“We welcome and hope to build on the Governor’s acknowledgement of the need to provide funding for retroactive raises for CUNY’s 25,000 faculty and staff—who have not had a raise in six years—but are alarmed at what appears to be a massive funding cut.

“A preliminary reading of the Executive Budget shows a proposal for a $485 million reduction in state funding for the City University of New York. If the budget is indeed proposing a massive cut of one-third of CUNY’s senior college funding, it would amount to one of the biggest cuts to public higher education in recent memory.

“In his speech today, the governor called education a ‘ladder to climb out of poverty,’ but a $485 million budget cut would destroy that ladder for CUNY students.

“We look forward to working constructively with the governor and the Legislature in the coming weeks to restore full funding for CUNY and enable the resolution of our contract”