- According to Reed, the 1978-1992 “retrenchment period” can be connected with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic since both were used as pretenses for enacting budget cuts toward the private sector. In the retrenchment period, CUNY experienced massive cuts in its city and state budgets, which forced it to lay off employees and implement other cost-cutting procedures. The biggest change was in the rising tuition costs: many students suddenly found themselves unable to pay for their education, which was exploited by future predatory loan programs. Likewise, the COVID-19 pandemic led to the same policy of budget cuts, which went hand-in-hand with our healthcare system becoming overwhelming. Overall, both the retrenchment period and CUNY’s response to the pandemic were the result of exploiting the fears of economic uncertainty to diminish public spending.
- The way Reed uses “death cult” is meant to make us think about the effects of privatization on CUNYs. The total privatization of many aspects of CUNY has created unnecessary hardships for lower-income and minority students, while the more upper-class students hardly get affected at all. It adds a lot to the stress of their college experience since they have to worry about financing their tuition costs while also keeping up with their work.
- To Reed, what anti-austerity and anti-racist groups at CUNY must do in order to achieve their goals is to start off by teaming up, because their issues both stem from the same core issue. To emphasize this, he shows us a quote that comes from Audre Lorde: “There is
no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.” Reed believes these groups have to forge “active strategic collaborations” if they want to transform aspects of CUNY, and even society at large. After all, if enough people make their voices heard, they may just get what they want. Reed also recommends a mass labor strike and mutual aid to add to the bargaining power these groups can achieve.
Spring 2022
