CUNY Edu-Factory
Item
& |ICMYK +
WHERE DOES
TIME SPENT WORKING CUNY’s $
INCREASES FOR COME FROM?
STUDENTS AND
CLASS
SIZES
ADJUNCTS
y
TUTION
CREEPING PRIVATIZATION: Si]
the state pays for less,
and students pay for more.
ss31
1848-1975 1976 1992 2006 2009?
127 YEARS _—FIRST TIME 16 YEARS TUITION RISES, AT THIS
OF FREE CUNY CHARGES _LATER, BUT FUNDING RATE, CUNY
TUITION! TUITION, EVER! = TUITION. ~—s PERSTUDENT ~—s WONT BEA
HAD DOUBLED! FALLS BECAUSE PUBLICLY
ENROLLMENT FUNDED
KEEPS INSTITUTION
INCREASING | MUCH LONGER!
>YOMTOOHIS
NO SND04 Ss31
YOMTIOOHDS
¥Od WIL Ss37
Dv9q334
NOLLN3LLV
TWNOSU3d SS37
QUALITY OF
EDUCATION
GOES
DOWN ADJUSTING FOR INFLATION, SINCE
1989 TUITION HAS RISEN 94%
WHILE STATE FUNDING
HAS DECREASED 35%
{
K
a
» 4 =
CCNY President:
$401,987
The CUNY Edu-Factory:
(this is not a metaphor)
Forget about all the cliches you've heard about
college education - the American dream, the
benefit of hard work, upward mobility, equal
access. These ideas are totally out of touch with
our reality, yet so utterly commonplace that
we've internalized them all the way to our bones.
Like universities across the globe, CUNY is
becoming a credential factory. These factories
have little regard for the education of those
enrolled, for the job prospects of those who've
graduated, for the needs of those not yet
matriculated, or for the economic means of those
teaching. We are being converted into inter-
changeable parts, cogs in a credential-producing
machine. So what should we do?
$300,000
in 1975 CUNY
employed over
11,000 full time
faculty. Now
only 6,600 full
timers work at
How to use this poster: the university
|. Gather people together. Thinking and acting
politically happens most effectively with others.
Read, interpret, and criticize this poster. Create
networks of support. All of these things tie us
together and make it harder for the factory to
divide us up and spit us out. $200,000
»
Hunter President
$235,789
Since the 70’s,
the wages of all
instructors at
CUNY have dropped
30% to 40% in
2. Never forget about who you are and your
experiences at CUNY. These are our ammuni-
tion. Have you felt economic pressure getting in
the way of your ability to be a student? Have
class sizes been getting bigger? Has your educa-
tion become less personalized? Have your
adjunct instructors (and most of your instructors
are adjuncts) been able to give you enough atten-
tion - or are they too busy finding other ways to
make ends meet?
CUNY Professor
3. Fight back. We've made a visual allegory of the
edu-factory, but it’s our collective effort that will
ultimately bring about the changes we need.
Walkouts, strikes, building occupations, te
Ae self-organized student
collectives: how do </ STUDY HARD!
you think we can
begin to dismantle
the edu-factory?
</Look Who’ Teae
[=
Simulated Spot Colors) [ TRAP ABO:100 Scaling Percent: HT 100 WD 100
silut C:175@15 M:175@75 Y:175@0 K:175@45 } bleed: 0.25 margin size: 0.375
M By: Adobe InDesign CS3 (5.0)
CUNY Professor
lowest: $41,624
| i le
oS" “produced by CUNYtimel and The Aulunel Project with support tro n the Doctoral Students’ Cou f the CUNY Grat
PS Version: 3015,102 HON Version 7.0 Revision 91 RSI System 10.6 Build: #21, Ripped on Friday, March 06, 2009 3:22:22 PM
ID: Karen:
4 GCE: HRB
WHERE DOES
TIME SPENT WORKING CUNY’s $
INCREASES FOR COME FROM?
STUDENTS AND
CLASS
SIZES
ADJUNCTS
y
TUTION
CREEPING PRIVATIZATION: Si]
the state pays for less,
and students pay for more.
ss31
1848-1975 1976 1992 2006 2009?
127 YEARS _—FIRST TIME 16 YEARS TUITION RISES, AT THIS
OF FREE CUNY CHARGES _LATER, BUT FUNDING RATE, CUNY
TUITION! TUITION, EVER! = TUITION. ~—s PERSTUDENT ~—s WONT BEA
HAD DOUBLED! FALLS BECAUSE PUBLICLY
ENROLLMENT FUNDED
KEEPS INSTITUTION
INCREASING | MUCH LONGER!
