BY JEN CHUNG
MAR 10, 2016
Tonight at 5 p.m., CUNY professors and students, labor unions, faith leaders and others are gathering outside Governor Cuomo's office at 633 Third Avenue to protest his proposal to cut NY State's funding to CUNY by $485 million.
"Yesterday administrators told all of the Departments at John Jay they had to figure out which classes to cut in the fall. That means 5 fewer sections of history courses," one professor wrote in a mass email to students, noting that one of his own classes would be getting the axe.
"The courses being cut are taught by adjuncts like me, most of whom depend upon the courses they they presently teach to get by. Adjunct wages qualify one for food stamps, they are so low."
Originally Cuomo proposed shifting CUNY costs from the state to NYC, but then he backtracked after outcry.
Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, "Cuomo said the proposal wouldn’t cost it any money and that the city and state would instead seek ways of trimming CUNY’s administrative costs. A spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo said: 'The express focus of the governor’s plan is to direct additional resources to the classroom and faculty by finding ways to reduce bureaucratic costs and consolidate back-office functions. There is no scenario in which this plan would adversely impact CUNY students and to suggest otherwise is simply untruthful.'"
Today, the State Assembly's Democrats are "reversing" Cuomo's plan; they have also called for CUNY tuition to be frozen for two years (Cuomo proposed increasing tuition by $1,500 over five years at the four-year colleges).
Earlier this year, Cuomo announced that the minimum wage will be increased to $15 at SUNY; CUNY was not included.
After gathering outside Cuomo's office the group will march to the Community Church of New York at 40 East 35th Street.
=========================================
Fair fight
No comments:
Post a Comment