As we begin our school year, Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced that the city’s 1.1 million schoolchildren will now start both remote and in-person classes on Sept. 21, 10 days later than originally scheduled. The original date for public schools to open was September 10th, but the teachers’ union threatened to go on strike until they were ensured that full safety precautions would be put into place. “For the nation’s largest school system to come together in unity and say, ‘we are going to get it right, and it won’t always be easy and there’ll be tough moments along the way, but we’re going to get it right’— that’s…
-
-
Southeast Asia Faces Severe Consequences of Climate Change
Amid the pandemic, we’ve had the opportunity to observe the beauty of nature while staying at home, going for walks and maybe spending a bit more time out in the sun for a change of scenery. Luckily, we are fortunate enough to live in a place where there is less pollution, but that is not the case for other countries. Southeast Asia is reported to be facing more severe consequences of climate change than the rest of the world, according to the business and economic research arm of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. “Asia faces climate hazards with potentially severe socioeconomic impacts and thus has a keen interest in…
-
AOC’s Speech and Micro-Aggressions Women Face At Work
According to a report by The Hill, Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) was coming down the steps on the east side of the Capitol on Monday, July 20 as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) (D-NY) was coming up. Then, in an exchange overheard by a reporter, Yoho began to berate her, saying she was “out of your freaking mind” and “disgusting” because she suggested, “that poverty and unemployment are driving a spike in crime in New York City during the coronavirus pandemic.” Ocasio-Cortez then responded that Yoho was being “rude,” and as the two parted ways, Yoho joined Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX) and called Ocasio-Cortez a, “f***ing b***h.” On the House floor…
-
QC’s Torrid Relationship With Its Black Population
In light of the national outcry against systemic racism it’s imperative we discuss the historical initiatives taken at QC to combat the issue, starting with recognition of the SEEK Program. The Percy E. Sutton Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge (SEEK) Program stands on the shoulders of political and progressive giants; notably Percy E Sutton, Shirley Chisholm, Basil Patterson, David Dinkins and Charles Rangel who seized the historical provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that banned segregation and the Higher Education Act of 1965 that allocated federal funds for financial assistance to low-income students. “Currently the SEEK Program at Queens College has the most diverse group of students…
-
J.K. Rowling’s Transphobic Tweets and Trump’s Transphobia
The author of the famous Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling, has been labeled “transphobic,” “cruel,” and a “bigot” after tweeting in support of her friend, Maya Forstater. Forstater lost her job as a tax expert at the Center for Global development after suggesting that transgender people cannot change the biological sex they were born with. Maya Forstater is a researcher who claimed online that there are only two biological sexes. As a result, she was fired by the U.K. think tank for questioning the government’s plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender. The tweet said: “People who menstruate. I’m sure there used to be a word for those…
