HIGHER ED TODAY
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Full of optimism awakened by the
recent lifting of COVID restrictions,
Americans from coast to coast are beginning
to take cautious, but hopeful
first steps toward the promise of a postpandemic
world. It makes for an ideal
time to celebrate Pride Month and acknowledge
the rich legacy of the LGBTQ
movement, and the many dedicated activists
who aroused the conscience of a
nation during the AIDS pandemic, ultimately
helping create a freer and more
accepting society.
The integral role the City University
of New York played in this historic
movement is a point of great pride.
CUNY is the home of the nation’s first
university-based research institute dedicated
to the history, culture, politics
and struggles of the LGBTQ community.
CLAGS, now called the Center for LGBTQ
Studies and housed at the CUNY
Graduate Center, continues to serve as
a national resource for the promotion of
scholarship that fosters social change.
The same can be said for the LGBT Social
Science & Public Policy Center, created
in 2008 at Hunter College, which
supports research that informs public
policy decisions on LGBTQ issues.
CLAGS was created by Martin Duberman,
a distinguished professor of
history and a trailblazing scholar, playwright
and activist. Duberman wrote
the landmark Stonewall: The Definitive
Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising
that Changed America, about the 1969
Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village,
the catalyzing event that gave birth to
the gay rights movement.
CUNY scholars continue to contribute
to the literature of the movement.
Just last month Sarah Schulman, a
distinguished professor of the humanities
at the College of Staten Island, published
Let the Record Show: A Political
History of ACT UP New York 1987-1993,
the definitive story of the direct-action
activists of ACT UP who refused to be
silent during the AIDS pandemic that
gripped our nation and world.
This tradition continues as we offer
enriching and innovative programs to
Caribbean L 24 ife, MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2021
benefit our LGBTQ students. Recently,
we launched the CUNY LGBTQI+ Advocacy
Academy, where some 20 students
from around the University are taking
a seminar-style course to develop their
leadership skills by learning the ins
and outs of political advocacy, policy
development, community organizing,
and civic engagement, so that they can
become the next generation of LGBTQ
leaders. I was pleased to virtually attend
the first meeting of the class, led
by former New York City Councilman
Jimmy Vacca, now a distinguished lecturer
at Queens College.
Last month we also launched the
CUNY LGBTQI+ Summer Internship
program with a virtual conference,
which I attended along with the presidents
of Baruch College, The City College
of New York and LaGuardia Community
College, as well as leaders interested in
providing career engagement opportunities
in the private, cultural and nonprofit
sectors for our LGBTQI+ students.
The recruitment process begins this fall
and the program will officially welcome
its first cohort next summer. Both programs
benefit from the generosity and
leadership of Mitch Draizin, the founder
and president of the Concordia Philanthropic
Fund, whose mission is to support
youth leadership initiatives for the
LGBTQ community.
These programs, as well as our ongoing
scholarship devoted to LGBTQ
history, are a reflection of CUNY’s
historic values of inclusivity, diversity
and the pursuit of social justice.
In that spirit we recently created a
one-stop online tool, the CUNY LGBTQI+
Hub, which collects the resources
available to our LGBTQI+
community in one centralized location,
so they know that CUNY is the
safe environment they need to thrive
and flourish.
There is hope and optimism in the
air, something that has been in short
supply in recent months. As we celebrate
this Pride Month in a safe and
responsible manner, let’s remember
all that we have to be proud of and
thankful for.
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City releases
draft plan for
District 15
desegregation
BY BEN VERDE
The Department of Education released
a draft proposal for its plan to
increase diversity throughout School
District 15 this month, following a
planning process that was increased
by a year to allow for more public input.
The plan focuses on desegregating
schools in Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens,
Red Hook, and Boerum Hill, by
changing the existing zoning lines
and shifting some admissions priority
towards historically underserved
students.
“We’ve learned from this process,”
said Max Familian, a staffer at the
Department of Education’s District
Planning Offi ce during a May meeting
of the District 15 Community Education
Council. “We’ve learned of
the power of longer and more varied
engagement strategies, we’ve realized
how powerful it can be to build
close relationships with community
members through planning.”
In its draft plan, the District Planning
Offi ce recommended widening
the zoning boundaries of certain
schools, and shrinking the boundaries
of others, in an effort to shift enrollment
to schools that can handle
it, and reduce enrollment at overcrowded
schools.
The schools that the department
has recommended increasing the
zones for are PS 32 in Carroll Gardens,
PS 38 in Boerum Hill, and PS
15 in Red Hook, while the schools it
is recommending have their zones
shrunk are PS 58 and PS 29 in Carroll
Gardens and Cobble Hill respectively
— two of the most sought-after public
elementary schools in Brooklyn.
PS 32 on Hoyt Street recently built
an entirely new building as an addition
to its campus, greatly increasing
the number of students it can serve.
The department found that
schools like PS 58 and PS 29 were at
over 100 percent of their capacity and
were serving the smallest amount of
historically underrepresented students
— which the department defi
nes as students in temporary housing
or public housing, receiving free
or discounted lunch, or those learning
English.
Schools with larger student populations
receive more funding, resulting
in inequities between schools
throughout the district.
The department is also recommending
giving 30 percent priority
to underrepresented students in the
admissions process to those schools
in the zone that encompasses Carroll
Gardens, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill,
and Red Hook.
The proposal is not slated to take
effect until the 2022-23 school year
and will only affect incoming Pre-K
and Kindergarten students. To increase
awareness of the plan, the
local CEC will hold community outreach
sessions within individual
school communities throughout the
2021-22 school year.
The draft proposal was crafted
with guidance from a committee of
locals with children or grandchildren
attending the affected schools.
The panel began its work at the onset
of the coronavirus outbreak, and
worked on it virtually throughout
the pandemic and historic uprising
against racial injustice of 2020.
“We want to note the signifi cant
impact of doing this project in the
middle of the Covid-19 pandemic,”
said panel member Ashley Hammarth.
“It was also in the same historical
moment as the widespread
reckoning with racial injustice that
resparked in May 2020. Both the
pandemic and racial injustice have
greatly underscored our work with a
sense of urgency and heightened purpose.”
Members of CEC15, a local policy
advisory board for educational issues,
were receptive to the proposal.
“We’ve been working for years
towards equity-based integration,”
said President Camille Casaretti.
“I’m excited to see a rezoning plan
that refl ects this.”
Locals will have the chance to
weigh in on the draft plan during the
May 25 CEC15 meeting.
Education