Is Union Power Growing in Mamdani’s New York?
Following the Mamdani administration’s talks with the CUNY faculty union, three professors have returned to class after losing their jobs for their pro-Palestine activism.
A protester at a rally for the “Fired Four” at the City University of New York.
(Professional Staff Congress-Professional Staff Congress-CUNY)
In the midst of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, protests erupted across American universities, galvanizing students and faculty alike. The City University of New York was no exception. Last May, the administration called in the New York City Police Department to crack down on a student-led encampment and protest at Brooklyn College, and the following month, four adjunct professors lost their jobs for participating in the demonstration. The group earned the moniker of the CUNY “Fired Four.” Now, after a devoted campaign of grassroots union organizing, three of the professors are finally being reinstated.
The decision comes after Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration held talks with the Professional Staff Congress, the union that represents over 30,000 CUNY faculty members and staff, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on it publicly.
James Davis, president of the PSC, lauded the news as a “major victory” but cautioned that it is “not complete” in a press release on January 26. “It is important both in terms of restoring these harmed colleagues to their jobs and repudiating the administration’s callous disregard for the academic judgment of faculty, for First Amendment protected speech, and for academic freedom.”
It is unclear if Mamdani’s intervention is what ultimately moved CUNY. But the professors’ reinstatement, long-advocated for by the PSC, points to the resurgence of union power in the city. “It’s a reminder of how crucial it is, especially right now in this time with resurgent McCarthyism and fascist repression, to be part of a union,” said Corinna Mullin, the only one of the Fired Four who has come forward publicly. “And not just any union, a fighting union and a social justice-oriented union.”
CUNY has a long history of cracking down on criticism of Israel, from backing NYPD arrests of student activists to censoring book discussion events. “I learned about anti-colonial resistance when I was a student at CUNY, and it’s okay when it comes to every other issue,” said Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of pro-Palestine advocacy group Within Our Lifetime. “It’s just not when it comes to Palestine.”
For both faculty and students, the reinstatement has raised hopes for a broader shift in policy at CUNY toward prioritizing academic freedom, especially on the Palestinian issue, and the move sets the stage for CUNY to become a theater of confrontation between the city and state. Last year, Governor Kathy Hochul ordered CUNY to “immediately remove” a Hunter College Palestine studies job listing last year looking for professors well versed on topics including settler colonialism, genocide and apartheid, and to “conduct a thorough review of the position to ensure that antisemitic theories are not promoted in the classroom.”
But the mayor has the ability to appoint one-third of the CUNY Boards of Trustees, a power that could “remake” the university system, said Davis. And while the university system’s four-year colleges depend mostly on state funding, the city government is the top financial source for the community colleges, according to CUNY’s fiscal year 2026 budget request. “What I’m hopeful for with Mamdani is not only a shift in policy, but a shift in the political energy in the city toward a more just and equitable environment for our academic institutions,” said Heba Gowayed, a sociology professor at Hunter College.
The PSC, which rallied on behalf of the Fired Four for months, was one of the first unions to endorse Mamdani’s run for mayor. During a campaign event at Brooklyn College in September, Mamdani publicly backed the Fired Four. “I cannot begin my remarks this evening without first acknowledging PSC-CUNY and the fact that no faculty member should be disciplined for supporting Palestinian human rights,” Mamdani said as he sat on stage next to Senator Bernie Sanders. After his historic election victory in November, Mamdani named over a dozen PSC members to his transition committees, including Davis.
A CUNY spokesperson declined to comment on the news of the three reinstatements, saying only that the four adjunct professors had been let go based on “conduct, not political belief.” The three rehires have returned to the classroom with the start of the spring 2026 semester; Mullin is back at Brooklyn College, while the other two are teaching at other CUNY campuses. Joseph Entin, cochair of the PSC’s Brooklyn College chapter, said he was “appalled at the ongoing blacklisting” of the remaining adjunct instructor, who is barred from working on any CUNY campus.
The remaining member of the Fired Four who is not being reinstated has not come forward publicly and declined to be named for this story. In an interview with The Nation, she acknowledged that the reinstatement of her three colleagues is a significant victory. But she worries that CUNY is attempting to give in just enough to quell the union’s campaign, while still singling her out to appease the demands of some in the House Committee on Education and Workforce, who grilled CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez during a hearing last July on alleged antisemitism occurring on college campuses. “I don’t want this to turn into a situation where I’m the sacrificial lamb to the far-right, to the Zionists,” she said. “But I’m hopeful and I know we won’t stop fighting.”
The ordeal of the Fired Four highlights the need for New York City to better safeguard workers’ rights, especially for adjunct professors. Under the PSC, adjuncts can challenge non-reappointment through the union’s collective bargaining agreement, but those rights are limited compared with full-time faculty. “Without sufficient legal protections for political speech, you can effectively have a blacklist,” said Chaumtoli Huq, a professor at the CUNY School of Law named to Mamdani’s transition committee on worker justice. As a member of the committee, she told The Nation that she recommended amending the city’s human rights law to include broader protections for political speech.
Whether Mamdani can successfully wield his considerable political capital in defense of CUNY’s academic freedom is an early test for his administration. One thing is for certain, though: the union will keep up the pressure. “The Fired Four are the best of us, they are exemplary teachers and scholars,” said Anthony Alessandrini, a CUNY professor who chairs the PSC Academic Freedom Committee. “Until they are all reinstated and the situation is fully resolved, we can’t even really talk about academic freedom at CUNY.”
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