2007 Budget Hearing

On June 15, the City Council passed a $60 billion budget for the new fiscal year, starting on July 1. The deal includes a full restoration of the Mayor’s proposed cuts to CUNY’s budget request. PSC members worked hard for months to win the restorations; we met with City Council Members, signed and gathered 15,000 postcards to Speaker Christine Quinn and rallied outside City Hall on May 9. Thank you to all who helped make this happen—it would not have happened without PSC members. Though the restored funds represent a victory for CUNY and our students, we should not have to fight just to maintain the current inadequate level of funding. The debate should be about additions, not restorations, especially in a year of multi-billion dollar surplus. The budget does include some additions, which we secured working cooperatively with CUNY management and through the advocacy of several City Council Members. We are grateful to them and await final details, including on the funds available for new hiring of full-time faculty, a centerpiece of the union’s proposal.

PRESS RELEASES
ON CUNY BUDGET ISSUE
►May 9, 2007
►February 8, 2007
►January 10, 2007

PRESS RELEASE: May 9, 2007
CONTACT: Dr. Dorothee Benz, 212-354-1252, 718-314-4432

City Council Members Join PSC Budget Effort:
With a Record Surplus, the Time is NOW to INVEST in CUNY

City Council Members joined City University of New York faculty, staff and students at a press conference today to call for more funding for CUNY. “With a record $3.9 billion surplus, it’s unconscionable that the Mayor is looking to cut $34.8 million from CUNY’s budget request,” said Dr. Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which organized the event along with Council Member Charles Barron, chair of the Council’s Higher Ed Committee.

“CUNY is one of our city’s most precious resources. It has been the gateway to a better life for countless generations of New Yorkers,” said Barron. “CUNY also provides the skills, education and ideas that build the jobs and the businesses of the future. New York City needs CUNY, and right now New York needs to come through for CUNY with the resources it needs.”

“Without CUNY, I would not be a student of anything, but I would be that kid on the train you avoided sitting next to on your commute to this press conference,” Shane Correia said in a statement at the press conference. Last year, Correia was a homeless youth. This year he is a college student at Borough of Manhattan Community College. “The cuts the Mayor wants to make in CUNY’s funding request are not harmless and practical—they are dangerous and economically self-destructive. You have the opportunity to invest in New York City through those who need it, those who wish to escape the condemnation of the ghettos, and the future of blight. Take this opportunity to realize that all of us here are investments, and to short change us is to condemn us all to a future of no change at all.”

Lizette Colon, a faculty counselor at Hostos Community College, echoed Correia’s words when she told those assembled on the steps of City Hall, “We are the bridge to the American Dream.” Hostos is a bilingual college serving a population of immigrants who, like so many before them, are trying to make a better life for themselves and their families. But despite enormous need for counseling and services, Colon reported that Hostos has only five counselors for 4,500 students. Because of inadequate funding, she said, “We are constantly responding to crises and unable to provide the preventive services that would go so much further in helping our students.”

The press conference was attended by 14 City Council Members. In addition to Barron, they were: Tony Avella, Leroy Comrie , Daniel Garodnick, Robert Jackson, Letitia James, Oliver Koppell, John Liu, Melissa Mark Viverito, Rosie Mendez, Hiram Monserrate, Annabel Palma, James Vacca, and David Weprin.

The event was part of the PSC’s ongoing campaign to restore funding to CUNY. Despite the record surplus, City funding for CUNY is 17% lower in real dollars than it was in 1990 even though enrollment is at a 30-year high. CUNY has 5,000 fewer full-time faculty than it did in 1975. “In the 21^st century, a college education is no longer a luxury; it’s a necessity,” said Bowen. “This year’s budget presents the City with a choice: does New York want students like Shane Correia to have a chance for a future or not? If the answer is yes, the course of action is clear—fund CUNY.”

The PSC represents 20,000 faculty and professional staff in CUNY.

Links here for statement by Shane Correia, statement by Lizette Colon, and additional statement by BMCC student Jesus Urbaez.

