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I have been trying to keep track of the inspiring and much needed calls to protect and fund CUNY as we navigate life during and post-COVID. Read on for why we need to #cutcovidnotCUNY
Further cuts to the CUNY system will change the landscape of possibilities that our city offers to all of its residents. It's not just a university, CUNY is an institution deeply embedded in the history, fabric, and meaning of New York City.
CUNY is a unique and massive university with 250,000+ undergrads spread over 25 campuses and because of its scale, "CUNY already looks likely to be hit harder than any university in the country" https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-what-cuny-teaches-us-about-the-coronavirus-20200417-a3632rnkmjadldaoutmzyrrimy-story.html
CUNY has acted as an engine of social mobility for NYC residents for decades. Continuing to cut CUNY jeopardizes all students who attend and any NYer who might attend in the future. https://gothamist.com/news/facing-budget-cuts-cuny-may-keep-distance-learning-through-virtual-fall-semester
Even before COVID, CUNY has faced years of budget cuts. https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/9351-not-a-novel-crisis-cuny-coronavirus-state-budget
And looming budget cuts only threaten us further. https://www.gothamgazette.com/state/9435-cuny-faces-massive-potential-shakeup-city-state-budget-cuts-coronavirus
Since COVID, deeply important organizing work continues to resist the austerity measures that threaten to gut and already gutted system. @PSC_CUNY @RanknFileAction https://www.amny.com/education-2/faculty-union-launches-ad-campaign-opposing-anticipated-cuny-adjunct-and-part-staff-layoffs/
Now more than ever, we need a public system historically dedicated to serving all NYers that to act as "mustard seed of intellectual life, a source of reinvention and renewal." https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-pandemic-is-the-time-to-resurrect-the-public-university
Under @NYGovCuomo, funding has dwindled and costs have risen every year at CUNY, but "this could be a moment to reverse the decades of debilitating disinvestment— lifting up the very people whose labor, smarts, and persistence make New York what it is" https://citylimits.org/2020/05/13/opinion-spare-cuny-and-save-the-education-our-heroes-deserve/
Adjuncts, part-timers, and contingent workers - the backbone of the CUNY system - are especially at risk. https://gothamist.com/news/cuny-adjunct-layoffs-are-already-happening-ahead-cuomos-expected-budget-cuts
"We owe the adjuncts more than applause: We must stop — in the realm of education and beyond...the broken record of austerity, in which crises caused or compounded by underfunding public institutions are used to justify another round of cuts." https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/opinion/cuny-cuts-ben-lerner.html
“We are at the bone” ... “There’s no more flesh.” https://queenseagle.com/all/karen-weingarten-queens-college-cuny-cutting-to-the-bone
We need to fully fund CUNY #cutcovidnotCUNY
and oh yeah, #taxtherich https://riverdalepress.com/stories/amid-budget-cuts-cuny-students-want-to-tax-the-rich,71823
and oh yeah, #taxtherich https://riverdalepress.com/stories/amid-budget-cuts-cuny-students-want-to-tax-the-rich,71823
Articles cited here by CUNY folks @mattbrimnyc, @mwyarbrough, @JeanneTheoharis, @AlanAAja1, @JosephEntin, Karen Weingarten, Ben Lerner
