a cadre of folks from the LGBT crowd took over running the department. Amongst these folks there was a perception that Wilson wasn’t gay-friendly (a vicious lie in my estimation). Word is that there were altercations between Wilson and others within the cadre; plus some animosities which developed over time. Remember this: Wilson has been employed by CUNY for a quarter century or more; ample time for him to have pissed off a few folks; ample time for some to have built up resentments toward him. Especially the silent-racist-types who smile at your face, all the while wanting to take you place. In the hood we call them:“back-stabbers”.
Early in the new millennium -back when George Bush2 was in power- there were rumors that the feds (Justice Department) would be sniffing around BC and GCWE, in order to look at some of these programs. The suggestion (as given to me posthumously through the academic grapevines) was that there were some civil rights and equal-protection concerns; especially with the BMI program. I don’t know what the final resolution was, or even how far and deep all this went. I was told by one source that Justice Department informally found that Brooklyn College was in compliance with “civil-rights educational-guidelines” (whatever the hell that means).
Look; it wasn’t a total surprise when in the Fall 2011 semester, the new leadership within the political science department sent out pink slips to most of the lecturers in GCWE. They also decimated the support staff and seemed to take issue with near everyone that Dr. Wilson had recruited. Not even the clerical staff was spared the wrath of these vicious ingrates. Overall: only the tenured and civil-servants are still employed at Brooklyn College today. The others have been cruelly hung out to dry after years of loyal service to the program. I know. I am one of those who were hung-out in the cold.
It was a painful and malicious blow to many. The person at the head of this was a man named Paisley Curragh: someone Wilson recruited and supported for the job he held. What should be noted is that Curragh was born a woman and had one of those gender-modification treatments or operations. I bring this up mainly because there are aspects to this story, which when detailed, will eventually show the importance.
Personally, I don’t give two hoots about someone’s gender-identification, sexual orientation, fetishes, proclivities and such. Whatever goes on between two consenting adults behind closed doors is their business. Still, that LGBT cadre at Brooklyn College is not only vicious; but also mean, punitive and trifling. I predict that one good day they will eventually all get their due.
Nobody can predict when an employee would fly off his rockers. We often see workers come into places -like the post office- with sub-machine guns blasting at co-workers. Too often it is because of some perceived injustice. People in authority need to be sensitive and compassionate before doing dirt.
Eventually they came directly for Joe Wilson. First they cast all sorts of aspersions on the man’s good name. Then they attempted to assassinate his character. Then they brought him up on trumped-up charges. Right now he has been stripped of his duties with all sorts of accusations being hurled at him. There have been hearings and such in which the man has been subjected to nothing but stress. The man has been subjected to three years of personal hardship: emotional, financial, social, professional, mental and physical. What they have done to this man is wrong with a capital “W”.
They also lied to students and alumni who were concerned that these maniacs were on a vendetta; and who suspected that the new cadre was looking to close down the GCWE. The suspicion was this: since the “powers” perceived this black man (Wilson), to be too independent, arrogant, militant, left-leaning, et al; the objective was to run him out of town on a rail; or even get him to end up in jail.
You see, CUNY had seized the computers of Dr. Wilson and his key staffers and searched the hard drives looking for evidence of wrongdoing(s). Then some, or someone within the aggressive power-block, requested that the N.Y. Attorney General’s office step in. The AG’s people take a look and found nothing: thus no criminal charges were filed against Wilson or any of his staffers.
Prior to Wilson’s clearance, charges were being hurled left and right. There was talk of theft and embezzlement. There was talk of Dr. Wilson double-dipping and making more money in salary than he was contracted to make. There were other scurrilous allegations which I won’t repeat here. The hits on Joe Wilson never stopped, even after the AG’s investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing. No criminal charges were ever brought against Joe Wilson in all these years.
Then the new “powers” went about methodically decimating the program through various administrative decisions: like eliminating courses, and actually modifying and re-directing the physical space wherein the center operated. Today the GWCE is but a shell of its former self: in fact, except for some flim-flam articulations, some fancy footwork and double-talk from those with egoistic motives behind their lies and half-truths; the Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College is essentially decimated. What a friggin shame!
Look; I was typing with my left hand here. My right hand is warming up in the bull-pen; so keep your eyes open for part two of this series. The best (and worst) is yet to come; even the infamous educator and civil rights celebrity “Ms. Angela Davis” has joined the fight to support Joe Wilson; and simultaneously save the Graduate Center for Worker Education at Brooklyn College.
Do stay tuned-in folks.