LIU Brooklyn Students Walk Out In Support of Locked Out Faculty

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — To call-and-response chants of "What do we want? Our professors! When do we want them? Now!," hundreds of LIU Brooklyn students walked out of class Thursday, the latest turn in an ongoing faculty lockout that has shocked the campus.

The student protest was in support of the 400 locked out faculty members who are barred from setting foot on campus pending the resolution of a contract dispute. The teachers are currently without pay or health insurance.

Students resorted to calling for the resignation of LIU President Kimberly Cline at Thursday's walkout.

Cline, who is based at the LIU Post campus in Brookville, New York, assumed leadership of the university in July 2013, making her the first-ever woman president in the history of the higher ed institution.

"I look forward to capitalizing on the synergies between its urban and suburban campuses to increase the University-wide value proposition for the students, faculty and communities LIU serves," she said in a statement on the LIU website that year.

That synergy was lacking Thursday outside of the urban campus, where Lamar Bennett, a full-time assistant professor of public administration for the past five years, observed students walking out of the gates of the university during the protest.

"The issue we're fighting for is pay parity with LIU Post," he said. "The cost of living in Brookville is much lower than Brooklyn; and when you compare the diversity of this campus to the other, we see this as a form of discrimination."

A few blocks away his locked out colleagues participated in a mass unemployment filing session at Brooklyn Commons, a cafe at 388 Atlantic Ave.

"I have a mortgage to pay," Bennett said, adding that he would begin to fill out unemployment paperwork on Friday if a deal hadn't been made.

The absence of the faculty is also hurting the quality of the classes, multiple students voiced at the protest.

Muhtasim Mahboob, 21, a second year Pharm.D. student at the school, worried that his chemistry class, a pre-requisite course needed to advance to his next stage of pharmacy training, will not be properly taught.

A graduate teaching assistant is now instructing the class of 24 students in place of the professor whom Mahboob originally signed up for.

"The graduate student was trying hard but seemed like he didn't know what he was doing," Mahboob said.

"The replacement professors have been unprepared," added Wenbin Kuang, 26, a physical therapy student. "My class yesterday is normally three hours, but we just got the syllabus and class was over in one hour."

The longterm repercussions to the school's reputation is what weighs heaviest on Kuang.

"Our program may loose accreditation if professors are not teaching the classes," he said.

LIU's physical therapy program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) and according to their website "qualified faculty" must teach in their approved programs.

CAPTE accreditation assures that, among other things, the program is provided by qualified faculty, has appropriate resources to support the educational program, has acceptable outcomes, and provides accurate information to students and the public about its mission and outcomes.

Second, attending a CAPTE accredited program ensures that you will receive an education that has been determined to meet the educational expectations for entry into the physical therapy profession.

Still, it's up to the commission and not the students to determine if "qualified faculty" are teaching the course material.

The Long Island University Faculty Federation (LIUFF), the union representing both full-time and adjunct faculty at the Brooklyn campus sent out a tweet Thursday night promising to "discuss" their accreditation letter in support of the university.