City College announces remote classes beginning Wednesday as CUNY encampment goes into sixth day
By Leon Orlov-Sullivan and Reuben Pulatov
Photo by Leon Orlov-Sullivan for The Campus
Updated 6:15 PM EDT, April 30, 2024
As the CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment goes on for a sixth day on CCNY’s quad, City College administration has made the decision to move all college functions, including classes, online. An official email sent by Provost Tony Liss to CCNY faculty, staff, and students on Tuesday stated, “As of tomorrow, May 1, 2024, and until further notice, all City College classes will be held remotely and all College functions will move online. Campus buildings will be closed to everyone except essential personnel, as defined by supervisors in each area.” In an interview with The Campus, President Vincent Boudreau stated, “it’s open-ended at this point… the situation's very fluid, and so we will be communicating with the campus as we know more.”
In regards to the effect on the campus going forward, he continued, “even when we're back in session, students who don't have IDs should get IDs because we are gonna be very strict about entrances to buildings for people that don't have IDs. And we'll be restricting our facilities to members of the City College community or members of other CUNY campuses that have legitimate business on campus, like, for instance, they're taking a class on Friday.” He also stated that Homecoming and Lavender Week have been canceled.
Boudreau told The Campus, “there's a reckless disregard within that encampment for the welfare of this community, including the underage children that are sometimes present in the encampment.” However, some members of the CCNY community disagree with President Boudreau’s characterization. Assistant Professor of Philosophy Chad Kidd told The Campus, “I think [canceling in-person classes] is a bad faith move on [administration]’s part… I think that administration is trying to turn this camp into a threat.” Professor Kidd added, “the thing I felt most threatened by on this campus so far are the campus security themselves.” Kidd gave the examples of, “being prevented from getting access to my office,” and, “being aggressively interrogated as to what my intentions are on coming into work.”
May Nicol, a CCNY undergraduate, told The Campus, “I absolutely do not feel threatened by the encampment… I believe the administration’s decision to move [classes] online is part of their larger strategy of ignoring the five demands,” referring to the demands made by the coalition behind the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
The Campus plans to meet in NAC room 1/119 on Thursday at 12:30 p.m. as usual. If this is impossible, The Campus will host its weekly meeting outside the encampment. Contact thecampus@gtest.ccny.cuny.edu or @ccnycampus on Instagram for more information.
