BROOKLYN COLLEGE–Adjunct lecturer Anthony Harb is a doctoral candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center and is one of the few among his peers to be receiving grant assistance to complete his dissertation and obtain his doctorate. Even so, the past six years have been an uphill battle.
“The more things you have on your plate as a student, the less time you have to do your schoolwork. I needed to finish my dissertation to get into a full-time position in the university, and when I was teaching two or three classes […] that consumed my entire life,” said Harb, who teaches in the Anthropology Department at Brooklyn College.
For the past six years, he has been balancing his life as an instructor and a student with aspirations in higher academia. Harb’s experiences as an adjunct professor led him to become an active member of his union. He is currently the secretary of the Executive Committee at the Professional Staff Congress, the largest union that represents thousands of faculty and staff across CUNY campuses. In preparation for the expiration of their current contract in February, the PSC is gearing up for another round of negotiations.
