Steve London, PSC Demonstrates For Obama

Steve London, Vice President of the Professional Staff Congress (the union of the City University of New York's faculty), has sent around an e-mail that came to my private e-mail and NOT my college e-mail announcing a demonstration in favor of Barack Obama.

Two points. First, the e-mail DID NOT go to my Brooklyn College e-mail, which suggests that some of the complaints David Seidemann, others and I have made may have had some effect. Previously, the PSC used the CUNY e-mail to announce their political activities. which is a breach of Internal Revenue Code rules concerning not-for-profit organizations. Second, this is an example of the "soft" political activities about which Professor Seidemann has complained in his law suit against the PSC claiming their failure to fully reimburse faculty who dissent, as the law requires.

Steve London writes:

VOLUNTEER FOR PSC-SPONSORED OBAMA CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES NOW!

The American Federation of Teachers, our national affiliate, has endorsed the Obama-Biden ticket. The PSC has been mounting a union member-to-member outreach operation in “swing” states and hundreds of PSC members have already participated. The election is close in a number of states and we have a lot of work to do to reach union members in these states. So, we are going to keep our phone banks going right up to election day.

We need more volunteers to staff phones and go on PSC buses to Pennsylvania.

If you have already volunteered, thank you for participating in the PSC’s Obama campaign activities. Please consider doing more. If you haven’t volunteered, now is the time to join the effort to make a difference in this election...