Students condemn Queens College for dorm evictions

The Queens College Student Senate condemned the CUNY school after it evicted several students from its campus dorms. Photo via CUNY

By Jacob Kaye

The Queens College Student Senate passed a unanimous resolution condemning the evictions of several students from the college’s dorms last month.

Citing concern over the ongoing pandemic, the students accused the school of violating the federal eviction moratorium, which is set to expire at the end of July.

The resolution condemns both Queens College President Frank Wu, his administration and the operators of the Summit Apartments, a dorm building on the school’s campus in Kew Gardens Hills.

Tim Charles – whose name has been changed to protect his identity – was one of two students evicted from the dorms for financial reasons, he said. Charles was unable to pay for the campus housing, which costs around $6,000 per semester, as a result of the pandemic. Though he’s no longer enrolled at Queens College, he said he was officially enrolled in the days leading up the eviction.

According to Queens College, the students were no longer eligible for student housing, but declined to expand on what made the students ineligible.

Charles had an outstanding balance with the school, which he was unable to pay because of a 66 percent reduction in income during the pandemic.

After fighting the looming eviction with several written appeals, both by him and supporters of his, Charles received a final eviction notice on June 10, which instructed him to be moved out of the Summit building by June 14 at noon, according to documents obtained by the Eagle.

“I felt traumatized, ostracized, demoralized and like my life was over,” Charles said. “I was just treated badly.”

According to the school, the two students overstayed their residency at the Summit housing.

“Most students move out of the Queens College Summit Apartments at the end of the academic year,” said a spokesperson from the university. “Two individuals were granted more time and did move out since they were no longer eligible for campus housing.

“No student is ‘evicted’ from campus housing. Rather, the term of their temporary residency expires,” the spokesperson added. “Administrators and appropriate agency representatives are working to address academic and non-academic concerns with available resources.”

Charles, who first enrolled in 2019, was able to remain in the dorms during the pandemic.

“It was very depressing throughout the whole pandemic,” he said. “No one would speak to each other, you couldn’t have guests, you were locked away and you were far away from everything.”

Queens College’s dorms served as a home for CUNY students across the school system at the beginning of the pandemic. Students living in dorms at other CUNY schools were transferred to Queens College in March 2020.

Shortly after Charles’ eviction, the school’s student Senate, led by its chair Emma Richter, passed the condemnation of the school. Alongside a mutual aid group comprised of Queens College students, the senate joined in on efforts to raise funds for the evicted students.

“I started seeing people posting about it,” Richter said. “I was like, ‘wow, this is really inappropriate,’ given the pandemic, which has caused so much financial stress for so many people.”

As of Friday, a GoFundMe created by the mutual aid group has raised a little over $8,000 in funds to support housing costs for struggling students.

Charles, who is the first in his family to attend college, has bounced around several apartments since being evicted last month and is currently looking for permanent housing. He’s currently employed by the Department of Education as a substitute teacher and is unsure of his plans to return to college.

There are no further student evictions planned, according to Queens College.