Office of the President Blog | Protests

CCNY Libraries will resume normal hours starting Mon, May 13th

CCNY Libraries — Fri, 10 May 2024 14:49:41 -0400

The CCNY Libraries will return to normal operating hours on Monday, May 13th. At this time, only people with a current, valid CCNY ID will have access to the building and the libraries. Check out our website library.ccny.cuny.edu for more information or to reach out to us if you have any questions. We look forward to having you back!

Welcome back to campus - Resumption of normal class and exam modality

Tony Liss — Thu, 09 May 2024 17:09:17 -0400

Beginning on Monday, May 13th we will return to our normal modalities for classes and exams. All classes that are normally held in person will return to campus for the last three days of the semester. Final exams will also be held as they normally are, in person and on campus according to the posted schedule. Shuttle buses will also resume normal routes and hours of operations.

I fully understand that returning to campus after the events of the past two weeks will be stressful. I hope that the normality of the final three days of classes next week will ease that stress as we welcome you back to your campus.

There is a heightened security presence on campus that is here to keep everybody safe and to restrict entrance to the campus to City College students, faculty and staff. Please remember to bring your City College ID with you to campus and expect it to be checked by our security guards at the entrance to campus and at the entrance to campus buildings. Entrance to campus is only available at the north and south ends of Convent Avenue.

Finally, I am grateful that the Psychological Center on campus has offered their services to help the campus community through this difficult time. They have set aside the times and Zoom link below to meet with anyone who wants to talk. Please don’t hesitate to take advantage of this resource.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89837256630?pwd=HhVkc1jfG3Pnp00kyr9N34wO27DOTe.1
Meeting ID: 898 3725 6630
Passcode: 527556

Monday, May 13 from 2:30 - 3:30 pm (Students)
Tuesday, May 14 from 8:30 - 9:30 am (Staff/Faculty)
Wednesday, May 15 from 3-4 pm (Students)
Thursday, May 16 from 2-3 pm (Students)
Friday, May 17 from 9-10 am (Staff/Faculty)

Student Town Hall, May 8, 2024 Update

Vincent Boudreau — Wed, 08 May 2024 10:56:14 -0400

Dear CCNY Students,

I am inviting you all to a town hall today to speak with all of you, centering mainly around encampment related events. I’d like to spend some time spelling out a timeline for events and unpacking my thinking around the actions we took in relation to the protest. We do not have the staff right now to support an in-person meeting, so we will be online.

The town hall meeting will be held today Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at 4pm. The meeting will be via Zoom. You can find the details below:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://ccny.zoom.us/j/81333854033?pwd=MVVPTzJPSllDSmgzNU54VjJPb283UT09

Meeting ID: 813 3385 4033
Passcode: 257171

Following the session, a recording will be available online for those who are unable to attend.

Please note that in order to join this meeting, students must sign into their CCNY Zoom account.

If assistance is needed, please contact the following IT Support groups.

Service Desk
Phone: 212-650-7878
Email: servicedesk@ccny.cuny.edu

Zoom Conferencing Support Bridge
(see iMEDIA website for operational hours)

Zoom: https://ccny.zoom.us/j/2126505480
Email: iMEDIA@ccny.cuny.edu
Phone:

Dial 646-558-8656 or 646-931-3860 and follow prompts
Meeting ID: 212 650 5480
Meeting Password / Passcode: 5480

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

Shuttle bus service

Facilities Department — Wed, 08 May 2024 09:20:35 -0400

To the campus community:

Shuttle bus service has resumed and will be running from 630am to 10:00pm, making all regular stops on Convent Avenue.

Thank you.

Facilities Department
The City College of New York
Compton Goethals, Room 04
(212) 650-8675
Facilities@ccny.cuny.edu

Help in a stressful time

Tony Liss — Tue, 07 May 2024 12:38:16 -0400

I write first of all to thank all of you for your adaptability in this stressful time. As you will have seen from my message yesterday evening, a limited number of classes will return to campus beginning tomorrow, while the rest will remain online for now. Students, faculty and staff coming to campus will find an enhanced security presence designed to keep the campus safe. Nevertheless, this may be unsettling to many of you and to our students. I ask that faculty provide maximum flexibility to our students, remembering that students with classes on campus are likely also to have classes online. In addition, supervisors should please be considerate of the needs of your staff.

