On September 5, 2025, we filed, with the assistance of our parent union NYSUT’s office of general counsel, an appeal with the Appellate Division, continuing our legal challenge against the college administration’s elimination of 15 department chairperson positions. Our appeal challenges the college’s elimination of department chairpersons with specialized expertise in their fields who provided crucial academic leadership and student support.
The case seeks to ensure that Nassau Community College lives up to its stated mission of providing quality education. Our students need access to the specialized guidance, expert instruction and program integrity they deserve.
The cuts of department chairs and departments have impacted areas like nursing, where classes lack consistent instructors. With a national nursing shortage reaching crisis levels, Nassau Community College should be strengthening — not weakening — its nursing program. While hospitals and healthcare facilities across Long Island desperately need qualified nurses, this administration’s actions, if left unchecked, may be a detriment to current and future students, patients and healthcare workers.
The administration mischaracterizes these changes. College documents going back to 2022 described creating “six individual schools” where department chairpersons continue to exist, and administrators even told the county legislature in June 2024 that they created “divisions.” However, to eliminate faculty positions, the same changes were called “department mergers.” The administration is playing word games at the expense of a quality educational experience.
These cuts represent part of a troubling pattern that overlooks what is needed for student success. The elimination of specialized department leadership means:
* Students lose access to expert guidance in navigating their academic programs;
* Weakened connections between students and industry professionals;
* Fewer advocates for students within the college’s administrative structure.
We didn’t choose this fight — we were compelled to respond to an administration that refuses to prioritize the necessary path to student success. To make sure we can support students in the classroom, we continue to defend educational quality in court. We cannot and will not stand by while the administration dismantles the programs our students and community depend on.
2 Responses
I support the union position that departments and department chairs are important and should not be eliminated.
Thanks to our Union leadership for pursuing this important issue. Individual Department Chairs play an integral role in the maintenance of academic excellence. This is especially true in specialized areas like Nursing. There are standards that must be met in order to ensure that graduates of the nursing program are prepared and qualified,, and will be able to pass the licensure exam. The current structure most certainly does not facilitate this.