Suffolk Legislature OKs 4-year contract, 10% pay hike for community college professors

Suffolk County legislators on Wednesday unanimously approved a new contract with the Faculty Association of Suffolk Community College that raises wages about 10% over four years for nearly 1,500 professors. 

The vote was 17-0 at the legislature's general meeting at the William H. Rogers legislature building in Hauppauge.

The contract runs from 2022 through 2026 and is expected to cost the college $9.6 million. It increases salaries 2.75% in 2023; 2.95% in 2024 and 2025; and 1.6% retroactively for 2022. 

The agreement covers 397 full-time and 1,100 adjunct faculty members who have been working without a contract since the union's previous agreement expired in August 2022. The SCCC board approved the contract in September.

SCCC has a $210 million operating budget for the 2023-24 year that increases tuition by 3.1% for the first time in four years.

Tuition for full-time students is $5,640. The college is funded by the state, county and student tuition and fees. 

Dante Morelli, president of the faculty union, told legislators he would continue to advocate for the college to hire more full-time professors. 

For the Fall 2023 semester, the college hired 68 adjuncts and eight full-time instructors, Morelli said. 

Benjamin Zwirn, the college's director of legislative affairs, told legislators SCCC needs to "balance the hiring of full-time faculty with student enrollment." 

Like at many colleges in New York, enrollment dropped during the pandemic shutdown when institutions ceased in-person classes, opting for remote instruction.

Over the last decade, SCCC's enrollment declined from 26,219 in Fall 2012 to 20,043 in Fall 2022, according to State University of New York enrollment data. 

"As you see more and more students coming back onto campus, more than likely we will have more full-time faculty in the classrooms," Zwirn said. 

Legis. Dominick Thorne (R-Patchogue) said for two years lawmakers have talked about staffing issues at the community college. 

"If you want to increase enrollment, you need to increase the ability for full-time faculty members being there. Not that the adjuncts are not intelligent and know their field, but I stand with so many of us who are saying you need more full-time faculty there," Thorne said before the vote. 

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.