Blog # 8

1. Tomas Reed connects the “retrenchment period” at CUNY, which lasted from 1978-1992, to the Covid-19 pandemic by showing how both greatly affected students and faculty. During the retrenchment period in 1976, CUNY began to charge tuition from its students, which remarkably hurt the studies of those who could not afford it. During this time, the city was also cut the CUNY budget drastically. As a result, there were over 5000 faculty layoffs. Likewise, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the state once again cut its budget, and as a result, about 3000 adjuncts were laid off.
   In both times, faculty lost their jobs. Although students might not have lost their jobs during the Covid-19, they still faced extra expenses due to budget cuts. Many students had their educations disrupted as they may have struggled to pay these additional costs.
2.  Reed uses the term “death cult” in his writing to show readers how drastically an increase in tuition in CUNY impacted students. CUNY, which was free to attend before 1976, let many people, especially minorities who could not afford education elsewhere, get a degree to make a decent education. However, after 1976 as tuitions increased, those who could not afford it lost their education and lost many other opportunities that would have been open if they finished their studies.
3. . After reading the campaign to decolonize the Lehman College English, I noticed that Lehman College focused on British literature. However, the students did not understand the reasoning behind this curriculum because Lehman College has a substantial Latinx student population. The student requested the curriculum have more Latinx and African American literature as it would be more reflective on the students.

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