How to Ask a Question at City College
Words by Abram Morris
Image Courtesy of Abram Morris
What if you were to ask a CCNY public safety officer about the Military Industrial Complex?
What would they say?
It’s difficult to talk to those at the security desk; often they are busy checking your Cleared4 and ID as you shuffle into a building with other students. I would ask them how to get somewhere on campus, but I don’t think I would want to ask them about something as complicated as the Military Industrial Complex.
So I decided to label a new CCNY Security Booth with a clarifying statement: “Ask me about the Military Industrial Complex”.
Could you really ask them about this? What would they have to say? What is the true purpose of having security forces on a college campus? Public Safety may have the critical role of keeping students safe, but it also might have a more sinister role - to stop us from asking questions.
In 1969, CCNY enrollment was opened up to everyone who wanted to apply, only when CCNY students took control of the campus and burned down our chapel. Often to ask questions, and to make changes, security must be disturbed. So what is the true purpose of Public Safety? Is it to keep us safe? Or is it to keep us ordered?
At a public university, one is unfortunately frequently faced with limitations. Other schools with incredible endowments can offer their students a seemingly limitless slew of opportunities and resources. At City College and CUNY resources are available, but they are often hard to find and the support that they offer may be chipped away at over time.
After decades of austerity in Albany, our budget has disintegrated, and students have had to shoulder an increasing amount of their tuition. Yet, we have seemingly had the resources for City College officials to allegedly embezzle massive amounts of money from our school. A few weeks ago, I saw we also had the budget for a brand-new public safety booth, located at 135th street and Convent Avenue.
Today, I can’t even enter the NAC without the expectation that the escalators will be broken. Anyone who has been in the Architecture Building will know that the roof has massive leak damage. Our infrastructure is crumbling, and we are often disconnected as students, seldom made aware of the beautiful campus and excellent resources available to us here. But it is expected that we have the resources to buy a new security booth?
Why?
If we see our budget is not serving us, who is responsible for quelling our protest?
Why in 2013, was a radical student organization forcibly shut down by Public Safety? What exactly is the purpose of Campus Security?
Throughout its history, our college has provided a priceless educational experience to the least privileged members of society. Student activism has expanded that destiny, and we should continue that legacy by asking questions and taking action. Ask your public safety officer about the Military Industrial Complex. Ask yourself what their role here truly is.
