CUNY students, staff call for say in use of fed funding

CUNY Students, faculty and supporters rallied earlier this week to list their funding priorities. Screenshot via CUNY PSC

By Rachel Vick

CUNY stakeholders gathered outside the Borough of Manhattan Community College Tuesday to demand a say in the use of the remaining $386 million in COVID-19 emergency funds.

CUNY Rising Alliance groups, including the Professional Staff Congress and the Student Senate, were joined by local lawmakers to request the one-time funds be used to support campus needs as New York continues the process of recovery.

“Our federal stimulus funds should be utilized in the best interest of our institutions,” said Student Senate President Juvanie Piquant.

“Throughout this pandemic CUNY has faced unprecedented challenges and the time is now for local campuses to implement innovative investments on our CUNY campuses,” Piquant added. “New York City’s comeback starts with equitable investment into our CUNY community, and we have a chance to get it done and make a difference.”

Speakers criticized recent budget cuts to the public university system, which caused gaps they say will have to be filled by the federal funding.

The priorities laid out include rehiring adjuncts laid off mid-pandemic, adding full-time mental health counselors and advisors, and improving infrastructure like ventilation to create a more COVID-safe learning environment.

“Our requests to CUNY administrators are clear and simple,” said Rémysell Salas, campaign director for the CUNY Rising Alliance.“We need to sustain our underfunded public university through the pandemic because it is a resource and lifeline for many New Yorkers. “Keep classes open for students, keep students enrolled, and protect the health and safety of our entire CUNY community.”

Queens Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas recounted her time as an adjunct professor at City College and the conditions inside the building, all of which she said are part of why she co-sponsored the New Deal For CUNY.

If passed, the legislation will require the increase of funding over the next five years to support additional faculty and mental health professionals, and to offset making the system tuition free.

”I stand here as a… proud former member of PSC CUNY,” Gonzalez-Rojas said. “I know what it means to see disinvestment. This is a world class system; CUNY is amazing and we need to invest in it, the communities, [because] it is our Black, Brown and immigrant communities with opportunities coming out of this system.“