Open Letter to Chancellor Goldstein Regarding the Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act
by Advocate Staff
Chancellor Goldstein,
Although it comes as no surprise to those of us who are familiar with the machinations of the CUNY hierarchy, your recent and very public support for Governor David Paterson’s proposed and cynically titled Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, does not serve the needs or ease the burdens of the students and faculty who work and teach at the City University of New York. On the contrary, your support for Governor Paterson’s bill actively threatens the welfare of these stakeholders, who, should the bill pass, would be subject to unprecedented cuts, layoffs, tuition hikes, and differential tuition changes that would effectively price out many of the underprivileged poor and working class students whom CUNY has historically sworn to help, while threatening the job security of the professors and lecturers who serve those students.
When Paterson was originally considering his first round of budget cuts to CUNY way back in 2008 you did nothing to oppose that move, telling the Governor that CUNY could bear the cuts; and now in a classic and frankly quite expected quid pro quo, the governor is fighting tooth and nail against the entire legislature to pass a bill that would effectively give you and the CUNY Board of Trustees complete control over the CUNY budget, including the ability to raise tuition more than 9% per year indefinitely. This is a rate unprecedented in the history of the City University of New York, and would be a devastating blow to the students of CUNY, who have already been hit with significant tuition increases even as the university’s budget has been slashed year after year.
We realize that as Chancellor you have big visions for the future of the university. These visions are made quite explicit in the myriad advertising campaigns that the university is waging across the city in an effort to portray CUNY as a cutting edge research institution with award winning students and celebrity faculty. We, too support the best CUNY possible, but not at the expense of the current students, whose children, should this bill pass, would likely not be able to afford to attend the CUNY you envision.
By cynically and unilaterally supporting Governor Paterson’s proposed higher education bill, Chancellor Goldstein, without prior public discussion or debate within the university, without seeking the opinions and ideas of those you represent, you have overstepped the bounds of your power; and in your effort to increase that power, in your attempt to manufacture a university based on your own narrow vision rather than that of the faculty and students and citizens of NYC who make the university possible, you are in great dereliction of your duties as Chancellor.
We the undersigned urge you and the CUNY Board of Trustees to withhold any further official support of the Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act until such time that there has been ample debate on the subject and all interested parties have been able to register their opinions and possible objections to the bill.
James Dennis Hoff EIC, GC Advocate Michael Busch Managing Editor, GC Advocate Mark Wilson Layout Editor, GC Advocate
It’s frustrating to believe so strongly in public education and to so often find public universities adopting private university tactics without actually providing the correspondent benefits. It’s crucial that you serve the interests of the students and faculty who make up the university community in a more transparent and ethical manner, a manner in keeping with the mission and vision that established CUNY as one of the nation’s premiere institutions of publicly available higher education.
Look who’s being an autocrat at CUNY! Chancellor Goldstein!
Add my name to those supporting this statement to the Chancellor. The so-called “Empowerment Act” would be a disaster for students and faculty at CUNY!