Apply relief money to this crisis
Brooklyn: As the president of the Professional Staff Congress, the union that has repeatedly called on CUNY to use its federal stimulus to forgive student debts and release bursar holds that prevent students from continuing their education, I am heartened that CUNY is forgiving up to $125 million in student debt (“Debt relief for CUNY students,” July 29). This relief will allow up to 50,000 CUNY students to register for courses. College enrollments will revive as these students return and more course offerings will be available, providing continued employment for our dedicated faculty. The pandemic hit the CUNY community hard — four out of five CUNY students experienced a loss of family income. Three thousand CUNY adjuncts were laid off to cover budget cuts and enrollment declines associated with the pandemic. This debt relief is beneficial to students and workers alike but hundreds of millions of CUNY stimulus dollars remain unspent.
The CUNY community — and taxpayers — deserve full transparency about the university’s further plans for the money. Top priorities for the stimulus must include: offsetting the city’s $67 million budget cut, rehiring employees who lost work, restoring class sizes to lower pre-pandemic levels to keep more course sections open, and protecting the health and safety of campus communities.
CUNY’s stimulus should be spent now to repair the damage inflicted on it during the pandemic, to minimize the spread of COVID, and to revitalize the quality of education. Otherwise, the federal stimulus may become a pretext, as it was in this year’s city budget, to cut CUNY’s operating funds.