Vincent Boudreau
Dear Campus Community,
I write today, on our first class day of the Spring Semester, to welcome you to campus. If this is your first semester, we are honored that you have chosen City College for your studies and work. If you are a member of our community of longer standing, thank you for your commitment to continuing the CCNY legacy.
Part of that legacy, a part in which we take great pride, emphasizes the role CCNY has played in providing opportunity to generations of students for whom college and a life of prosperity and security may have been a distant dream. Our role in American society has been to convert those aspirants, generation after generation, into graduates and alumni with pivotal roles to play in American society. We have been a gateway through which uncounted students–some of them only precariously established in American society– have passed en route to a better life. We shall remain so.
That legacy requires that we remind ourselves that our most important responsibilities include that we exercise care and concern for one another, particularly when members of our community have reason to feel anxiety or come under some undue pressure or strain. As we return to campus, let’s dedicate ourselves to the construction of a community in which we can take pride today. Let us make sure that we will someday be able to reflect with satisfaction on the actions we now take in care of our colleagues and neighbors.
I have asked the college’s leadership team (specifically the President’s Cabinet) to take action to support all members of our community, and to communicate those actions clearly and effectively in their divisions and offices. AVP Ramon De Los Santos will soon issue a memo that outlines a number of important services that exist on campus to provide support ranging from financial, mental health and mentoring support. Academic divisions and departments are in the process of naming local liaison officers who will serve to disseminate information about services and support to those who need it. I’m here asking faculty and staff in particular to learn who those liaison officers are, so that you are in position to refer students (or others) in need to appropriate resources.
I end, however, with a note of hope. City College stands firm in our convictions and resolute in our mission. I know that we will work together to make sure that our community remains intact and our contributions to a just and more prosperous American society persist into the years and decades to come.
Welcome back!
Vince Boudreau