The union representing Nassau Community College professors has filed an appeal in an ongoing legal battle over a 2024 move by the school’s administration to consolidate its academic departments, resulting in the number of chair positions being reduced from 21 to six.
The Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers initially sued the administration and county in June 2024, saying the administration’s program consolidation violated state education guidelines and would have a detrimental impact student learning. The union’s case was dismissed in April this year, and it filed a notice of appeal in March, which it acted on when submitting its Sept. 5 appeal.
“The case seeks to ensure that Nassau Community College lives up to its stated mission of providing quality education,” The Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers union said in an online statement. “Our students need access to the specialized guidance, expert instruction and program integrity they deserve.”
Jerry Kornbluth, NCC’s vice president of community and governmental relations, said the consolidation was critical for the college to remain financially stable and has not resulted in the elimination of any department or the firing of any tenured faculty or staff.
“Since taking effect in August 2024, the plan has already paid significant dividends for students, staff and the college’s financial health, all while retaining the college’s talented roster of tenured faculty,” Kornbluth said. “The Nassau County Supreme Court previously upheld the college’s actions, affirming that the department mergers were both lawful and sound…The college remains confident that the outcome of the appeal will once again validate the department mergers.”
Kornbluth emphasized that the consolidation “was not a top-down process” and was decided “through the shared governance process of the college,” involving faculty, chairs and the academic senate, where he said union members have seats.
He said the consolidation made the college more efficient and streamlined administrative roles. For example, instead of legal studies, business, accounting, paralegal studies, criminal justice, fire science, emergency management and hospitality management being separate departments, they now all fall under one professional studies department. All areas of study remain discrete degrees.
Now each of the six new departments has a chair, an assistant chair, and a chair liaison, each of whom makes a stipend of between approximately $50,000 and $60,000, Kornbluth said. Previously, he said each of the 21 department chairs made a stipend of roughly between $14,000 and $40,000.
“All we did was find commonality between certain departments and put all of the disciplines into that one department,” Kornbluth told Schneps Media LI in March.
However, the union’s online statement said the decrease in specialized department leadership means “students lose access to expert guidance in navigating their academic programs,” while it “weakens connections between students and industry professionals” and reduces academic leadership, consistent instructors and the number of student advocates.
Kornbluth said he has not heard student complaints due to the consolidation and has not heard negative feedback from professors outside of the union leadership.
“This is something that’s really engineered by a few on the [union] executive committee, and it’s not the faculty, who are in support of the college,” Kornbluth said. “We’ve done tremendous work at the college over the last three years to make it solvent by eliminating a $14 million deficit, increasing the fund balance by $10 million and increasing enrollment every semester for three years.”
The NCCTF could not be reached for additional comment.
