This week, Mayor Eric Adams called off a round of budget cuts originally scheduled for April, citing a better-than-expected economic performance of the city.
Nine schools in the City University of New York (CUNY) system are grappling with the devastating aftermath of budget cuts announced by Adams in November. The cuts, totaling approximately $23 million, pose significant challenges for the affected institutions this semester.
James Davis, president of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) – the union that represents faculty and professional staff of the City University of New York institutions – said he’s concerned about the quality of education at CUNY schools.
“One of the consequences of a really large-scale budget cut like these, especially coming down the middle of the year, is that the size of classes will increase. The number of course offerings will decrease, and the range of program offerings will contract.” said Davis. “Which is not good for student outcomes and academic progress.”
CUNY faculty and staff also faced severe setbacks, dealing with newly enforced hiring freezes and some experiencing the loss of both full-time and part time-positions, just days before the spring semester.
In response to the mid-year cuts, the PSC, along with staff, faculty, and various student groups traveled to Albany on Wednesday for Higher Education Action Day to demand increased state resources for CUNY.
“The City University has traditionally been the engine of social mobility and economic advancement, and the creation of really enlightened citizens throughout its history,” said John Jay College Distinguished Professor Gerald Markowitz. “It is imperative that the city and the state provide the funding to ensure that that legacy continues.”
John Jay is among the nine colleges impacted by recent budget cuts. Markowitz says that many students at John Jay come from underserved communities.
“They’re generally first-generation students, they’re students of color. They’re working-class students, they’re immigrants. And the resources of our city and state should be to build up these students,” he said.
At John Jay, Markowitz has witnessed firsthand the effects of the cuts on his students. He said that nearly 70 sections were eliminated from the college.
“By cutting classes, you hurt students’ abilities to find the courses that they need to graduate. You prevent students from taking courses that are really important for their education,” said Markowitz. “Our students, who worked so hard to get an education, should be supported by the city and the state. Instead, there are these budget cuts that make it harder for them to get an education rather than make it easier for them to get an education.”
The $23 million cuts come after Adams, who himself is a CUNY graduate, revised his NYC November Financial Plan for Fiscal Year 2024. To accommodate the costs of the asylum seeker crisis, the mayor instituted five percent budget cuts from every city agency, which began in September 2023. By November, Adams announced more cuts to city agencies and services including the Education Department, public libraries, and the NYPD. The CUNY Central Administration, grappling with city budget constraints, instructed the nine colleges to make mid-year cuts.
“Of course, we want better from somebody who has two degrees from the City University of New York.” said Davis.
Markowitz highlighted the irony of Mayor Adams enforcing these cuts as a CUNY graduate.
“At elite institutions, the alumni of those institutions are providing the funding to ensure that those institutions thrive in the future,” he said. “And here is Mayor Adams, the graduate of John Jay, not really supporting the college that provided him with the opportunity to succeed in his life and career, and not recognizing the obligation of an alumnus to ensure that future students have the same opportunities as he had.”
Davis said the mayor’s reversal on the budget cuts, at least in part, is due to ongoing advocacy efforts.
“I think people recognize that when you invest in CUNY, that’s not a handout; that’s actually an investment that pays dividends in the long run. So every dollar that the city puts in, or that the state puts in, comes back again to the city and the state,” said Davis. “And I think the advocacy that you’ve seen, broadly across the city around restorations for CUNY, comes out of that recognition.”
The AmNews reached out to the Mayor’s Office about the budget cuts but did not get a response by press time.