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Q&A
Council Member Yusef Salaam questions CUNY leadership on adult learners, affordability, and diversity
1:45:01
·
5 min
Council Member Yusef Salaam engages in a Q&A session with CUNY leadership, focusing on issues affecting his Harlem district. He inquires about programs for adult learners, affordability measures for first-generation college students, faculty diversity and vacancies at City College, and pipeline programs for local high school students.
- CUNY representatives discuss plans to expand outreach for adult learners through the CUNY Reconnect program
- The importance of eliminating barriers such as application fees is emphasized
- CUNY leadership commits to addressing faculty diversity and supporting STEM education pathways
Yusef Salaam
1:45:01
Thank you and good morning.
1:45:04
I wanna touch back on the adult and returning learners.
1:45:09
Harlem has a sizable population of adults who started but never finished college.
1:45:14
With zero funding allocated to CUNY Reconnect or CUNY Flex or for our part time adult learners, In this plan, does CUNY plan to reengage Harlem's adult learners?
1:46:34
Yeah, because we definitely want to make sure that they get the opportunity to go back to school especially as you know constituents, my constituents in particular.
1:46:44
About affordability and equity, many of my constituents are first generation college students facing financial hardship.
1:46:51
Why does the executive budget still exclude funding for the CUNY application fee, the CUNY application fee waiver or the CUNY free community pilot?
1:47:02
And how can we fix this in the final budget?
1:48:07
Well, thank you for your commitment.
1:48:08
I just have one final question.
1:48:10
Faculty and staffing.
1:48:12
City College in Harlem has long been the beacon of opportunity but it also faces high vacancy rates and faculty burnout.
1:48:20
What is the plan to fill vacant pedagogical and non pedagogical positions in Harlem based campuses?
1:48:27
And how will CUNY ensure faculty diversity?
1:49:25
I just have one final quick question.
1:49:28
If possible.
1:49:29
So City College, which is also located in my district, home to the high school of math, Science and Engineering.
1:49:38
One of the best high schools in the city.
1:49:41
I would like to know if CUNY is developing a pipeline system that will allow for City College to work with and prepare students in our district to be able to be accepted and enter the school?
1:50:38
Thank you.
1:50:39
Thank you, cheers.
Alicia Alvero
1:45:31
Thank you for the question.
1:45:33
So we, our goal with funding for CUNY Reconnect, we have learned a lot on reconnecting with the adult population and what their needs are and how to connect with them.
1:45:47
And our proposal really is to expand that outreach and we have partnering with local organizations for and including disability service organizations.
1:45:59
And there are adults who have some college credit that have disabilities and reaching out in creative ways to other populations because the onset of CUNY reconnect was reconnecting with students who had stopped out of CUNY.
1:46:14
But to your point, there are many adults in New York City who have some college credit whether it be CUNY or not.
1:46:21
And so now this next phase of CUNY Reconnect is reaching out to that student population, working with local organizations who may have staff who want to upskill and how do we connect them and reach out and coordinate with them.
Félix Matos Rodríguez
1:47:06
So, thank you for your questions.
1:47:08
So, application fee waiver, to your point, is one way of eliminating barriers, which I think is the point that you're trying to make about this population.
1:47:16
So thank you for your leadership and support in that arena.
1:47:20
And we saw the momentum in what eliminating the fee waiver even for four weeks did in bringing more students to apply for the New York City public schools.
1:47:33
Right?
1:47:33
So we want to build in that momentum to eliminate all barriers for the students that we serve.
1:47:40
So we think that we can get to do that so nobody has to debate whether $65 becomes something that keeps me from applying.
1:47:48
So we're very committed to that.
1:47:50
The council's support on that and the speaker's support will be huge in making that happen.
1:47:55
And I can see how the eyes of students, you know, lit bright with enthusiasm when they are told you're worth it.
1:48:03
You don't have to do that.
1:48:04
We just want you at CUNY.
1:48:31
Thank you for your question.
1:48:32
So the funding for faculty in City College is something that it falls mostly within these resources that come from from the state.
1:48:44
And and I know that City College has been increasing their enrollment.
1:48:48
Right?
1:48:49
So they've been investing in in new programs.
1:48:52
They've been traditionally a very strong campus in STEM, right, which means that not only do we want, to your point, very diverse faculty to make sure that they're teaching our students, but we also need to at times pay a premium because those faculty tend to be, you know, in larger demand and therefore more costly.
1:49:10
So, you know, we are committed to that work.
1:49:12
And we've been supporting the work of the campuses in advancing their diversity.
1:49:18
It's something that's very much dear to President Boudreaux's interest and we continue to support them.
1:49:53
Oh, so absolutely.
1:49:54
And the STEM school is is one of those beacons of of great hope.
1:49:58
One of the things that I'll add to your comment too that as we're trying to do more work to get many more students connected to potential careers in STEM, in science, that math background is really, really important.
1:50:13
Right?
1:50:14
You cannot take upper level courses in high school if you don't have that math background, right, to be able to get college credit.
1:50:20
So we are very much building on that pipeline.
1:50:23
There's additional money on the state budget to support early college funding which will create sustainable paths to do that.
1:50:31
But we're entirely supportive of that line of work.
1:50:35
And you have a stellar program in the district doing great work.
1:50:38
Thank you.
Hector Batista
1:49:25
Actually chair.
Justin Brannan
1:49:28
Sure.
1:49:28
Go ahead.