"[2] He served in the United States Navy during World War II and returned to school to earn a doctorate in sociology at New York University.
[1][4] Kugler became a professor of social science at New York City Community College, where he earned a reputation as a skilled classroom educator.
[5] Kugler was a leader among a group of delegates of the American Federation of Teachers who sought to force the national union to end its practice of chartering segregated locals.
In 1954, Kugler and others demanded that the union suspend the charters of locals that barred black teachers from membership.
[9][10] Kugler pushed for a more radical response to the dispute, calling for a strike to begin in January 1966 and widening the dispute to include pay and benefits (faculty pay was the lowest of the ten largest Catholic universities in the U.S.)[9] The strike at St. John's began on January 4, 1966.
Using tactics pioneered by Albert Shanker to win collective bargaining rights for New York City public school teachers, Kugler pushed for local and state government officials to get involved in the dispute.
During the next two years, Kugler challenged the university's accreditation before the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools twice.
Kugler took professors' case to the Vatican and sought an individual audience with Pope Paul VI, whose encyclicals on workers' rights were repeatedly cited by the union.
[11] Kugler quickly turned the UFCT's attention to other colleges and universities in the New York City area.
[13][14] The City University of New York promptly attempted to break the contract by firing 100 untenured faculty members in December 1969.
Kugler and Dr. Belle Zeller, president of the Legislative Conference, agreed to form a new organization affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC).
After a year of negotiations and a threatened strike, City University of New York consented to a three-year collective bargaining agreement.