NYPIRG Holds Critical Maintenance Rally as They Look for More Funding with Help from Petition by Students
- 12 minutes ago
- 4 min read
By Shaya Silberstein
Purchase New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG), along with other State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) schools, held a rally in front of the library as they had different legislators speak out in support of the critical maintenance budget increase at the state capital in Albany. NYPIRG also sent out a petition for Purchase students to sign to support a critical increase in the maintenance budget.
The petition is important because this semester Purchase has experienced heating issues in academic buildings, including a temporary boiler failure that led to virtual classes. While students in The Olde have dealt with heating issues that forced them to relocate during a snowstorm.
“The critical maintenance petition is the easiest way for students to voice their frustration and take action on improving their schools’ basic infrastructure needs,” said Matthew Paolucci, project coordinator for Purchase NYPIRG. “We’re doing this petition in response to the infrastructure problems we’ve had in our academic buildings and our dorms, with the lack of hot water and heat. We’re asking all students to sign on to the petition, and the more signatures we get, the better chance we have of securing funding in the state budget for critical maintenance this year up in Albany. We’re gonna be delivering this petition in hope of thousands of student signatures to the Head of State Assembly Carl E. Heastie and to the Head of State Senate Andrea Stewart-Cousins in the coming weeks.”
The petition calls for $1 billion for SUNY colleges' critical maintenance in the final state budget. Currently, Purchase is first in the critical maintenance backlog of all 32 comprehensive colleges with $542.8 million and fifth of all 64 SUNY state-operated campuses.
At 1:30 p.m., students stood on the library stairs as different legislators spoke at the rally. First was Chris Burdick, an assembly member representing the 93rd District, which includes Purchase.
“We have been fighting for Purchase College for years. We recirculated a $1.46 billion request, and that’s what we’re gonna push for. We can’t have people who don't have a safe environment, can’t have hot water and can’t have classes being held virtually or disturbed. It’s your voices and other students, other people in communities that are going to make the Governor hear that this gotta be taken care of. I just want to thank you for your tremendous advocacy, keep pushing and we’re gonna get this done.”
Next to speak was Assembly Member Steven Otis.
“This infrastructure isn’t gonna maintain itself. We need money, that’s why we are here today. The systems need to be maintained.” Otis then spoke about the $40 million commitment to start a geothermal project to make the Purchase campus and surrounding sites more energy efficient.”
State Senator Shelley Mayer, part of the 37th Senate District and Chair of the Committee on Education, spoke next.
“We are fighting as hard as we can. This is our school that we care about. We cannot expect you to learn in crumbling buildings.” Senator Mayer also mentioned that Stewart-Cousins would support the critical maintenance issue at the budget hearing.
Kenneth Jenkins, the county executive for Westchester County, spoke about how that infrastructure would need improving.
“Here at Purchase, we know that there are significant issues that are infrastructure-related, and we know those dollars are necessary to have in this system. We are all standing here to make sure the money, $150 plus million, gets to the state budget.”
"The purpose of a college is to provide education, and failures in campus infrastructure put this core mission in jeopardy,” said Nellie Duggan-Haas, a senior visual arts major and the president of the Purchase Student Government Association (PSGA). “Just in the first half of the semester, we had a slew of maintenance issues and infrastructure failures. We had water breaks, heating line breaks, and then our temporary boiler failure. How are students meant to focus on their studies when we can't even provide the bare minimum level of comfort and quality of life? Purchase has hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred maintenance. We continuously find ourselves in predicaments that require immediate solutions rather than permanent ones. I've heard "this is a tough budget year" plenty of times over the last few months, and I know that it's true. Our elected officials do not have an easy job. But there is no denying that additional funding for critical maintenance is just that—critical. Ultimately, the funding we're asking for would be a drop in the bucket of the system's deferred maintenance. I just hope legislators understand that one drop in the bucket would still be much easier to split between SUNY's 64 campuses than half of a drop would be."
The fight for critical maintenance funding continues as the New York State budget is in the negotiation stage at the New York State Capitol in Albany.
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