CUNY Student Express: State Budget Alert

CUNY STUDENT EXPRESS
February 27, 2007

NEW YORK STATE BUDGET ALERT: TIME TO INVEST IN CUNY
Visit www.supportcuny.org

As you know, the 2007-2008 New York State Executive Budget proposed by the Governor is currently under review by The New York State Legislature. Significant operating and capital support for CUNY is included, which represents the best starting point in many years. We need your help now to communicate to State legislators how the budget can be further enhanced to allow CUNY to hire more full-time faculty, strengthen academic and student support, and library services, and more fully meet technology and capital needs. Please visit www.supportcuny.org today to email your views on the State budget. Draft letters are provided and we encourage you to take the time to send your own.

A one-page fact sheet on the State budget is included below. You can read Chancellor Matthew Goldstein's testimony before the legislative fiscal committees at www.supportcuny.org. It is important to note that after one year, 90% of all CUNY graduates remain in New York State. After ten years, over 80% stay here as taxpaying residents, providing a stable tax base of educated citizens who repay the investment made in their education many times over through a lifetime of taxes paid to state, city, and federal coffers. The CUNY Compact, which enlists public and private partners to help finance the CUNY colleges, provides the long term basis for support. The immediate need, however, is for you to be heard now, while the legislative review process is still at work. State leaders will decide on revenue targets and available funds by March 1 and then work towards the adoption of a budget by the end of March. Please visit www.supportcuny.org today. Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,

Jay Hershenson
Senior Vice Chancellor for University Relations and
Secretary of the Board of Trustees

The City University of New York
2007-2008 State Budget Priorities

Senior College Operating Budget Gap $24.3 million
While the State Executive Budget provides additional operating aid, it does not provide sufficient funding to cover all of the approved senior college Master Plan initiatives. Given the University's need for full-time faculty and the resources required to support the highest enrollment in 31 years, additional support is warranted. The senior colleges need strengthened undergraduate and graduate programs, expanded research opportunities, and enhanced academic and student support.

State Aid for Community Colleges $5.0 million
CUNY community colleges need base aid funding of $2,650 per FTE, an increase of $125. The Executive Budget recommends a state aid per FTE increase of $100 ($2,625) for the community colleges. This base aid increase, valued at $2.0 million, will assist the University in covering increased mandatory costs at the community colleges. In addition, the University is seeking $3.0 million in additional support to the community colleges in order to provide for priorities outlined in the University's Master Plan. These critical initiatives include additional full-time faculty, library support, and student services enhancements in areas such as counseling, child care, and services to students with disabilities.

Senior College Capital Budget $89.2 million
The Executive Budget does not include all of the additional funds requested by the University in FY2007-2008. The primary need is $50 million in continued funding for the NIT/Information Systems & Administrative Applications project (the University's Enterprise Resource Planning Initiative). Secondary needs include: $24.2 million to address cost escalation increases due to recent economic changes for projects already in construction, including Brooklyn College's West Quad building and City College's School of Architecture; $10 million for the Certificates of Occupancy Initiative that ensures all CUNY facilities continue to be in compliance with Building Department regulations; and $5 million to complete the Visitors' Center for the Louis Armstrong House Museum and Archives at Queens College.

Community College Capital Budget $8.3 million
The State Executive Budget does not fund all of the needs requested by the University in FY 2007-2008, such as: $2.5 million in continued funding for the NIT/Information Systems & Administrative Applications project (the University's Enterprise Resource Planning Initiative); $2.5 million for the Certificates of Occupancy Initiative that ensures all CUNY facilities continue to be in compliance with Building Department regulations; and $3.3 million for roof replacement and to provide backflow prevention devices required at Bronx Community College.

Financial Aid
The Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) is a critical safety net that allows financially disadvantaged students to attend the University. Over 64,000 of CUNY's undergraduate, degree-seeking students received TAP funding. The University strongly recommends that any modifications to state financial aid programs should be need-based in order to assist those students and families with greatest hardship.

