Letter to the Editor: QC Department Chairs United Against Budget Cuts

Dear Editors:

We are a group of Queens College department chairs who are deeply concerned about the impending budget cuts facing our college and CUNY as a whole. Even though Governor Cuomo has not yet announced budget cuts for CUNY, the CUNY administration has told each campus to start cutting its budget. At Queens this means cutting large numbers of part-time faculty members, many of whom have very little job security. If these cuts go through, the number of classes offered next year will plummet dramatically. We’re looking at hundreds of fewer seats in both general education courses and courses needed for completion of majors.

Worse, Cuomo has announced that if the federal government does not pass another stimulus bill by mid-summer he will cut CUNY’s budget by 20%. Such a cut will be devastating to Queens College, and we will see even deeper cuts that will transform our campus in negative ways, including degrading the quality of education students receive– such as reduced research and experiential learning and fewer elective courses– and making it more difficult to graduate in four years.

Students have a voice and can help. Please visit http://FundQC.org for more information about what you can do to stop these cuts. Follow our twitter account, Facebook page, and Instagram by searching for @FundQC for live updates. If you want to learn more or become more involved please email fundQC@gmail.com.

Please organize your fellow students to pitch in. Call and write our governor, your state representatives, the CUNY Chancellor, and the CUNY Board of Trustees! If we’re in this together and show NYC how much a fully funded Queens College and CUNY means to us, then we believe we can win this fight.

Sincerely,

Karen Weingarten, Acting Chair, English

Christopher Winks, Chair, Comparative Literature

Jeff Beeler, Chair, Psychology

Alan Sultan, Chair, Mathematics

Steven Schwarz, Chair, Physics

Kristin Celello, Chair, History

Stephen Grover, Chair, Philosophy

Ashima Kant, Chair, Family, Nutrition, and Exercise Sciences

PoKay Ma, Chair, Biology

Michael Lipsey, Chair, Aaron Copeland School of Music

Meghan Healey, Chair, Drama, Theater, and Dance