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PRESS RELEASE: February 8, 2007
CONTACT: Dr. Dorothee Benz, 212-354-1252

Budget testimony:
Now is the time to invest in CUNY

In budget hearings today, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) testified about the critical need for increased funding for the City University of New York. “New York State stands at a crossroads,” Dr. Barbara Bowen, the PSC president, told the joint Assembly-Senate hearing on the higher education portion of the Executive Budget. “It can invest in CUNY, invest in the State’s future, and make CUNY a great public university. Or it can let CUNY continue to struggle and fall short of its historic mission of educational opportunity.” The PSC was in Albany to advocate for spending priorities for the University that would increase full-time faculty, strengthen diversity in hiring and improve support services for students.

The PSC had qualified praise for Governor Spitzer’s first budget. The union noted that in contrast to the Pataki tenure, there were minor cuts to the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and no tuition increases in the proposed budget. But it also pointed out that the increases in CUNY funding in the Executive Budget were modest and largely the result of mandatory cost increases. “Twenty years of under-funding cannot be remedied by modest increases in the operating budget,” Bowen explained to legislators.

Both State and New York City funding for CUNY have declined dramatically in the last 16 years. Even with an increase last year, State funding for CUNY was 26% lower in the 2007 budget (in inflation-adjusted dollars) than it was in 1990 (and City funding was down 20% for that same period). The effects of the decline in funding have been borne in part by those who can least afford them, CUNY’s students. Tuition, which now accounts for 38% of CUNY revenues, has nearly doubled since 1990 (when it was 20% of CUNY budget).

College has never been more important than now for economic survival, making investment in CUNY critical. In addition, the historic commitment to K-12 education New York State is poised to make offers a tremendous opportunity, but one that cannot be fully realized without a concomitant commitment to higher education. CUNY provides New York City public school students with a college education that is within their economic reach. To reap the benefits of New York State’s investment in public education, investment in excellence at CUNY must also be part of the plan.

CUNY’s most urgent need is for more full-time faculty. The number of full-time faculty has dropped from 11,300 in 1975 to 6,300 today, even though student enrollment is at a 30-year high. Half of CUNY courses are now taught by low-paid adjunct faculty, who often must run from campus to campus just to make a living wage. Students pay the ultimate price, with larger class sizes, less access to faculty and waiting semesters for required courses to be taught.

The PSC, which represents 20,000 faculty and professional staff in the university, worked closely with the CUNY Administration and the Legislature to secure the modest increases for CUNY in the last budget. The PSC will be working hard to persuade both the State Legislature and the Governor this year to move from an incremental increase to a new level of investment in CUNY.

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Today I send you this letter as a student of BMCC. One year ago I stood in the world as a homeless high school student. I was forced to flee from a home life full of physical and emotional abuse that I was subjected to simply because I am gay. Were it not for the federal and state funding which guaranteed me, as a citizen of New York City, a grant to attend college, my time living on the subway, working, and trying to graduate high school could have ended with me living my life as nothing more than a statistic.

While I lived on the train and worked for a better life, I never once asked for money from anyone, and yet today, I find myself joining the voices of other students and faculty asking for better funding so that the economically disadvantaged may have a shot at a better future. To the Mayor and the City Council I say that unless you restore CUNY’s funding, you are lessening scholarship opportunities, and retracting aid for those who need it. In addition to all that you would take away from us, you would most importantly take away our hope. By cutting us off, you would be discarding the neediest in my generation.

I am not the last student who was homeless who will attend BMCC, as there are many smart, homeless youth in NYC – and I have met them, scraped with them, talked with them, I know them and their abilities. Without CUNY, I would not be a student of anything, but I would be that kid on the train you avoided sitting next to on your commute to this press conference. The cuts the Mayor wants to make in CUNY’s funding request are not harmless and practical—they are dangerous and economically self-destructive. You have the opportunity to invest in New York City through those who need it, those who wish to escape the condemnation of the ghettos, and the future of blight. Take this opportunity to realize that all of us here are investments, and to short change us is to condemn us all to a future of no change at all.

