How COVID-19 is inspiring new visions for higher education
felix lipov/Shutterstock
Advocates say bold plans could help New York recover from the pandemic while addressing inequities.
SHARE:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is hardly the only political player who is leaning on 20th century references to present his vision for a post-pandemic future in New York. State Sen. Alessandra Biaggi is pushing for a state-level “Marshall Plan for Moms” while environmental activists say a Green New Deal matters more than ever. Higher education advocates even say the time is coming for students to get their own versions of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and G.I. Bill.
Economy, finance, and budgets
The City University of New York faces a financial crisis comparable with the one that rocked it in the 1990s. Now, as then, the catalyst is a massive shortfall in state and city budgets. Combined, the governments of New York State and New York City, other local governments, and transportation authorities project a $59 billion shortfall into 2022 one of the deepest budget holes in the country. CUNY’s only salvation is to reduce its dependence on state funding, just as the nation’s most successful public universities started doing long ago. But how to do that amid a pandemic is a major challenge.
The Nation, check out our latest issue.
Subscribe to
Support Progressive Journalism
The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today.
Did you know you can support
The Nation by drinking wine?
The Borough of Manhattan Community College’s library occupies the fourth floor of its TriBeCa campus. It has a beautiful view in the middle of a neighborhood that was long ago ceded to the elite by way of inflated property values, and it belongs to students whose families are likely to make less than $20,000 a year. Pleasing scenery may seem utterly superfluous to education, but as evidence of actually existing democracy on an island largely governed by real estate speculation, it is priceless. BMCC, like other City University of New York campuses, are reminders that people without money don’t just deserve some job training; they deserve a good education that might even involve some
SUNY Oct 28, 2020
New York’s public university system is requiring students to test negative for the coronavirus before they can leave for Thanksgiving break in hopes of preventing community spread as students fan across the country. The system’s 64 colleges and universities must come up with plans by Nov. 5 to test about 140,000 students within 10 days before Thanksgiving break, State University… CUNY Oct 27, 2020
As frontline workers continue to aid the city in its fight against the coronavirus, many wonder how the city can assist them? To show support for nurses working on the frontlines, the Professional Staff Congress (PSC), a union of CUNY professors and professional staff, partnered with The New York State Nurses Union Association (NYSNA) to launch the PSC CUNY Homework…
CUNY withholds promised pay raise amid fiscal crisis nydailynews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nydailynews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.