I am grateful to Sasha Rudenstine and Diana Puñales-Morejon who have offered their services in the Psychological Center for anyone in our campus community who wants to talk. They have set aside the times below for students, faculty and staff at the following zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89837256630?pwd=HhVkc1jfG3Pnp00kyr9N34wO27DOTe.1
Meeting ID: 898 3725 6630
Passcode: 527556

Monday, May 13 from 2:30-3:30 pm (Students)
Tuesday, May 14 from 8:30-9:30 am (Staff/Faculty)
Wednesday, May 15 from 3-4 pm (Students)
Thursday, May 16 from 2-3 pm (Students)
Friday, May 17 from 9-10 am (Staff/Faculty

Campus reopening

Tony Liss — Mon, 06 May 2024 20:00:22 -0400

After careful consideration and input from the campus community we will re-open campus, on a limited basis, beginning on Wednesday, May 8. Classes with essential activities that cannot be completed remotely (studios, labs, etc.) can resume on campus, with the appropriate Dean’s approval, beginning on Wednesday. Other classes will continue online for the time being. Instructors who need to hold classes on campus now should work with their Chair and the Chairs should submit a list of classes resuming in-person instruction to their Dean for approval. Anyone coming to campus will need a valid CCNY ID. Access to campus is limited to Convent Avenue at 135th and 140th Street entrances where IDs will be checked.

Finally, this has been an extraordinarily difficult time for our community. The Psychological Center at CCNY will be holding space for faculty, staff and students to acknowledge the pain of the current moment, in all our lives. I will share details about how to access this help in a separate memo tomorrow.

Soft Reopening of Benny's Food Pantry by Appointment Only

Benny’s Food Pantry Team — Mon, 06 May 2024 12:44:01 -0400

Dear Campus Community,

We are pleased to announce that Benny's Food Pantry will be conducting a 'soft' reopening this week, operating by appointment only. To ensure a smooth transition, we will be open for appointments on Wednesday and Thursday, while utilizing Tuesday and Friday of this week for restocking and cleaning purposes.

For those with scheduled appointments from last week, a member of Benny's team will contact you individually to arrange a new appointment.

If you wish to schedule an appointment, please visit our calendly website here.

Furthermore, we are excited to share that the migrant kitchen will resume on the last Thursday of this month. However, please note that it will be paused for the summer break and will resume on August 29, 2024. We appreciate your understanding and patience during this period.

Regarding fresh food pickups, we anticipate resuming them in the Fall of 2024. We will send out another broadcast closer to the date to update you on the specifics of the resumption.

Thank you for your continued support and cooperation.

Sincerely,
Benny’s Food Pantry Team

Remote classes again on Monday

Tony Liss — Sat, 04 May 2024 18:02:01 -0400

I write to let you know that classes will remain online on Monday, May 6th. I expect that soon thereafter we will resume in-person classes and I will endeavor to give everyone at least 24hr notice before returning to classes on campus.

Thank you for your understanding, and thanks to all of you for making the move to online on such short notice.

Staff and Faculty Town Hall, May 7, 2024

Vincent Boudreau — Thu, 02 May 2024 19:35:15 -0400

Dear CCNY Faculty and Staff,

I am inviting you all to a town hall next week to speak with all of you, centering mainly around encampment related events of this week. I’d like to spend some time spelling out a timeline for events and unpacking my thinking around the actions we took in relation to the protest. We do not have the staff right now to support an in-person meeting, so we will be online.

In order to allow ample time for discussion and questions, I am limiting this first town hall to faculty and staff. I will follow up on May 8 with a town hall that specifically invites and addresses CCNY students.

