FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 15, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Costume query leads
to F.H. train fi ght
Cops are looking for two women who
assaulted a straphanger on a subway in
Forest Hills.
According to police, at 1:30 p.m. on Nov.
2, the 50-year-old female victim was riding
a Queens-bound E train with two unknown
women. When the victim’s 8-year-old son
asked her why the son of one of the other
women was wearing a costume, the two
women started an argument with the victim.
Law enforcement sources said the altercation
quickly turned physical, with one
woman putting the victim into a chokehold
and the other punching the victim in
the face and hitting her in the head with a
cellphone.
Cops said the attackers exited the train
when it reached the 71-Continental
Avenues station and fl ed the station to
parts unknown.
On Nov. 13, the NYPD released video
footage of the assailants during part of the
argument.
Cops described one suspect as a black
woman with eyeglasses between the ages of
25 to 30 years old, last seen wearing a gray
shirt, dark-colored pants, a black jacket tied
around her waist and carrying a black purse
over her shoulder. Th e second perpetrator
is described as a black woman between the
ages of 25 to 30 years old who was last seen
wearing a red baseball cap, a blue jacket
and gray sweatpants.
Anyone with information in regard to
this incident is asked to call the NYPD’s
Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS
(8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA
(74782). All calls are kept confi dential.
Emily Davenport
Kid porn peddler gets
4-12 years in prison
An Astoria man paid the price on Tuesday
for sharing hundreds of photos and videos
of children being sexually abused by adults
online, prosecutors announced.
Howard Stapley, 40, pleaded guilty in
September to 125 counts of promoting a sexual
performance by a child and 171 counts of
possessing a sexual performance by a child.
He was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison
and must register as a sex off ender upon his
release from prison.
According to charges, Stapley began to
date a woman, who has not been identifi
ed, in August 2015. About a month into
the relationship, Stapley told her to download
the KIK app, a mobile instant messaging
app, onto her cellphone.
Once she installed the app onto her phone,
Stapley immediately began sending her photographs
and video clips of young children
being molested by adults.
As noted in the criminal complaint,
Stapley told the woman through text that “I
enjoy the idea of converting you into a pedophile.”
He further began to teach the woman
how to take explicit photos of children and
how to sexually molest a child in a public
bathroom.
Stapley also went as far as urging the
woman to place babysitting ads so the two
of them could molest the children that were
in her care.
Emily Davenport
‘Fund CUNY ASAP’: City college
students call for more funding
BY EMMA MILLER
editorial@qns.com / @QNS
Students, unions and community
groups petitioned on 10 campuses
in Queens and other boroughs on
Wednesday for more funding for the
City University of New York (CUNY)
on Citywide Day of Action.
Th e event was part of the Fund
CUNY ASAP campaign created by the
CUNY Rising Alliance, a coalition of 33
organizations created to fi ght for free
higher education. NYPIRG, faculty and
staff unions and the CUNY University
Student Senate also participated in the
Day of Action.
Th e group wants more funding for
CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate
Programs (ASAP) and Accelerate
Complete Engage (ACE) programs.
Th ese off er smaller classes, better advising,
fl exible schedules and free tuition,
textbooks and MetroCards to students.
Th e programs have been proven to double
graduation rates and save the college
money.
“When I had ASAP, I had resources
like a MetroCard, textbook vouchers,
an adviser to help me with anything
going on academically or personally,”
said Anthony Vancol, a psychology
major at Queens College who graduated
from Queensborough Community
College. “If I did not have ASAP, I don’t
think I would have graduated in the two
years that I did.”
Only two out of 10 CUNY community
college students graduate in three
years, while 53 percent of ASAP students
graduate in within three years.
Th e average adviser at CUNY covers
anywhere from 600 to 1,000 students,
another issue more funding for ASAP
could address.
Organizers planned the day of action
to be at the same time as the CUNY
board of trustees’ formation of their
budget request for the next year.
Participating students want the board
to ask the city and state governments
for enough money to fully fund programs
like ASAP and ACE.
Th ere is an online petition outlining
these demands addressed to Governor
Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio. Students
and other volunteers collected signatures
via email and social media.
“CUNY ASAP funding must be a priority
in the upcoming state and city
budgets,” said Carlos Calzadilla, president
of Young Progressives of America,
one of the organizations that makes
up CUNY Rising Alliance. “Expanding
ASAP and increasing it to include all
CUNY students in need is what truly
free college in New York City would
look like ... ASAP is a program that
tackles barriers that oft en prevent working
class students from aff ording college.”
Per-student support for CUNY
senior colleges from the state has
gone down 18 percent over the past
decade. Although overall funding has
increased, it is not enough to fully fund
ASAP and ACE. An independent study
showed that fully funding the programs
would cost more per student but
save the college an average of $6,500
per graduate.
“CUNY knows how to support students
who are struggling to graduate.
It knows how to lift students out of
poverty,” said Smitha Varghese, chair
of NYPIRG’s board. “ASAP and ACE
show what CUNY can be if it is well
funded. It’s time for Albany and City
Hall to do the right thing and fully fund
CUNY.”
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