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1-"Why are so many of your @CUNY colleagues dying?" this is the question I'm being asked since @insidehighered article on 38+ faculty and staff COVID deaths. No one has even ventured to count how many of our 275K students have passed #CUNYStrong https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/23/cuny-system-suffers-more-coronavirus-deaths-any-other-higher-ed-system-us
2-Why? Because before NY Pause, we were in classrrooms teaching brave, brilliant @CUNY students, almost of whom work while they go to school. 40% have family incomes under 20K a year. They work at all the risky "essential jobs" that kept affluent New Yorkers safe #CUNYStrong
3-That lovely young Black woman behind the plexiglass at your local pharmacy on UES usually works after her class @HunterAlumni, uses the library b/c there's no wifi at home, takes MTA to her apt in Bronx where she lives w parents, grandparents, siblings. #CUNYStrong
4-She might be studying to be a pharmacist (one of the lucky ones w a retail job that might actually help her after she graduates) or an accountant or an English teacher. Like many @CUNY students, she will move from the lowest 20% of income to top 20%--a miracle! #CUNYStrong
5-Less than 1% of @HunterAlumni are from "the 1%." 40 of U.S. elite private schools have more students from top 1% than bottom 60%. @CUNY is a miracle of income mobility. While US billionaires made $565 billion extra in wealth since pandemic, we kept NY functioning #CUNYStrong
6-It is literally true that @CUNY students, staff, and faculty have died while keeping NY running and keeping affluent New Yorkers safe--Instacart deliveries, food and pharmacy, and, disproportionately, health care workers on the front lines #CUNYStrong.
7-This POTUS's attacks on DACA students, ICE rounding up college students, visa and student loan changes, all disproportionately hurt @CUNY, founded 1847 to serve immigrants. Every New Yorker has relative who went to @CUNY. True for this hardworking #CUNYSTrong generation too.
8-Now @NYGovCuomo and @NYCMayor are making decisions about budget and we hear @CUNY is on the chopping block, double or digit millions cut from a system already cut to the bone. Is this is how we repay heroes? #CUNYStrong
9-I hope brave youth protesting against racial, income, health injustice will take up #CUNYStrong. After taking down monuments to racism and oppression, let's rise up for @CUNY, a living, daily commitment to public higher education founded on social justice and equality
10-That's all I have to say today, a day of mourning for yet another colleague who has died, another student whose parents are dying. Essential workers. Essential CUNY. Thank you all for giving so much to NY during this crisis. #CUNYStrong
