"An Open Letter to CUNY Admins"

Item

Title

"An Open Letter to CUNY Admins"

Description

Posted on July 7, 2020, this Reddit thread recorded one unnamed student's open letter to the City University of New York (CUNY) administration in the interest of drawing critical attention to the persistent mix of unclear, conflicting, or otherwise discordant signals received by CUNY leadership and its student populations following the outbreak of the COVID-19 across the greater NYC area. Scrutinizing CUNY administrators amid a persistent lack of institutional transparency, the student portrayed university communications as "wrought with uncertainty" which contributed to the confusion regarding CUNY's plans for the future.

The letter emphasized the effects of these student anxieties and struggles, calling attention in particular to instructors who have reduplicated their teaching practices and set rigid expectations for their online courses. The student also noted the tendency for faculty to compensate for the loss of in-person learning by increasing the workload in their courses, failing to acknowledge the ongoing struggles and embodied learning experiences of their students in the process.

This item is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) Distance Learning Archive, a group project developed as part of Prof. Matthew K. Gold's Spring 2020 Knowledge Infrastructures seminar in the Ph.D. Program in English at The Graduate Center, CUNY, in partnership with the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program. The project's goal was to resist or trouble the discourse of catastrophe around the shift to online learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by documenting the lived experiences of students, faculty, and staff across CUNY's 25 campuses. Further, the project wanted to document the moment of crisis response by taking a critical approach to educational technology.

Creator

Anonymous

Source

CUNY Distance Learning Archive

Publisher

Reddit

Date

July 7, 2020

Rights

Obtained from Contributor - Copyright Unknown

Language

English

uri

https://www.reddit.com/r/CUNY/comments/gyiw7k/an_open_letter_to_cuny_admins/

Transcription

An Open Letter to CUNY Admins
To all CUNY Admins, Chancellor, Presidents. The last few months have been difficult to say the least; transitioning to online classes, the stress of living in a pandemic, living in close quarters with family non-stop for the last three months. I can say with utmost certainty many students want to begin to resume life, even if it isn’t even close to what we used to consider normal. But that isn’t going to happen if you continue to remain silent.

Every week or so, the COVID page on CUNY.edu updates to add minor details regarding CR/NCR policies, wishing the graduates well and so on. However one important detail has been left out - some kind of plan of how you plan on reopening. We haven’t heard a word. There have been rumors of memos flying around, articles about how adjuncts have been laid off and even the DOE Chancellor for NY public schools saying it’s a 50/50 shot of them going back to in person in any capacity. But we have yet to hear anything directly from a CUNY Admin. I understand that it’s not entirely your call; our “wonderful” Governor probably hasn’t thought about it yet. I get it. But what isn’t ok is the complete silence as you begin to take our money for the fall semester.

I think it’s come across all our minds that in-person just isn’t possible within the CUNY ecosystem. We are too crowded, too few teachers and too little space. It’s understandable in a public university. Not only that, but you are unable to hire enough cleaning staff to keep surfaces disinfected. We get these issues; but these are things that should be transparent to every student, faculty and staff members. We’re tired of staying in the dark.

I’m asking for some kind of transparency; something that has been completely lacking throughout this entire pandemic. Tell us what to expect, or at the very least tell us when we can expect an announcement.

My hope is that more students will add ideas below, but I can only ask that if classes should be moved online, that teachers adopt a format designed to be online rather than just pretend we are in person. This was the major issues with transitioning online- teachers expected us to keep up with the same level of work without taking into consideration many students are cramped into a small apartment with anywhere from 3-5, or possibly even more family members. This was a major issue for me, trying to concentrate using a small table to balance my laptop and textbook. It didn’t work. So my hope that all of this time spent not talking to us was used to train what remaining faculty is left to teach online.

To my fellow students, I hope this post is used to offer more suggestions and voice more concerns to CUNY admins should they find it.

Anonymous. “‘An Open Letter to CUNY Admins’”. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/CUNY/comments/gyiw7k/an_open_letter_to_cuny_admins/, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/1831

Item sets
CUNY Digital History Archive
Teaching and Learning During the Time of Covid-19

Time Periods

2020 and Beyond: CUNY in the Era of COVID and Racial Reckoning

Subjects

Activism Austerity CUNY Administration Distance Learning Pedagogy Tuition calibration COVID-19 CUNY community CUNY Distance Learning Archive CUNY guidance online teaching practices social media Student Activism

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