Queens College students star in multilingual
video welcoming its incoming president
BY MARK HALLUM
With the Institute for
Health Metrics and Evaluation,
which the White House
recognizes as the primary
authority, predicting up to
200,000 American lives lost to
COVID-19 by October, Governor
Andrew Cuomo is keeping
a strict hand on New York’s
reopening.
With Monday being the
first day of Phase II reopening
for New York City and local
officials considering how
to manage restaurants and
bars serving on sidewalks and
streets, Cuomo will come down
hard on businesses who don’t
manage social distancing and
masks among patrons through
two executive orders.
First, establishments that
disregard the measures to
prevent the spread could have
their liquor licenses suspended
in immediate terms by roving
State Liquor Authority inspectors.
Second, the governor will
grant business certain management
rights over sidewalks
directly in front of their watering
hole giving them the right
to uphold mask and distancing
requirements.
“People in New York City
and Long Island; compliance
matters. And it’s not just
moral, ethical, communal, it’s
legal,” Cuomo said. “The numbers
are good because we’re
doing what we’re supposed to
do.”
Cuomo again called on the
city government to step up to
the plate to help enforce these
matters, which Mayor Bill de
Blasio made announcements
toward this Thursday morning
as well. Starting Monday,
the city, under the guidance
of the Department of Transportation,
will allow seating
on adjacent curbs, sidewalks,
backyards, patios, and some of
the city’s open streets as outdoor
TIMESLEDGER |22 QNS.COM | JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020
seating space.
There will be a self-certification
process put in place by
DOT on the city’s website for
restaurants, which the local
government hopes will help
45,000 hospitality industry
workers employed. According
to de Blasio and DOT Commissioner
Polly Trottenberg,
restaurants will even be able
to occupy parking spots, of
which there are about 3 million
in the city.
Cuomo gave Mayor de Blasio
a stern warning earlier in
the week after crowds of people
already indulging in Phase
II social life crowded streets
in the East Village and Upper
East Side. Cuomo threatened
to put Manhattan and
the Hamptons under PAUSE
orders again if the city did
not take control and if cases
spiked.
While de Blasio pushed
back on Cuomo’s threat as an
attempt to punish businesses
just trying to make money,
today, he said the city would
work in cooperation with the
State Liquor Authority.
Governor Cuomo says the
abundance of caution toward
the reopening comes for the
contemporary example of
other states such as Arizona,
Texas and California which
he claims are seeing increased
cases in accordance to loose
restrictions.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum
by e-mail at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by phone
at (718) 260–4564.
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Queens College is marking the start
of a new beginning as the school community
welcomes its incoming President
Frank Wu, who will be be the first
Asian-American leader of a CUNY
college in the world’s most diverse borough
when he takes office on July 1.
Queens College students delivered
a multilingual welcome to Wu in a
new video with a phrase similar to
“Welcome to Queens College!” in 17
languages.
In total, 83 languages are represented
on campus by a student body that
identifies with nearly 140 ancestries.
The languages spoken in the video are
American Sign Language, Amharic,
Arabic, Bukharian, Chinese (Mandarin),
English, Fanti, Farsi (Persian),
Greek, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Italian,
Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
and Urdu.
Wu, in turn, acknowledged the
challenges faced by the college, borough
and city during the COVID-19
pandemic, and pledged his support
going forward.
“I know that I will be serving as
president during a very difficult time
in the history of our college community,
city, state and nation,” Wu said in
the video. “The pandemic has forced
Queens College to shift to remote
learning, created many financial difficulties,
and left us concerned about
the future. It has also caused profound
heartache, with valued members of the
Queens College community succumbing
to this terrible disease.”
“Difficult times often bring out
the best in people. I am enormously
impressed with the resiliency and
strength of Queens College and the
CUNY community,” Wu added.
Wu also thanked Interim President
William Tramontano, who began leading
the college in June 2019 after his
predecessor, Félix V. Matos Rodríguez,
was appointed chancellor of CUNY.
Wu calls leading Queens College, “a
dream job,” saying, “In fact, because
you were my only choice, this was the
only search I was in.”
Wu is an American-born son of Chinese
immigrants. He was a William L.
Prosser distinguished professor at the
University of California Hastings College
of the Law. He was unanimously
appointed the 11th president of Queens
College by the City University of New
York’s board of trustees on March 30.
Wu received a BA from Johns
Hopkins University and a JD with
honors from the University of Michigan.
He completed the Management
Development Program at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education.
The first Asian-American to serve
as Queens College president — and
the first Asian-American to serve as a
president of a CUNY college in Queens
County — Wu is well-known for breaking
barriers and creating opportunities
for student success.
He was the first Asian-American
on the faculty of the law school at historically
black Howard University, and
spent two years directing its law school
clinic. He spent a decade serving on
the board of Gallaudet University,
which offers higher education to deaf
and hearing-impaired students. Prior
to joining UC Hastings as chancellor
and dean, an office he held for five
years, he was the dean of Wayne State
University Law School in Detroit; he
was the first Asian-American in those
leadership roles.
Liquor licenses to be revoked for
businesses shrugging off masks
and distancing guidelines: Cuomo
/QNS.COM
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