The town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 12:30pm. The meeting will be via Zoom. You can find the details below:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://ccny.zoom.us/j/85236915781?pwd=SkUrRG1KaEt5RW1DcFV5djYxMGxZdz09

Meeting ID: 852 3691 5781
Passcode: 095242

Following the session, a recording will be available online for those who are unable to attend.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

A Difficult Decision

Félix V. Matos Rodríguez — Thu, 02 May 2024 17:21:21 -0400

Dear CUNY Community,

As you know, we returned from spring break yesterday at a time marked by the increasing presence of demonstrations at colleges across the country, including at City College. As a member of the CUNY community for over 20 years, first as a member of the faculty, then as president of two CUNY colleges, and now as Chancellor, I know that calling on the NYPD to assist an on-campus incident is something to be done only as a last recourse, and one I hoped I would never have to consider. Below, I want to share why we reached that very difficult decision on Tuesday evening with the safety of our students, public safety officers and community at the center of our concern.

Around 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, over 200 demonstrators, most of them unaffiliated with CUNY, moved from Columbia University, entered the City College campus and were joined by people in the encampment. A group of them quickly attempted to break into the college’s landmarked Shepard Hall before moving on to the Administration Building, where they smashed glass doors, vandalized offices, covered security cameras with paint and trashed files and computers as they tried to barricade themselves in the Financial Aid Office before CUNY public safety officers were able to subdue them and arrest 31 individuals. As we began surveying the damage, public safety officers found bags left behind by those arrested, which contained chains, flares, a bolt cutter and box cutters.

In the face of immediate danger to personal safety and damage to campus facilities, and with the fast-growing number of demonstrators creating an emergency situation, City College President Vincent Boudreau and I made the difficult decision to request the assistance of the NYPD who entered the encampment area around 11:45 p.m. Arrest figures from the NYPD show that 172 people were arrested outside and inside City College throughout Tuesday. Of them, 104 or 60% were not affiliated with CUNY. Those figures align with what we had already noted at the encampment.

When the first demonstrators arrived at City College and set up the encampment a week ago, we indicated that the encampment violated University policies but said it could stay in place as long as the protest remained peaceful.

During the days and nights that followed, my office and CCNY worked to minimize the presence of unaffiliated individuals at the encampment and mitigate a series of increasingly violent incidents that put students at the encampment, as well as public safety officers and other employees, at risk.

These incidents included a fire Sunday night at the Marshak Science Building caused by the use of a flare gun that brought FDNY to campus, a clash between public safety officers and demonstrators, and a troubling statement by the camp’s liaisons early on that it was not safe for even the president of the college to enter the encampment area.

The University notified organizers and demonstrators on Tuesday afternoon that the encampment needed to be dismantled on Wednesday in time for the start of classes; we further said that if that occurred, we would work with student leaders to identify an alternate location on the City College campus for protests to continue, in accordance with CUNY policies. Furthermore, we offered to keep the door open for ongoing dialogue regarding the demands of the demonstrations.

Classes are being held remotely at City College this week. I want to thank public safety from Central Office and CCNY, and officers who were deployed from other campuses, for their work keeping the campus safe over the past week amid growing tensions. Thanks also to the custodial team at CCNY. I also want to convey my appreciation to President Boudreau and his administrative team for their steady leadership.

Protocols for Demonstrators

As we return to campuses for the final stretch of the semester, I want to reaffirm that everyone in our community has a constitutional right to free speech and a right to protest peacefully, in accordance with CUNY’s policies. Tuesday night’s actions were taken in response to specific and repeated acts of violence and vandalism, not in response to peaceful protest.

CUNY’s policies are spelled out in the Rules and Regulations for the Maintenance of Public Order (the Henderson Rules). Rule No. 3, for example, specifies that the “Unauthorized occupancy of University/college facilities or blocking access to or from such areas is prohibited.” There are consequences in place for violating the Henderson Rules, ranging from disciplinary probation to expulsion and CUNY will enforce them as needed to protect every member of our community.

CUNY has been, and will remain, committed to ensuring that every CUNY student and faculty or staff member is safe from violence, intimidation and harassment.

