Assails Mayor's Proposed Cut
PSC Lobbies for CUNY Funds

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

City University of New York Professors delivered 13,000 postcards to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council last week in an effort to get $48.1 million added to CUNY's budget.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow SHOW US THE MONEY: Professional Staff Congress Vice President Steve London (right) and other union officials delivered 13,000 postcards to Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council requesting more money for student counselors and scholarships at the City University of New York.

Citing the more-than $4.4-billion surplus, several dozen Professors and students rallied on the steps of City Hall May 9 in support of funding the $34.8 million requested by CUNY officials for scholarship programs, diversity measures and immigrant student assistance. The Professional Staff Congress is asking for an additional $7.3 million to augment those same programs, and requesting another $6.3 million for more faculty counselors and mental health aid for students, in the wake of the murder of 32 people at Virginia Tech by a mentally disturbed student.

"This city is rich," said PSC President Barbara Bowen, "and yet Mayor Bloomberg has called for $35 million in cuts, and that's after years and years of cuts to CUNY. If there was a will to create the kind of education that the people of New York deserve, the money would be found."

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow WRONG TIME TO CUT CUNY: Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen argued at a May 9 rally on the steps of City Hall that the city's $4.4-billion surplus meant that if it wanted to fund 'the kind of education that the people of New York deserve, the money would be found.'

See Need for Counseling

The Mayor's executive budget includes about $31 million less for CUNY's operational budget than it actually spent last year, and $34.8 million less than CUNY management requested.

"With the surplus and the extra revenues from taxes from all the real estate and commercial offices," said Aaron Naberer, a student and secretary at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, "I don't think it's right for the Mayor to be cutting from CUNY."

Many of the approximately dozen City Council members attending the rally also said the city needed to change its priorities. "If there is $100 million for Ratner and the Nets," said Higher Education Committee Chair Charles Barron, referring to the housing and arena project in Brooklyn, "and $105 million for the Mets, what are you doing cutting CUNY?"

Several students said that CUNY was their only option for an education. "Without CUNY I would not be a student of anything," said formerly-homeless BMCC student Shane Correia in a statement, "but I would be that kid on the train you avoided sitting next to on your commute to this press conference."

Professors argued that since many CUNY students are strapped for resources, mental health services were of high importance. Union officials noted that the causes of the massacre at Virginia Tech were "multiple and complex," but that "one clear issue that emerged was the importance of psychological and mental health counseling."

The union is proposing to add 51 full-time counselors to the current staff of 44, at a cost of about $4.3 million annually. The initiative also includes $2 million for one-on-one mentoring by full-time faculty.

Currently, there is one counselor available for every 1,628 students throughout CUNY. Different campuses have slightly varied ratios; at LaGuardia College, for example, there are currently 9 full-time counselors for 12,400 students.

'Constant Crises'

Lizette Colon is one of five faculty counselors at Hostos Community College. She teaches four classes per semester plus her counseling load. "We are constantly responding to crises," she said, "and therefore unable to provide preventive services. The needs are overwhelming and sometimes they seem endless."

Susan Diraimo has been an adjunct lecturer at City and Lehman Colleges since 1981. She said she still thinks about a City student named Varnel Delencourt who committed suicide 15 years ago. "Ever since then I keep encouraging students to go to counselors," she said, "but people have to wait a long time to see someone."

PSC members say that financial, family and social pressures can put an extra burden on CUNY students, noting that 23 percent of students support children, 48 percent speak a native language other than English and 48 percent work at least 20 hours per week. Given that 72 percent of the student body consists of people of color, the PSC argued that a "substantial number" of the new counselors should also be people of color.

More Students, Less Money

Overall, PSC officials say that city funding for CUNY is 17 percent lower than it was in 1990, using inflation-adjusted dollars, and that the system is strained to the breaking point due to the 30-year high in enrollment.

"In this year of increased funding for education k-through-12," said Ms. Bowen, "there is no excuse for cutting CUNY. A college degree is no longer a luxury in our society; it's necessity."