Defend Parmar !

Vinit Parmar is a professor of film production and location sound at CUNY: Brooklyn College. The Film department is firing him. We need YOUR help save his job. He has not been given a fair chance to apply for tenure to remain on the Film department faculty.

PETITION REQUEST:

Vinit Parmar displays academic integrity, scholarship worthy teaching, award-winning filmmaking and a love for what he does. This shows in his daily interactions with the students. His is able to stimulate interest and add to the experiences of students who come to learn at the Film Department. His teaching evaluations by the students over the years display his growing abilities and improvements. Along the side, he creates additional venues for students to have a better experience at the film department. He is in charge of film insurance and no one else has taken on the task to manage it otherwise. He had the idea to create a job and internship bulletin board for students to post listings for opportunities outside the film department. Vint Parmar is a valuable asset to the growth and progress of the film department, both for the other faculty members and as well as and especially for the academic benefits of the students. Vinit Parmar needs to stay at the film department to continue his streak of excellence and praise by both Chancellor Goldstein and the student body.
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What follows are some of the key facts of the case as well as a petition that will be sent to the CUNY Chancellor Goldstein, President Kimmich and Provost Tramontano

TEACHING:

Since 2001, Professor Parmar has taught courses that exposed students to core elements of the filmmaking process, including film production and location sound recording. His students have consistently appreciated his classes for exposing them to rigorous practical experience, knowledge and contacts within the film industry in NYC that they would not otherwise have encountered. He is much respected and loved by his students for challenging them to think in new and different ways.

His film production experience has strengthened his abilities as a teacher.  Being able to introduce the real world of film production into the classroom is something that his students benefit from. He started teaching location sound at Brooklyn College five years ago as a guest, then an adjunct and then as a substitute full-time professor. His always received positive ratings, and both colleagues and students strongly supported his continuation in the Film Department. His on-going and dedicated commitment of time, energy and %u201Calways willing to help out%u201D has been un-waivering for the department and the college community.

SCHOLARSHIP:

Professor Parmar%u2019s professional credits include: producer, director, editor and audio recordist. In 2008 his film Black Waters was screened at six refereed regional and international film festivals that are appropriate for judging environmental documentaries and won the Katharine Knight Award for Excellence in Documentary on         Pollution and was nominated for Outstanding Environmental Vision Award.

He has thirty-four broadcast-quality film industry professional sound credits. His professional sound work has spanned a variety of film genres, syndicated television programming, commercials, public service announcements, music videos, and radio. This work has been screened in film festivals, network and cable television, both nationally and internationally.

In 2008, Chancellor Goldstein awarded Professor Parmar with a Certificate of Recognition for Excellence in Scholarship for his continuing research efforts. In 2007, he was awarded, along with two CUNY colleagues, the competitive CUNY Collaborative Research Grant ($39,952) to study the historical, economic, and cultural history of the southern silk road bridging China and India. He is part of a team of a dozen scholars from three institutions, The India-China Institute of The New School, the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies in Kolkata, and Asian American Asian Research Institute of CUNY, embarking on a long-term and massive undertaking on the ancient pathway. His initial research of twenty-five hours of documentary footage of the silk road will be used as the foundation for the project. A film documentary of these Asian subjects is currently in the research stage.

SERVICE:

As a former human rights attorney, he places priority on community service and the use of media for advocacy and social justice. This background has informed many of his choices in filmmaking. He has worked extensively on human rights media projects. The distribution venues for such work are within the communities themselves, frequently being used to address important social or community issues.

For twenty-four years the Film Department has tried to establish insurance coverage for student productions. With the strong encouragement and departmental support, and with a background in insurance law, four years ago, he established and continues to manage a cooperative Film Society Student Production Insurance Program, which lowers the cost of insurance coverage for students from $800 for a limited short-term plan to $150 for a world-wide unlimited annual plan. He also helped create a Bulletin Board for students seeking internships and job postings so that they may engage with film industry professionals.

He has been active as a member of the Brooklyn College and CUNY community through service on College and departmental committees. This has included: Faculty Day, Middle States, Asian Studies Task Force, Strategic Plan Subcommittee on Faculty for Teaching, Special Interest in China, Advisory Committee on Academic Computing, Teaching and Learning Technology Roundtable, Faculty Council, a Department Production/Studies Committee and a Department Search Committee.