I know the conflict in the Middle East will continue to have a palpable impact on our community. And that the next few weeks are naturally stressful for our students with final exams and, for some, the anticipation and anxiety that can accompany the otherwise happy aspects of graduation. Your well-being is paramount to us. We have counseling and related support services in place for all community members.

Finally, I ask for your continued cooperation and support, so that we can close out the academic year on a positive note. Our goal is to preserve everyone’s ability to attend classes, teach and work, and to maintain scheduled campus activities with minimal disruption. We also want to ensure that those graduating this year can enjoy commencement ceremonies and graduation activities with their classmates and families.

Five years ago this week, I had the great honor of becoming Chancellor. Although these past five years have presented many challenges, we have also accomplished many things working together as a community. Let us continue building a better CUNY and a better New York together, powered by our diversity, driven by our desire for excellence, and grounded in mutual respect.

Sincerely,

Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, Ph.D.
Chancellor

President's Statement on Encampment

Vincent Boudreau — Wed, 01 May 2024 22:08:35 -0400

Dear City College Campus Community,

I write to you tonight with a brief update on activities that have happened on campus since we issued our remote posture email yesterday. I know that for many of you, the idea of an NYPD presence on campus is anathema. In the next several days, I will provide more details concerning what happened and why we took the decisions we did. I’ll also find a time in the near future to meet with faculty and staff in a town hall to take questions. For now, I’d like to present the facts as we know them.

For the last several days, we began to observe efforts by members of the encampment to prepare materials to breach our buildings–most strikingly, they had pried large rocks out of our campus walls and positioned them in front of the different windows of buildings fronting the quad. Students inside the encampment began to warn us that outsiders among them were planning to take over a building. Importantly, at that time, we had made no effort to dismantle the encampment or in any way restrict the protest activities of those inside the encampment.

At approximately 7pm last night, we received word that hundreds of protesters were moving towards the City College campus from the south. As they approached, a large group from the encampment moved to the front door of Shepard Hall and began trying to enter. Shortly thereafter, about 300 demonstrators arrived at the fence we had erected at 140th Street. Members of the NYPD who had traveled with those demonstrators took up positions on the outside of our fence, in support of the approximately 35 public safety officers we had serving across the campus.

As the arriving demonstrators engaged the NYPD outside our campus, a group from the encampment engaged our security officers from the inside of our perimeter, eventually managing to breach their protective line and join with members from the protest group who came to campus separately. After some scuffling, the demonstrators broke into a run heading for the administration building. Our security guards followed and prevented them from entering through the front door, but a contingent managed to enter through the back, undetected for a brief period.

Our public safety team eventually entered the building, and made a total of 31 arrests. Preliminary count is that no CCNY students were arrested as part of that group. Two public safety officers were sent to the hospital due to injuries and pepper spray related trauma. We will soon have more information and documentation of those events.

Later that evening, as more protesters moved to campus, and after NYPD broke up the encampment at Columbia, NYPD returned to our campus to prevent the additional protesters who were trying to breach the perimeter of the campus while members of the encampment here set up flares and massed near the 138th street gate.

What followed was several hours of chaos. While the NYPD chased demonstrators outside the campus, and CCNY campus security worked to contain protesters on campus. Throughout the next several hours, via bullhorn and in cooperation with some student government leaders, we conveyed the message that students wishing to avoid confrontation and possible arrest would be allowed to leave via the 135th street gate. By 11:00 p.m., to the best of our knowledge, no student remained on campus who wanted to leave. But a sizable demonstration remained, and at a time when our small and exhausted force of public safety officers needed additional support, I made the difficult call of allowing the NYPD to enter the campus and assist.

I want to be clear that since the beginning of this protest, City College never once attempted or threatened to dismantle the encampment, nor in any way infringed upon the protest activities. In fact, the letter we sent to the encampment yesterday morning, detailing all of the ways in which demonstrator activities endangered our campus community, reaffirmed the rights of demonstrators–including those in the encampment–to protest. The move to occupy our buildings was not, that is, a reaction to our efforts to displace or dismantle the encampment.

