HIGHER ED TODAY
COURIER L 12 IFE, MAY 29 -JUNE 4, 2020
Schools across
the city brace
for new realities
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Third-level education institutions
and their students in New York City
face a lot of uncertainty as the coronavirus
pandemic is slated to continue
into the summer and is almost certainly
going to affect the fall semester.
As colleges and universities wrap
up an unprecedented spring semester
that was forced to move online as
of March, faculty and administrative
staff are working to create ways to
continue education and research in
September.
“I know none of you signed up for
this, but you should all be proud of the
strength you have shown,” said Félix
V. Matos Rodríguez, chancellor of the
City University of New York in a May
11 message.
The City University of New York
— which could face up to 25 percent
in cuts come September as a result
of slashes to the state’s budget — has
been grappling with the health crisis
ever since it closed down its 25 campuses
across the fi ve boroughs and
has moved all its classes online for its
275,000 students.
CUNY leaders have recently decided
to move all summer classes online,
but are still awaiting guidance
from the state’s Education Department
on how to proceed for the fall.
Private universities in the city have
been more emphatic about reopening
fully in the fall, likely fearing a drop
in applications, but to what extent they
will do that depends on the institution.
Consultant fi rm McKinsey — which
Governor Andrew Cuomo tapped to
develop an economic reopening plan
for the state — in April released a fi vepoint
plan for institutions on how to operate
remotely in the coming months.
The plans focus on allowing all
students and staff access to the technology
they need to learn remotely,
including laptops and a good internet
connection, as well as other services
that universities provide, such as food,
housing, and mental health services.
Remote learning has exposed a digital
divide between wealthier and lower
income students, with well-heeled
pupils more likely to have laptops, a
good wifi connection, and other gadgets
to help learn via the web, and universities
need to nip these challenges
in the bud, according to a Harvard
Business Review report.
The institutions should also help
staff learn about the new technology in
the summer months with boot camps,
up IT support, and cyber defense, so
that the new digital infrastructure
works across the board and is safe for
all who use it, according to McKinsey
consultants.
Heads of Fordham University in
the Bronx announced that they will
convert more parts of their courses
into a pre-recorded on-demand format,
which students can obtain on their
own schedule, such as lectures that
are mostly presentations or other independent
learning modules.
That will free up more time that
teachers can devote to holding live sessions
for discussions and meetings either
in small group settings or virtually.
Columbia will also aim to “de-densify”
its campus by bundling the three
semesters in fall 2020, spring 2021, and
2021 together to provide students with
more fl exibility when to take courses
in person.
The McKinsey report urges colleges
to maintain student life and campus
communities outside of the classroom,
with online events, discussions,
and other virtual gatherings that
could be organized through an online
student center.
NYU has already launched a series
of virtual events to help incoming students
connect with the university’s
community, including virtual tours
of its campuses and Ask Me Anything
sessions with current students via Instagram.
Using online platforms like Zoom
has already allowed teachers to host
classes with students in scattered in
different time zones. Some lecturers at
NYU have become more creative with
their online classes, like one teacher
who used the social media platform
Tik Tok as a teaching aid.
University education faces many
challenges and disruptions in the coming
months and years, but college leaders
are working hard to forge the path
that lies ahead.
“As disjointed as this moment has
come to feel, as fi lled as it is with deep
uncertainties, we must move forward,”
said president of Columbia University
Lee Bollinger in a May 14 statement.
“This has been a spring for the ages,
and my deepest hope is that the goodwill
and collective effort manifested in
this crisis will continue to sustain us
in the months and years ahead.”
EDUCATION
Kingsborough Community College student
Jaweria Bakar grew up in Pakistan
and moved to Brooklyn with her husband in
2010. Inspired to become a doctor after her
father’s recovery from a stroke, the mother
of two enrolled at Kingsborough in the fall
of 2018, ending a decade-long educational
gap. There, she emerged as a campus leader,
and an honors biology student.
This spring, Bakar was one of three
high-achieving CUNY community college
students to win a highly competitive
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate
Transfer Scholarship, joining an elite
group of 50 students selected from among
1,500 applicants from more than 300 community
colleges. The scholarship, worth
up to $40,000 per year, will help Bakar to
continue pursuing her bachelor’s degree at
Yale.
She is one of dozens of current CUNY
students and recent grads who have garnered
prestigious honors during this academic
awards season. In addition to the
Cooke winners, CUNY counted one Soros
winner, 16 Fulbright scholars, two Goldwater
scholars, one National Institutes of
Health’s Oxford-Cambridge Scholar, seven
National Science Foundation Graduate Research
Fellows, and the list goes on.
Even as our attention remains focused
on the medical, economic and emotional
hardships that have been wrought by the
coronavirus pandemic, our students continue
to shine. It is their resiliency, determination
and drive that make CUNY,
a transformative engine for thousands of
families with roots in every corner of the
world, a beacon of opportunity that will
be even more vital in the unsteady times
ahead.
It is important, then, that we take stock
of our students’ outstanding accomplishments,
and extend the congratulations and
recognition that they richly deserve.
This year’s cadre of standouts includes
Haiti-born poet Joel Francois, a recent
Brooklyn College grad whose family immigrated
to Brooklyn when he was 5, who was
honored with the renowned Soros Fellowship
for New Americans.
Lehman College senior Jasmine Euyoque,
the child of Mexican immigrants
and the first in her family to attend college,
won a Fulbright U.S. Student Scholarship.
Euyoque excelled in the highly selective
Lehman Scholars Program, cultivating
an interest in computer science. She plans
to spend her Fulbright year teaching English
in Uruguay, where she seeks to expose
youngsters to opportunities in tech.
Her successes, along with those of
Francois, Bakar and the others, reinforce
the values of our University.
Feting our Grads
The conclusion of the semester also
means it’s time to honor our graduates. For
more than 30,000 (CHECKING) members of
CUNY’s Class of 2020, the last leg of the college
journey took an abrupt and unimaginable
turn. These grads had their final semester
altered in unprecedented fashion,
but they still made it to the finish.
Now, despite the requirement to physically
distance in response to the coronavirus,
it is crucial that we give them a fitting
sendoff.
In lieu of in-person ceremonies, which
most of our colleges still plan to hold when
circumstances allow, CUNY schools have
already started holding virtual festivities
that feature speakers from the worlds
of government, philanthropy and the sciences.
They include New York State Attorney
General Letitia (Tish) James; Former
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder; marine
biologist and environmental advocate
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson; two-time CUNY
graduate and immigration advocate Antonio
Alarcon; and philanthropist Judith K.
Dimon.
I am participating in many of these
virtual celebrations and have already addressed
the graduates of several schools,
including the history-making first graduating
class of CUNY’s School of Medicine.
Those brave students concluded their studies
ahead of schedule so they could join the
frontline battle against the pandemic.
As I’ve told many of our students, the
Class of 2020 has demonstrated a resilience
and resolve that inspires me. They stayed
strong, adapted and pulled together, even
as their campus life ended abruptly.
I am incredibly proud of them, and
despite the uncertain times ahead I’m as
optimistic and excited as ever about their
futures.
Please join me in congratulating them.