August 8, 2021

Dear President Davis

Thank you for beginning to recognize the immense harm caused by the baseless and vilifying resolution that PSC CUNY adopted under your watch. However, your statement not only doesn't fix anything, it makes things worse. I was totally taken aback by your description of the people who oppose and resist the resolution as part of a vast conspiracy to undermine unions. It might come to you as a surprise, but many of the people who vehemently resist the resolution (including me) are life-long active liberals and strong supporters of the role of PSC to address labor issues within CUNY. But here we go again, you try to deflect criticism by weaving a conspiracy theory that paints all the objectors as outside opportunists intent on undermining the organization. Do you realize how your description is deeply rooted in the antisemitic worldview?

In your email, you cite the fact that you are part of a new leadership (implying you were taken by surprise), and you try to disown any responsibility for this despicable resolution, saying you voted against it. The first implication rings hollow - if you were not ready to govern the union on day one, you should not have assumed the responsibility (remember Hilary’s 3AM phone call meme?). It was your responsibility to oversee the work of the committees and make sure they uphold factual integrity, review diverse opinions, and make well balanced recommendations. You failed in that. Your pretense that you were against the resolution is even more enraging, because it is a fig leaf. In the original PSC EC proposal that you did support, you did not mention that the escalation in Gaza was a direct result of Hamas' indiscriminate firing of rockets on Israeli civilians. Furthermore, in that EC version, you adopted the false narrative of Palestinians as oppressed BIPOC freedom fighters resisting white Jewish colonizers bent on expansionism. You did not acknowledge the indigenous origin of Jews in the land of Israel, you did not oppose the call of Palestinians to eradicate the state of Israel in any borders (the battle cry of the resolution's supporters in their CCNY rally was the Hamas slogan "From the (Jordan-) river to the (Mediterranean-) sea, Palestine will be free"), or their fundamentalist oppression of the human rights of their own people.

In my perspective, the Janus decision does not make unions weaker, but stronger, because it has a democratizing effect and because it establishes accountability for unions' action. Union leaders can no longer do whatever they want with our dues and spend it on misguided pet international projects; Union leaders are now accountable for the way they navigate the actions of the union. You state "Over years..., the PSC has engaged deeply with issues of social justice, international politics, and human rights." This claim about the "glory" of the past is about as useless as the dinosaurs' surprise at the evaporation of their habitat ("but it was always there!"): with the Janus decision the world has changed dramatically; the union needs to evolve or expire. 

I care deeply about PSC-CUNY and its role in ensuring fairness in tenure, fair working conditions, and fair compensation. I am dismayed by the vehemently antisemitic turn it has taken and find your smear campaign of its critics to be revolting. Accountability is what is in order, not further smearing of union members just because they resist the antisemitic resolution passed under your watch and with your partial blessing.

The one-sided PSC resolution on Palestine is a colossal collapse of truth and integrity, of humanistic values of inclusion & universal compassion, and a bankruptcy of fair and thorough procedure. This resolution needs to be reversed immediately, without excuses or delays. If you are not up to it, it might now be time for YOU to resign.

Sincerely

Itzik Mano

Associate Medical Professor

Department of Molecular, Cellular and Biomedical Sciences

The CUNY School of Medicine at City College & The CUNY Graduate Center