CUNY in Crisis

[Welo70]

Has anybody heard of the situation at CUNY? It's buzzing in NY/NJ. Governer Cuomo is pushing to cut the CUNY budget by 1/2 billion dollars. It also seems that the NY is looking to punish CUNY even further at the behest of Zionist lobbyist groups. How much will this effect the Graduate programs? I think I have to consider this in my decision and perhaps might head to U Cal. I'm not sure if any of you consider this a big deal,  but programs (and their rankings) depend heavily on budget...such a sudden drop in budget long term consequences, no? What say yous all?

[ExponentialDecay]

It also seems that the NY is looking to punish CUNY even further at the behest of Zionist lobbyist groups.

Dude, what?

[Welo70]

3 hours ago, ExponentialDecay said:

 

Dude, what?

Sure. I meant to say ny senate. One of the main issues for some of the budget cut, supposedly, was anti-semitism at campuses. This was brought forth by Republic senator at the debate. It's an issue for NY based pro Israel groups.

https://www.frontpagemag.com/point/262213/students-justice-palestine-anti-semitism-costs-daniel-greenfield

http://www.wsj.com/articles/fight-over-cuny-funding-takes-unforeseen-turn-1458173768

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2016/03/8593829/senate-passes-budget-resolution-after-debate-anti-semitism-cuny

But the question is- should this massive budget cut affect my decision?

[kurayamino]

From the little knowledge I have on the situation as an alumna from CUNY, it seems as though every campus in the system is facing significant budget cuts and issues. Some of this will likely get filtered down to the graduate center TA budget, as I know my home campus (City College) laid off most of their English adjuncts and significantly reduced TAships through their masters program and from the grad center. That being said, if you received a funded offer that included X amount of money for Y amount of years, they've already budgeted for their shortfall. Those budgets were all made well before (August time frame usually) and so I think you'd be fine money wise. I would suspect that this would make it harder to pick up summer shifts or additional classes though if needed. Lots of CUNY students make it work though, so if you've been accepted there I'd reach out to some students.

In terms of rank--it's all pretty much a crap shoot anyway. I wouldn't worry about it, but that's just my opinion.

[ExponentialDecay]

That feeling when a future graduate student unironically quotes a resource with a headline that reads "Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out".

Edited March 20, 2016 by ExponentialDecay

[Welo70]

28 minutes ago, ExponentialDecay said:

That feeling when a future graduate student unironically quotes a resource with a headline that reads "Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out".

Ah, yes very funny; good choice from your selection of downloaded reaction gifs.

I admit that that title is sensationalist, but to completely disagree with such (albeit, un-nuianced statement) demonstrates a poor understanding of liberal economics and the consequences of neo-liberal ideology (hint: it's liberal imperialism). This coming from a current graduate student specializing in the global south.

Boy...can't wait to see your gif reaction for the WSJ article.

[ExponentialDecay]

Nah, I inserted from a url. Don't want to clutter my computer

As an economist, I am skeptical that the level of education and exposure to the subject of most students in the humanities is sufficient to ensure a researched and sophisticated opinion on the matter of anything economics related. I also hope that you will not try to paint me as some neoliberal shill who is using her qualifications to cast doubt on your argument, seeing as you just did that to me. I also think that WSJ is clickbait bullshit that has long gone the way of Thought Catalog, but I don't need a degree in Journalism to be able to figure that out.

Edited March 21, 2016 by ExponentialDecay