ICD ART SHOW

ICD ART SHOW


ICD-International Center for the Disabled and its Client Advisory Board announce the opening of Expression Through Art, an art exhibit created by clients of ICD in celebration of ICD’s 90th Anniversary. Expression Through Art features the work of artists of diverse backgrounds and reflects their varied life experiences. Some of the exhibited artists were creating art prior to the onset of disability and others found art as a result of their disability.



The show is open to the public at ICD, 340 E24th Street, 2nd floor, between 1st and 2nd Avenues in Manhattan, Monday to Friday from 8am-1pm, and will run until June. For more information call 212-585-6070.



ICD offers outpatient rehabilitation services, including a mental health clinic, brain injury services, addiction recovery services, physical medicine, and rehabilitation, physical and occupational therapy, and primary medical care.

E Alert - Letter

This year the spring semester final exam period overlaps with a religious holiday. As such, there may be students who are unable to take exams from late afternoon on Tuesday, May 22 through the evening of Thursday, May 24. New York State law requires that we provide an equivalent makeup opportunity for students who miss exams for religious observance.

Accordingly, we are designating Tuesday, May 29 and Wednesday, May 30 as makeup exam days. Specifically, makeups for final exams originally scheduled in a particular time slot on Wednesday, May 23 will be administered in that same time slot on Tuesday, May 29. Makeups for finals scheduled on Thursday, May 24 in a particular time slot will be administered in that same time slot on Wednesday, May 30.

Given that May 28 is Memorial Day and May 31 Commencement, there are no time slots available to designate a general period for administering makeups for exams originally scheduled late afternoon or evening on Tuesday, May 22. Makeups for these exams will have to be arranged on a case-by-case basis between faculty and students.



Thank you for your cooperation.



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Vocational Rehabilitation in Employment Update: Self-Employment as a Customized Employment Outcome

Some people with disabilities will consider self-employment as a career option due to a lack of available employment opportunities in the community. However, difficulty finding a job should not be the only reason that a person decides to start a business. Self-employment should be viewed as another approach to customizing employment for someone who happens to have a disability. This information has recently been updated, and is now available - http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=5094 & http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/digov-public/public/DisplayPage.do?parentFolderId=41


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DBTAC- Northeast ADA Technical Bulletin: February 2007

The DBTAC- Northeast ADA Center at Cornell University provides training,
technical assistance and materials on the ADA and accessible information
technology throughout New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. This monthly technical bulletin is part of our dissemination
efforts and if you do not want to receive this document or would like others
from your organization added to our list, please call 1-800-949-4232 or
reply to this message. Thank you.

Mental Health Parity Bill: Finally on the Way to Becoming Law

For the past 15 years, the Mental Health Parity Bill, guaranteeing that
mental health disabilities receive the same medical insurance coverage as
any other health problem, has languished in Congress. Recently, however,
the Mental Health Parity Bill was put on the fast track to passage in the
new Congress. It is expected that the Bill will be signed early this year.
For more information, go to
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2007/01/09/mental-health-parity-bill/

New website that brings together employers and people with disabilities
seeking employment
(excerpt from press release from Access Solutions)

SIOUX FALLS, SD, January 8, 2007­Access Solutions, LLC has announced the
launch of DisabilityWORK.com, a service that brings employers and people
with disabilities together. Employers can expect to reach an untapped pool
of qualified workers, while people with disabilities have a new venue in
which to showcase their talents. DisabilityWORK.com consists of several
different services for both employers and people with disabilities.
Employers can search a database of resumes to find prospective candidates to
fill needed positions. They can also post their job openings on the website
and utilize DisabilityWORK.com's headhunting services. People with
disabilities can not only post their resumes on the website, but they can
also use an array of services ranging from resume-writing and career
coaching to job placement and job coaching. For more information, please
go to http://www.disabilitywork.com//default.aspx
.

Windows Vista Offers Greater Accessibility
Vista, the new Microsoft operating system, includes a variety of new
features and functions that enhance accessibility. The new Ease of Access
Center in Vista is where users can set up the accessibility features that
are beneficial to them, such as the new speech recognition feature which
allows users to interact with their computer by voice.
Read more about Microsoft's approach to accessibility with Vista in the
following article in The Register:
Vista's accessible attitude:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/19/vista_accessibility/
.

Accessibility in Windows Vista:
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/products/windowsvista/