We believe in democracy and the importance of students running the movement they are a part of with structure and discipline. We believe in organized mass movements and the ability for students to make change through people-power to demand that their universities listen to them and change their profit-maximizing behavior. Most of all, we believe that if students are the ones being asked to organize and mobilize, that they are the ones who should be making the important strategic decisions around the work they do.
We believe education is a right for everyone, not a privilege for the select few. Decades of austerity and the privatization of higher-education has rendered the CUNY system—once tuition-free—in need of desperate repair. Ceilings that fall on students in the middle of class, buildings with no functioning elevators, faculty and staff being overworked and underpaid, required courses being cut due to layoffs—these are just a few of the frustrations CUNY students, staff, and faculty deal with each and every day.
That’s only half the story, though. As Mayor Adams continues to cut CUNY’s budget, Columbia and NYU gobble up property, creating another insidious force in our city that hoards privilege and sucks the life out of our streets. While enjoying tax-exempt non-profit status, Columbia and NYU increasingly behave like for-profit real estate developers—with no intention of giving back. They continue to expand their investments in NYC real estate without paying property taxes and sharing the wealth and prosperity that they are accumulating. Columbia University and NYU are now two of the largest private property owners in NYC, but under NY state law, these institutions are exempt from over $300 million each year in property taxes. We are outraged—as Columbia and NYU expand their domain across NYC, CUNY is being starved.
A quality education should not just be reserved for students who can pay for it. 82% of CUNY students went to a NYC public high school, and 85% of CUNY students stay in NYC after they graduate. 57% of CUNY students are Pell Grant recipients, and 49% work while attending class. CUNY is a beacon of class mobility; six of the top ten colleges nationwide for bottom-to-top economic mobility are CUNY colleges. It could not be more clear: an investment into CUNY is an investment into New York. Furthermore, an investment into CUNY affirms our belief that education is right afforded to all.
NYC UNION of STUDENTS 