Governor Cuomo is Attacking Student Rights!

Governor Cuomo’s appointees on the CUNY Board of Trustees and in CUNY Administration are rushing through sweeping changes to the student activity fee, scrapping the referenda and student oversight that are the very foundation of a Student activity fee. Instead they want to take the money out of students' control and put it in the hands of administrators. Their proposed changes to the student activity fee will gut student activities, retaliating against student activist organizations that stood up to the Governor.

It’s the kind of bullying attack that Trump uses.

Already, Governor Cuomo has cut CUNY’s funding and imposed his own agenda on the system, attacking college aid programs like SEEK, ASAP and discovery. There is a direct link between the attacks on student rights and the under-funding of the CUNY system - This attack on student activities is an attempt to silence students and their organizations who speak out against the Governor’s agenda.

The student activity fee directly benefits CUNY’s diverse student body. Under students' control, it is a model of inclusion and funding for a wide variety of organizations, services and activities, including activist groups like NYPIRG, LGBTQ organizations, women’s groups and other vital resources. Just because these groups have spoken out against Governor Cuomo’s policies - which consistently ignore the educational needs of low income, female students and students of color - they should not be defunded by the CUNY trustees..

If you believe that students should have the right to control their own activity fee and that CUNY should be free, well-funded and accessible to all, then join us in demanding Governor Cuomo and the Board of Trustees: