Hi Everyone,
I do not know if many of you read this week's Ticker (the school newspaper). On the front page was an article on the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovative Act or PHEEIA for short. The article had a rather positive tone to it. It essentially suggested that PHEEIA, which would give CUNY the ability to raise its own tuition instead of waiting for the legislature to do it, was a positive thing and that it should be passed.
I took great exception to the message of the article mainly because neither the CUNY Board of Trustees nor the individual campus presidents have made student services a priority. For example, in December of 2008 the Board recommended an annual tuition increase of $600 to help close budget gaps. However, the impending budget gaps were not an issue when the Board voted to give raises to the vice chancellors and campus presidents in September of 2008. Chancellor Goldstein himself is making $550,000 a year. That is nearly double his salary when he was first hired in 1999. Two weeks ago it was reported that the Newman library had $125,000 cut from its budget. Crippling the library's ability to purchase new textbooks for student use.
Furthermore, on page 7 of this week's Ticker Tanvir Hossain, former USG president, wrote an article about the negative treatment of student organizations in regards to using campus space. I find it hard to believe that if PHEEIA is approved the administration will magically begin considering student services has their number one priority. Now, what does this have to do with our class?
We have been discussing effective management techniques and have learned a great deal about what makes a good leader or manager. Our most recent consideration was teamwork. We have an idea of what the structure of an effective organization should be. Based on our class material to this point I ask you, are the financial woes of CUNY a management or personnel issue? Meaning is the structure of the system of to blame or the people running the system?
I have been a part of CUNY for both my undergraduate and graduate education and can say with some confidence that the ideas we are being taught are not being followed by our own institution. I would like your viewpoint on this issue and will respond by expanding on my own opinion.
Gaurav "Mike" Bawa
I have had similar experiences as a part of the CUNY "family" (have my B.A from QC). Many of the students at school and myself noticed that there always seemed to be some sort of administrative/financial problems leading to cuts in services and student aid. I have also heard from lecturing professors that CUNY wouldn't provide them with maternity leave or child care. A system so extensive with hundreds of thousands of students, donors and faculty that unlike other university systems received so much of their funding from the city and state seems to be losing a grip on their financial management. The financial crisis also hit CUNY and most of its colleges face some sort of cuts. Yet their top executives receive significant pay raises. This seems to be a trend for many institutions for higher education, (according to a NYTimes article-
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/nyregion/14cunypay.html). what is therefore so different, if at all, about cuny?...
gabriela j.