>YOMTOOHIS
NO SND04 Ss31
YOMTIOOHDS
¥Od WIL Ss37
Dv9q334
NOLLN3LLV
TWNOSU3d SS37
QUALITY OF
EDUCATION
GOES
DOWN ADJUSTING FOR INFLATION, SINCE
1989 TUITION HAS RISEN 94%
WHILE STATE FUNDING
HAS DECREASED 35%
{
K
a
» 4 =
CCNY President:
$401,987
The CUNY Edu-Factory:
(this is not a metaphor)
Forget about all the cliches you've heard about
college education - the American dream, the
benefit of hard work, upward mobility, equal
access. These ideas are totally out of touch with
our reality, yet so utterly commonplace that
we've internalized them all the way to our bones.
Like universities across the globe, CUNY is
becoming a credential factory. These factories
have little regard for the education of those
enrolled, for the job prospects of those who've
graduated, for the needs of those not yet
matriculated, or for the economic means of those
teaching. We are being converted into inter-
changeable parts, cogs in a credential-producing
machine. So what should we do?
$300,000
in 1975 CUNY
employed over
11,000 full time
faculty. Now
only 6,600 full
timers work at
How to use this poster: the university
|. Gather people together. Thinking and acting
politically happens most effectively with others.
Read, interpret, and criticize this poster. Create
networks of support. All of these things tie us
together and make it harder for the factory to
divide us up and spit us out. $200,000
»
Hunter President
$235,789
Since the 70’s,
the wages of all
instructors at
CUNY have dropped
30% to 40% in
2. Never forget about who you are and your
experiences at CUNY. These are our ammuni-
tion. Have you felt economic pressure getting in
the way of your ability to be a student? Have
class sizes been getting bigger? Has your educa-
tion become less personalized? Have your
adjunct instructors (and most of your instructors
are adjuncts) been able to give you enough atten-
tion - or are they too busy finding other ways to
make ends meet?
CUNY Professor
3. Fight back. We've made a visual allegory of the
edu-factory, but it’s our collective effort that will
ultimately bring about the changes we need.
Walkouts, strikes, building occupations, te
Ae self-organized student
collectives: how do </ STUDY HARD!
you think we can
begin to dismantle
the edu-factory?
</Look Who’ Teae
[=
Simulated Spot Colors) [ TRAP ABO:100 Scaling Percent: HT 100 WD 100
silut C:175@15 M:175@75 Y:175@0 K:175@45 } bleed: 0.25 margin size: 0.375
M By: Adobe InDesign CS3 (5.0)
CUNY Professor
lowest: $41,624
| i le
oS" “produced by CUNYtimel and The Aulunel Project with support tro n the Doctoral Students’ Cou f the CUNY Grat
PS Version: 3015,102 HON Version 7.0 Revision 91 RSI System 10.6 Build: #21, Ripped on Friday, March 06, 2009 3:22:22 PM
ID: Karen:
4 GCE: HRB
Title
CUNY Edu-Factory
Description
“CUNY is becoming an Edu-Factory… and we need to be talking about it.”
In conjunction with Equity Week, this poster was created as a teaching-resource. Using the factory as a way to visualize the precarity of contingent labor and how it affects education, this poster likens adjunct professors to cogs in a credential-producing machine. In addition, CUNY Faculty, and Adjunct pay are compared to the much higher salaries of the presidents and chancellors. Likewise a graph shows CUNY's budget increasingly coming from tuition rather than the city or state,
Campus Equity Week is an annual event started by the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, a grassroots coalition of activists in North America working for contingent faculty: adjunct, part-time, non-tenured, and graduate teaching faculty working to bring greater awareness to the precarious situation for contingent faculty in higher education, organize for action, and build solidarity among our colleagues. Since it was first organized in 1999, Campus Equity Week’s diverse organizing committees have sought to offer a voice to faculty nation wide
In conjunction with Equity Week, this poster was created as a teaching-resource. Using the factory as a way to visualize the precarity of contingent labor and how it affects education, this poster likens adjunct professors to cogs in a credential-producing machine. In addition, CUNY Faculty, and Adjunct pay are compared to the much higher salaries of the presidents and chancellors. Likewise a graph shows CUNY's budget increasingly coming from tuition rather than the city or state,
Campus Equity Week is an annual event started by the Coalition of Contingent Academic Labor, a grassroots coalition of activists in North America working for contingent faculty: adjunct, part-time, non-tenured, and graduate teaching faculty working to bring greater awareness to the precarious situation for contingent faculty in higher education, organize for action, and build solidarity among our colleagues. Since it was first organized in 1999, Campus Equity Week’s diverse organizing committees have sought to offer a voice to faculty nation wide
Creator
CUNY Time
Adjunct Project
Doctoral Students Council of the CUNY Graduate Center
Source
Adunct Project
Publisher
Adjunct Project
Date
October 2009 (Circa)
Rights
Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercialShareAlike
Language
English
Original Format
Poster / Print
CUNY Time, Adjunct Project, and Doctoral Students Council of the CUNY Graduate Center. “CUNY Edu-Factory”. Adjunct Project, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1206