ABOUT 300 people demonstrated at Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) December 5 to protest budget cuts. The demonstration was organized by the Professional Staff Congress--the union for City University of New York (CUNY) faculty and staff--to protest the 15 percent budget cut facing the CUNY system.

Located very near the World Trade Center, one BMCC building was badly damaged, yet the campus has received no reconstruction aid. Instead, many classes are held in trailers set up in the midst of toxic debris.

"What's missing is compassion for working people," said Bill Freedheim, a professor of social sciences. "Congress gave $15 billion to the airlines, and then they laid off 100,000 workers!"

Although speakers didn't address the war, many there connected the budget cuts to a series of attacks on students using the war as a pretext--among them a tuition hike for undocumented students at CUNY and the FBI's ability to get student names from administrations.

Home page | Back to the top