By distributing leaflets to students and making noise on campus Brooklyn College, professors have again raised the issue of the decline in state funding for higher education.
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Not only are professors are not hired to teach full time so that students end up paying more for less, professors have been working without contracts for the past six years. Governor Cuomo has praised the success of CUNY and the Macaulay Honours Program while continuing with his plans to increase the tuition burden on other students.
So what is the role that students in Macaulay play in this dilemma? Since we do not pay any tuition, should we not be at the forefront of the battle to make sure our peers do not get their tuition raised? Or is it okay for us to remain the arbitrary elitist bystanders who let others worry about problems that do not concern us?
Well the issue of full time faculty is already a concern for us, and the other budgetary issues may start be a concern. It is only a matter of time before Cuomo and his legislature decide that they are being too generous to the students of Macaulay. We receive and unprecedented amount of aid and some politician will soon recognize that.
The professor’s union at Brooklyn College has already taken the lead, but the students should move to the front with great speed. It is our responsibility to make sure that our education and the education of the classes behind us is not hampered by frugality in state’s budget. Education is one of America’s most precious and finite resources and should be protected at all costs.
Macaulay is the shining star of the CUNY system and should always represent the best and brightest of what the city has to offer. Right now, there is a struggle between the CUNY bureaucracy, the professors and the state to determine the future of CUNY and possibly Macaulay. It is time for the people of Macaulay to step up and represent other CUNY students against the mounting pressure on our peers, our mentors and what will eventually be ourselves.
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