Doris F. Shaffer - The New York Times - Obituary (June 4, 2009)
SHAFFER--Doris Freed, 80, of Manhattan and Goose Pond, MA, formerly of Brooklyn and Great Neck. Died from cancer peacefully at home June 2nd. Her life was characterized by devotion to family and commitment to social justice. Graduate of Midwood H.S., Brooklyn College, and NYU. Professor of history at Nassau Community College, 1960-1988, president of NCC Federation of Teachers, 1973-1987. Board member and chapter advocate of New York Civil Liberties Union, 1970-2006, former chair ACLU Academic Freedom Committee, board member Fund for Modern Courts. Active supporter of The Nation, Center for Constitutional Rights, SANE/Peace Action, Peace Now, New Israel Fund. Loving wife for 60 years of Donald, mother of Nathan, Robert, David, sister of Jack, grandmother of Alan, Ross, Ben, Rachel, Robyn, Lee, Jeremy, mother-in-law of Lauri, Katharine, Susan. Memorial service Sunday, June 14, 3:00 pm, New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West. Contributions may be sent to any of the above organizations.
Doris Shaffer, professor at Nassau Community College, dies - Newsday - Obituary (June 5, 2009)
DORIS SHAFFER, PROFESSOR AT NASSAU COMMUNITY COLLEGE, DIES
by Joie Tyrrell, Newsday, June 5, 2009.
Doris Shaffer, who taught history at Nassau Community College for 28 years and was president of the faculty union there from 1973 to 1987 as it won a reputation for gaining model contracts for public colleges, died Tuesday in Manhattan. She was 80.
The cause was cancer, said her husband, Donald.
She had lived in Great Neck for almost four decades before retiring to New York City.
Shaffer began teaching at Nassau Community College in 1960, shortly after it was founded, her family said. As the two-year college grew to become a major institution on Long Island, Shaffer became active in a faculty unionization drive.
The local union eventually became the Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers, which affiliated with the New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers,signing one of the first collective bargaining agreements in higher education.
“Her principles regarding faculty rights led her to participate in making really exemplary contracts,” said Philip Y. Nicholson, professor of history at Nassau Community College who served as vice president of the union while Shaffer was president and then also served as president.
Shaffer insisted, as chair of the NCCFT’s bargaining team, that the union work to maintain academic standards and protect academic freedom for both students and faculty, according to her family. Shaffer and the union fought for merit-based hiring and raised the proportion of college professors with advanced academic degrees, Nicholson said.
Shaffer adamantly defended members of the College’s health and physical education department for their course, “Family Life and Human Sexuality,” first offered in 1968, which attracted community criticism and even lawsuits.
Born Doris Freed in Brooklyn in 1929, Shaffer graduated from Midwood High School in 1945, attending Brooklyn College, where she majored in economics. She married Donald Shaffer, also a student activist at Brooklyn College, in June 1949.
The couple moved to Long Island, first to Merrick in 1955 and then in 1960 to Great Neck. Shaffer taught in the Bellmore-Merrick district, and then moved to the college. She received a master’s degree in history from New York University.
With her husband, Shaffer helped form the Great Neck Committee for Human Rights. She was also a founding member of the Nassau chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Doris was also an active member of the LI LERA chapter and served as president of the group.
She was elected to the board of the New York Civil Liberties Union in 1970 and served as a member for 35 years. Her key contribution to the NYCLU, according to her husband, was to develop local chapters, arguing that “members had more to give than just writing a check.”
In addition to her husband of nearly 60 years, Shaffer is survived by her three sons: Nathan, of Atlanta and Geneva; Robert, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and David of Nashville. She is also survived by a brother, Jack, of Harrisburg, Pa., and by seven grandchildren.
Doris Shaffer Remembered - The Nation - "Noted" (2009)
Doris Shaffer, former LI LERA President and Prof at NCC dies - LI LERA (2009)
Don Shaffer: In Memoriam - The Nation Institute - Obituary (February 18, 2013)
Remembering Don Shaffer - The Nation - Obituary (February 19, 2013)