An Open Letter to all Cultural Anthropology Students and Faculty
Item
An Open Letter to all Cultural
Anthropology Students and Faculty
On the eighteenth of May, twenty students of Cultural
Anthropology met and agreed to form an organization to
address the concerns and promote the interests of Cultural
Anthropology students in the CUNY graduate program.
Our intention is to create an ongoing forum to address
issues including: communication between students and
faculty; the need for improved grievance procedures; the
need for greater and more effective student representation
in departmental decision-making processes; and the
development of cooperative solutions to larger structural
constraints.
This organization is open to, and encourages participation
of, all Cultural Anthropology students.
Signed,
Betsy Andrews Jonathan Hearn
Mary Apikos Milton Herrere
Helio Belik Yvonne LaSalle
Nancy Benignus Michael MacDonald
Thomas Burgess Anthony Marcus
Julia Butterfield-Huq Kate McCaffrey
Kitty Clarke Eric McGuckin
Walter Ewing Rosamel Millaman
Alfredo Gonzalez Belkis Necos
Sabiyha Graham Martha Rodriguez
Anthropology Students and Faculty
On the eighteenth of May, twenty students of Cultural
Anthropology met and agreed to form an organization to
address the concerns and promote the interests of Cultural
Anthropology students in the CUNY graduate program.
Our intention is to create an ongoing forum to address
issues including: communication between students and
faculty; the need for improved grievance procedures; the
need for greater and more effective student representation
in departmental decision-making processes; and the
development of cooperative solutions to larger structural
constraints.
This organization is open to, and encourages participation
of, all Cultural Anthropology students.
Signed,
Betsy Andrews Jonathan Hearn
Mary Apikos Milton Herrere
Helio Belik Yvonne LaSalle
Nancy Benignus Michael MacDonald
Thomas Burgess Anthony Marcus
Julia Butterfield-Huq Kate McCaffrey
Kitty Clarke Eric McGuckin
Walter Ewing Rosamel Millaman
Alfredo Gonzalez Belkis Necos
Sabiyha Graham Martha Rodriguez
Title
An Open Letter to all Cultural Anthropology Students and Faculty
Description
Signed on May 18th by 20 students from the Graduate Center, this open letter announced the formation of an organization to address the concerns of the students in the Cultural Anthropology program. It specifically called for an improved grievance process, more effective student representation in the decision-making process in the program, and the development of cooperative solutions to student and faculty problems.
The 1991 CUNY strikes were part of the larger story of austerity measures imposed on New York City and the community efforts to resist those measures. On April 16th, students mainly from the Graduate Center Anthropology PhD program occupied the Graduate Center in solidarity with a broader undergraduate mobilization across CUNY against the threat of steep tuition hikes, massive budget cuts, and faculty layoffs. What began as a one-day strike turned into a ten-day take-over in which students and faculty practiced forms of participatory democracy, discussed the root causes of the austerity problems being faced, and debated actions for change. Students often drew on CUNY’s history as the premier urban, public institution of higher education in the United States to argue that education was a right and that the proposed measures threatened working-class New Yorkers' ability to receive an education.
Contributor
McCaffrey, Katherine
Creator
Cultural Anthropology students
Date
May 18, 1990
Language
English
Rights
Copyrighted
Source
McCaffrey, Katherine
Cultural Anthropology students. Letter. “An Open Letter to All Cultural Anthropology Students and Faculty.”, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1699