CUNY News In Brief (October, 2008)
CUNY Hits the Streets to Protest Budget Cuts
In answer to Governor David Paterson’s slash and burn tactics against CUNY and its 450,000 students, members of the CUNY community took to the streets in protest.
On Monday, September 23 protesters marched from the Graduate Center campus to Paterson’s Madison Avenue New York City Offices in a public demonstration of dissatisfaction with Paterson’s $51 million in cuts to the CUNY budget.
Paterson proposed the spending rollback in August to help alleviate the stresses of New York States $6.4 billion deficit. State legislators rubberstamped the proposal shortly thereafter, signaling their intention to protect private interests at the expense of public education. While some within the Democratic-led majority have called on Paterson to impose a “millionaires tax” on the state’s wealthiest citizens, the governor has steadfastly rejected this possibility in favor of deeper cuts to social service spending.
Not to be outdone by the abuse suffered under the Paterson administration, CUNY has engaged in acts of political hostage-taking against the city according to municipal authorities.
Fiterman Hall, a downtown campus site of BMCC located directly across from the World Trade Center, was severely damaged on September 11, 2001 but has remained standing in the seven years since, despite being unfit for occupation.
Although the city has demonstrated willingness to contribute funds for demolition, CUNY purportedly has been sitting on its hands in the matter in order to extract an additional $80 million from city coffers before it tears the site down.
“It’s ridiculous,” says Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber. “There’s no reason that the building is not coming down.”
Unsurprisingly, CUNY disagrees, arguing that the seven year wait has been in the name of public safety. In mid-September, CUNY issued a press release claiming that the demolition has yet to occur because administrators had yet to receive permission from the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Our focus continues to be on moving the Fiterman Hall project forward as safely and quickly as possible,” a CUNY spokesman told Downtown Express newspaper. “We are working closely with city and state officials to expedite this stage of the project and beyond.”
Peter Pantaleo Appointed to CUNY Board of Trustees
Ever mindful of CUNY’s best welfare, Governor David Paterson appointed Peter Pantaleo to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York for a term that ends in June 2015. According to the CUNY press office, Pantaleo — a partner at the international law firm DLA PIPER — principally focuses his practice on “advising employers in complex, politically sensitive labor and employment matters.”
If this piece of information fails to raise the eyebrows, it should also be noted that Pantaleo received the modest title of “New York Super Lawyer” from state authorities in 2007.
For more on this rising star in the CUNY universe, see “Look Who’s Trusteeing at CUNY,” in this issue (page 9).
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