STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - “Hey hey, ho ho, austerity has got to go,” chanted dozens students, faculty and staff across a mile route along the College of Staten Island’s Willowbrook campus earlier this week.
The march, hosted by the Professional Staff Congress Union, was a call to demand a New Deal for CUNY, while also celebrating the state budget allocation of more than $100 million for the university system’s community colleges.
The Professional Staff Congress Union represents 30,000 faculty and staff at both CUNY and the university system’s Research Foundation. A New Deal for CUNY is a legislation focused on protecting the quality of higher education by aiming for a free and fully funded public university system.
“I have been at CUNY since 1990, and I have seen various moments, crisis after crisis, at CUNY, and we’re having one now. It’s a result of a continued, conscious underfunding of CUNY that’s been going on by the city and by the state,” said Andrea Vasquez, vice president of the Professional Staff Congress Union, which hosted this week's rally at the College of Staten Island, Willowbrook. (Staten Island Advance/ Priya Shahi)Priya Shahi
According to City Council documentation, Mayor Eric Adams’ preliminary budget for the 2024 fiscal year outlines a CUNY budget of $1.27 billion, which is $169 million less than the adopted budget for the current fiscal year.
“I have been at CUNY since 1990, and I have seen various moments, crisis after crisis, at CUNY, and we’re having one now. It’s a result of a continued, conscious underfunding of CUNY that’s been going on by the city and by the state,” said Andrea Vasquez, vice president of the Professional Staff Congress Union.
Vasquez has been a part of the union since 2000, and she has helped push the movement along through the what she called the power of unity among students, professors and staff.
CUNY is funded by both the city and the state, with the majority of funds coming from the state.
“Under Cuomo, it was a series of cutbacks in his preliminary budgets, and we would claw away month after month after month to break even. And of course, with inflation, we didn’t break even, we were always losing,” Vasquez said. “That’s why we call it a racialized austerity, because of who was effected in New York City, and because of the difference between upstate and downstate in terms of access to full-time faculty.”
Jason Bishop, Professional Staff Congress Union chapter chair, CSI, exclaimed that the plan for the rally was to spread the word about the need for funding.
“And that word is going to get across the city, and hopefully to our allies in the City Council who, unlike the mayor, might be interested in helping us,” he said.
Anne Adkison said that, as a school librarian, she has always seen budget cuts every single year, making it harder to buy books and keep up with electronic resources, with database subscriptions going up in cost yearly.
“We are understaffed. We’ve also had to cut our hours. Everything is falling apart. The bathrooms are totally disgusting. The water fountains always have police tape on them,” said Adkison, who has been a librarian at the College of Staten Island since 2014. “It’s just kind of sad, because this school could be so amazing, because it’s so beautiful and we have the talent, but we just don’t fund it properly.”
A spokesperson for CSI said that the school works with campus stakeholders on a regular basis to maximize budget allocations. “We continue to address issues with respect to our aging infrastructure as they become known and make significant investments to manage, maintain, and care for our campus,” he said, adding that various improvements are planned for the school.
John Arena, a sociology and anthropology professor at the College of Staten Island, holds up a sign at the campus rally. (Staten Island Advance/ Priya Shahi)Priya Shahi
Yet students at the rally expressed various concerns.
Edgar Rojas, a senior, said he has seen a lack of funding impact his academic opportunities and contribute to the physical deterioration of CSI.
“I have had multiple classes that have dropped due to the budget cuts. I have had classes that had ceilings fall during class time or before. I’ve seen water all over the floor, bathrooms not working -- which is all the time, they’re covered with police tape,” he explained.
Edgar Rojas, a senior, said he has seen a lack of funding impact his academic opportunities and contribute to the physical deterioration of the College of Staten Island. (Staten Island Advance, Priya Shahi)Priya Shahi
The CSI spokesperson said that the school offers “a wide array of sections and classes each semester to ensure that our students make academic progress so they can graduate on time.”
“Our priority is to continuously meet and exceed the needs of our students and campus constituents in all aspects,” he added.