Beginning this fall, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Excelsior Scholarship will provide students at New York’s public universities the dream tuition rate—zero dollars. The plan, first announced by Cuomo in January, will allow students from families earning less than $100,000 to attend CUNY and SUNY colleges for free and the threshold increases to $125,000 by 2019. At Queensborough Community College on April 12, 2017, Cuomo touted the “first-in-the-nation plan” as an “outrageously ambitious idea, but an irrefutably smart idea.” “We had free public high school for everyone. And today, my friends, college is what high school was 70 years ago. It is not a luxury. It is a necessity,” he said. Mission…
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Charges of anti-Semitism with activist group at CUNY
A year ago, the Zionist Organization of America, a pro-Israel group founded in 1897, received reports of anti-Semitism from Jewish students, Hillel directors and even their own professionals at CUNY. “These Jewish students, they’re afraid to wear yarmulkes [and] Jewish t-shirts,” Morton Klein, national president of ZOA, said. In response, the organization wrote a letter to CUNY demanding they act against Students for Justice in Palestine, the student-led group Klein described as anti-Semitic. CUNY, in response to ZOA and other state lawmakers demanding action, created two task forces—Task Force on Campus Climate and Working Group on Freedom of Expression. The Task Force on Campus Climate is led by Queens College…
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Strike authorization vote to begin
While CUNY students prepare for their finals, professors and staff have an assignment of their own—a vote to authorize use of a strike. The Professional Staff Congress, the union representing more than 25,000 professors and staff at CUNY, notified their members that a vote for a strike authorization will begin from May 2 to 11. The union’s vote is a response to the lack of a contract for employees since 2010. In a message to members, PSC President Barbara Bowen noted the vote does not mean the union will go on strike. But, she explained it would show CUNY it is prepared to get a contract. “Think about what just…
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Saying goodbye is never simple
After joining a newspaper four years ago with zero knowledge of journalism, I am confident to leave with an incredible depth of strategies and lessons from my teachers, colleagues and friends. I can remember Welcome Day in 2012. I finished four years of speech and debate in high school where I grew from a shy, reserved person to one of the best debaters in New York State. I even assumed leadership for two years. I felt eager to try something new and see how I could go. Out of all the clubs, just two caught my attention. One was a political group, the other was The Knight News. I read…
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State budget keeps funding for CUNY
CUNY will face no significant cuts in the new state budget agreed before the April 1 deadline. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced CUNY would receive over $1.6 billion in the $147.2 billion budget deal agreed by state lawmakers. This is in contrast to comments made earlier in the year by the Democratic governor on CUNY. He intended to cut state funding to CUNY by $485 million and make New York City’s government pay for it. This figure is equal to one-third of revenue for all senior colleges. Late last month the Cuomo administration, under pressure from CUNY and activist groups, sought to not pursue the cut. James Skoufis, a Democrat representing…