As I said, I expect to present corroboration of the various points I raised in this memo in the days to come. Some of you may still believe that, even granting the facts laid out in this memo, that our resort to external assistance was unacceptable. I will disagree.

I look forward to a full discussion of the events of these past few days in the very near future.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau,
President

Temporary Closure of Benny's Food Pantry and Postponement of Migrant Kitchen & Fresh Food Pickups

Benny’s Food Pantry Team — Wed, 01 May 2024 10:11:02 -0400

Dear Campus Community,

We hope this message finds you well. We regret to inform you that due to the current demonstrations occurring on campus, we currently lack the necessary staffing to manage Benny's Food Pantry effectively. Therefore, the NAC Benny’s Pantry location will be closed until further notice. We understand the importance of Benny's Food Pantry in supporting members of our community, and we are actively working to resolve this issue as soon as possible. For those with scheduled appointments, a member of Benny's team will contact you individually to arrange a new appointment once regular pantry hours resume.

Additionally, we must announce the postponement of the migrant kitchen and fresh food pickups until further notice. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and appreciate your understanding during this time.

We remain committed to providing essential resources and support to all members of our campus community. Please stay tuned for updates regarding the reopening of Benny's Food Pantry and the resumption of migrant kitchen and fresh food pickups.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Sincerely,
Benny’s Food Pantry Team

Shuttle service - update

Department of Facilities Management — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 21:52:23 -0400

To the campus community:

Please be advised that the CCNY shuttle bus service is suspended until further notice.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and will provide an update once service resumes.

Thank you.

Facilities Department
The City College of New York
Compton Goethals, Room 04
(212) 650-8675
Facilities@ccny.cuny.edu

Emergency Campus Closing

Vincent Boudreau — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 20:16:54 -0400

Dear Members of the City College Campus Community,

I’m writing to update you on recent events on campus and to provide you with some guidance about tomorrow. As you likely know by now, there is an encampment of demonstrators on our quad, and it is posing significant difficulties for us.

Throughout our history, inclusive of these last few months, we have respected the right to protest and the values of academic and speech freedom. Events since October have put those commitments to the test, but we have endeavored to reconcile the tensions that often exist between supporting free speech and tending to the safety and well-being of our entire community.

This encampment, however, poses significantly different and heightened challenges. Most importantly, this is not primarily a CCNY demonstration, and perhaps not primarily a CUNY demonstration. The significant inclusion of un-affiliated external individuals means that we don’t have established connections to them.

Specifically, this demonstration has been more contentious and violent than anything we’ve seen on campus before. Today, we distributed a letter to members of the encampment detailing specific examples of threats to the safety of people within and outside the encampment, so that all of them understand the full scope of the activity. We also want all of them, and those of you reading this note, to understand that in no way does our response to this particular and extraordinary threat overwrite our more fundamental commitments to free speech, academic freedom, or the right to peacefully protest that comply with CCNY and CUNY regulations.

But, in view of these developments, we are instructing the demonstrators encamped on our quad to dismantle their encampment and restrict their future activities to those permitted under CUNY guidelines for assembly, free speech and protest.

Given the situation, we are moving all Wednesday classes and work to remote, remaining remote until conditions permit a return to normal business operations. We are also urging all members of our community to stay away from campus. Essential staff members will receive more specific information on whether and how to report to the campus. If for some reason it is essential that you come to campus, make sure you bring your CCNY ID and that people know of your plans—supervisors, deans, etc. In addition, a second guidance is forthcoming that will detail, with specifics, how to re-establish your remote access across academic and business units, including guidance for students.

The situation on campus is very fluid and we will endeavor to keep you updated. This is obviously a wrenching moment for the CCNY community and for me personally. I know that you all join me in the fervent hope that this encampment can be brought to a peaceful conclusion.

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President

IT Support Services for Remote Operation

Ken Ihrer — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 17:22:28 -0400

Dear CCNY Community,

As we move to remote learning, please be aware that our Service Desk is available to assist you with questions you may have.

