A Look at CCNY’s Shrinking Course Variety -- How Are Students Affected?
Words by Luca GoldMansour
Graphics by Aspasia Celia Tsampas
Departments and programs at The City College of New York (CCNY) have been forced to make difficult choices, cutting classes from their rosters this fall semester due to CUNY’s budget shortfall. Coronavirus has compounded the university’s debt crisis, despite an estimated $251 million earmarked for CUNY in federal aid from the CARES act.
In response to email inquiries, the chairs and directors of the Media Communications Arts department, Economics and Business department, Black Studies Program, Music Department, Sustainability in the Urban Environment Program, and the Latin American and Latin Studies Programs all report classes cut from their roster. “My understanding is that there have been cuts across the board, but that different departments have met the CUNY-imposed criteria differently,” said Professor Massimo Pigliucci, interim chair of CCNY’s philosophy department.
Professor Matthew Nagler, chair of the economics and business department in the Colin Powell School, confirmed cuts in entrepreneurship and development and nonprofit organizations courses. “We would have liked to keep the greater variety,” Professor Nagler said. “If the cuts continue, we’ll have to make some very hard choices.” The sustainability in the urban environment program fared worse and has been left without a science elective this semester.
Many CCNY students have expressed frustration at the decline in the variety of courses offered this semester. “You would think that the options would increase as we pay more money for our education,” said Andrew Enock, a senior in Ad/PR at CCNY. The CUNY Board of Trustees voted to increase student tuition by $320 in December, including the first CUNY-wide student fee imposed since 2002, Politico reports.
CUNY’s leaders have met sharp criticism from lawmakers, teachers unions, and student groups for reducing CUNY’s offerings, which meant laying off thousands of part-time faculty. Critics insisted that they had other options. A group of over 60 New York lawmakers wrote to William C. Thompson, the chairperson of the CUNY Board of Trustees, and CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodriguez urging them to halt “pre-emptive and disproportionate” course cuts and layoffs. The letter states, “The CARES Act allocated more than $100 million to CUNY for institutional support during the crisis, with an explicit provision about keeping employees on payroll. To date, CUNY has made no announcement of how those funds are being used.”
Faculty and students have not taken these austerity measures sitting down. The university’s faculty and staff union, Professional Staff Congress, filed a lawsuit against CUNY in July aiming to halt layoffs and budget cuts. In August, a district court judge denied the motion.
Some students have turned to direct action. “Even before the pandemic, the CUNY leadership has been trying to chip away CUNY’s ability to provide a great and affordable education to a majority working class population,” said the CCNY Young Democratic Socialists of America in an invitation to an August 25th rally. “We are going to be saying NO to thousands of adjunct professors getting fired. We are saying NO to increased class sizes.”