My name is Lizette Colón and I am a faculty counselor at Hostos Community College, located in the South Bronx. I came from Puerto Rico in 1979 and I have been at Hostos since 1982, fully enjoying my role as a counselor, as it gives me an opportunity to be a real advocate for minority students.

CUNY has been the gateway to a better life for countless generations of New Yorkers, and, at Hostos, we join this mission with New York City’s proud tradition as an immigrant city. We are a bilingual college serving a population with limited English, and we provide opportunity and access to education that would be otherwise impossible to so many immigrants. We are the bridge to the American dream.

As a faculty counselor, I usually teach four freshman skills classes a semester. And then on top of that, I have a counseling caseload of individual students who need help. The problems our students face are real and significant. You’ve already heard about homelessness through Shane Correia’s story, and at Hostos that is a real issue, too. There are child care issues, especially for single parents who are in college precisely to make a better life for their children. There are domestic violence issues, mental health issues, serious financial needs. The needs are overwhelming, and sometimes they seem endless.

There is so much more we could do if we had the resources. Right now, Hostos has five counselors for 4,500 students! We are constantly responding to crises and therefore unable to provide the preventive services that would go so much further in helping our students.

The horror and tragedy at Virginia Tech make so painfully clear the enormous consequences that can be at stake when it comes to having enough counselors and adequate services for students.

So I am here today to tell you that Hostos and CUNY need better funding. New York City has a record surplus of almost $4 billion, but City funding of CUNY is down 17% from its 1990 level, and on top of that the Mayor’s budget proposal falls $35 million short of CUNY’s budget request.

That’s unconscionable! There is too much at stake to shortchange CUNY that way. The money is there. The time is NOW to INVEST in CUNY!

New York City needs the CUNY system. Inherently New Yorkers like me need the CUNY system – CUNY is the only way I can afford a college education and have a chance at a secure future.

But right now CUNY needs New York City. CUNY needs City funding in order for people like me to have the opportunity for an education, and the future I speak of.

New York City has a record surplus of almost $4 billion. But City funding of CUNY is down 17% since 1990, and on top of that, the Mayor’s budget proposal falls $35 million short of CUNY’s budget request.

For such an iconic city this outrageous! With a record surplus, we should be adding more funding to CUNY, not less.

What’s at stake here are not abstract numbers on a page, but real people. People like me.

I’m 24 years old and I’m a student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC). I’m a liberal arts major, and this semester I’m taking a good class called “Fiction to Film” with Dr. Young, who last month was honored by New York State United Teachers (NYSUT). She encouraged me to voice my opinion here today.

I am a full-time student and work 20 hours a week for the Department of Health for the City of New York. I’ve had this job for over two years. Due it being part-time, though, I don’t receive health benefits, and with this arduous schedule I’ve gotten sick often.

Working and going to school full-time is difficult — not leaving much time for anything else—but I know that without an education, I do not have a future. Without CUNY, I couldn’t have an education. I’d have to try to get a job with just a high school degree, and in these times, that doesn’t go as far as it used to.

This semester, I will be graduating with my associate [degree], and in the fall I will be continuing my college education. Once again it will be CUNY that makes this continuation possible for me.

Every day at BMCC I see the need for better funding. I don’t think I’ve ever been there when all of the escalators are working, and a good amount of my classes have been in rooms too small for the number of students. We end up having to go find extra chairs in other rooms and sitting cramped and uncomfortable. For our teachers, it means they have less time for each individual student. For me and my fellow students, it means we can’t always get the attention and advice we need from our teachers.

That’s why I’m here today calling on the City Council today to provide the funding CUNY needs for our future. The City has the chance to either prepare the future for itself by educating my generation, or impeding it. An iconic city like ours should be one to take every step for furthering it’s education. With a $4 billion surplus, the money is there. The time is now to invest in CUNY!