The Service Desk phone line will be open 8am-8pm (M-F).

Contact Information

Blackboard

Phone: 212-650-6990
Email: bbsupport@ccny.cuny.edu

CUNYfirst

Phone: 212-650-8080
Email: cfsupport@ccny.cuny.edu

Service Desk

Phone: 212-650-7878
Email: sevicedesk@ccny.cuny.edu

Zoom Conferencing Support Bridge

(see iMEDIA website for operational hours)

Zoom: https://ccny.zoom.us/j/2126505480
Email: iMEDIA@ccny.cuny.edu
Phone

Dial 646-558-8656 or 833-302-1536 and follow prompts
Meeting ID: 212 650 5480
Meeting Password / Passcode: 5480

TechCenter

Zoom: https://ccny.zoom.us/j/2126501301
Email: Techcenter@ccny.cuny.edu
Meeting ID: 212 650 1301
Meeting Password / Passcode: 1301

The CCNY Service Desk website (https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it/help) has helpful guides on how to access essential tools for online learning. Instructors can decide which method they would like to use to teach the course remotely.

Zoom
Blackboard
Google Classroom

You'll also find instructions on how current CCNY students can access our labs remotely on the same website.

If you need video instructions on how to use these teaching platforms, please go to HyFlex and Conferencing Service Support: https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it/conferencing-service-support

For assistance with Blackboard: https://www.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/page-assets/about/administration/offices/cis/core-functions/cuny-blackboard/Teaching-Remotely.pdf

If you utilize Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access your desktop on campus, please remember to leave your computer on before you leave.

Remember, our Service Desk is here to assist you if you have any questions.

Ken Ihrer
Vice President of IT and CIO
The City College of New York
160 Convent Avenue
New York, NY 10031

Remote classes beginning Wednesday May 1

Tony Liss — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 16:12:20 -0400

As of tomorrow, May 1, 2024, and until further notice, all City College classes will be held remotely and all College functions will move online. Campus buildings will be closed to everyone except essential personnel, as defined by supervisors in each area. Additional information is available here.

Return to campus

Tony Liss — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 18:41:14 -0400

As Spring Break comes to an end, I write to update you on tightened security for entering buildings on campus as a result of the encampment setup on the Quad. Only City College faculty, staff, students and named guests will be allowed inside campus buildings. CCNY faculty, staff and students will be required to show a valid CCNY ID at the door. If your current ID does not have a 2024 validation sticker, you will need to get one. Stickers are available at the OneStop and/or the ID office in NAC 1/206. Anyone expecting a visit from a guest will need to leave the guest’s name with Public Safety at the front desk. Your guest will need proper ID as well.

Faculty may hear concerns from their students about coming to campus. Please be as accommodating to the students as you can.

President's Statement on Campus Encampment

Vincent Boudreau — Sun, 28 Apr 2024 14:43:52 -0400

Dear Campus Community,

I write today with a brief update on on-campus activities that have taken place over the last several days. Just before 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 25, a group of demonstrators calling themselves the “CUNY Gaza Solidarity Encampment” set up a tent encampment on our quad. Although they are sited at the CCNY campus, most of their demands are directed at the University. The demonstrators appear to be made up of students, faculty and staff from City College and across the CUNY system and a sizable contingent that is not affiliated with any CUNY campus.

We face the challenge of once more navigating the narrow space between free speech, academic freedom, and the right of our community to demonstrate (on the one hand), and our responsibility to protect our community and its activities.

We are working to minimize risks to people within the encampment and to protect all members of our campus community, while also minimizing the encampment's impact on campus operations.

Simultaneously, leadership from the University and City College began discussions with a small group of representatives from the encampment on Friday.

As we navigate the next few days together, I am asking everyone to be flexible and patient. We will provide updates when they are available and if you have any questions in the meantime, please feel free to reach out to my office or to Dee Dee Mozeleski at dmozeleski@ccny.cuny.edu .

Sincerely,

Vince Boudreau
President