Purchase Faculty Evicted from The Commons
- 5 hours ago
- 12 min read
By Tia Porter
With the spring semester coming to a close, students aren’t the only ones who will be saying goodbye to Purchase for the summer. For the past four years, a number of faculty have lived in The Commons as part of the Faculty in Residence Fellowship. Currently, there are 11 faculty in residence in the program, but only three will be staying on campus in the coming year; the other eight will have to find housing elsewhere.
“It is important to note that we do not have faculty housing options,” said Patty Bice, the vice president for student affairs and enrollment management. “We only have housing designed for students. After COVID, there was an inventory of vacant student apartments due to fewer students in housing. With more vacant student apartments, some were temporarily used for faculty teaching a first-year learning community seminar.”
Before the fellowship was created, several faculty and staff members, including Bice, lived on campus; the program wasn’t formalized until 2022, when a call went out to faculty who would be interested in applying for the Faculty in Residence Fellowship. During this time, post-COVID, there was a desire to rebuild the community and encourage interaction on campus. Each housing contract under this fellowship would last two years, after which it would be possible to apply for another two years, and so on.
Bice explained that the eight faculty members who are leaving have come to the end of their housing agreements, but first-year learning community seminar courses will continue to be offered.
“As student enrollments and housing occupancy have increased, we will no longer have the vacant housing inventory to continue this program,” Bice said. “Since these apartments are student housing, the college must first be able to support the needs of our students, have flexibility to make improvements in some areas, and have flexibility to relocate students in comparable residences during unforeseen emergencies, such as we had during this past winter with extreme conditions.”
Earlier this year, residents in The Olde were forced to relocate to the freshman dorm buildings ahead of a winter storm because they did not have heating or hot water in their apartments. Many dorms on campus continue to experience inconsistent temperatures, and a portion of the Olde will continue to be offline for a period of time as renovations occur.
This decision has left many faculty members in a tough position, having to find housing on short notice before the semester comes to an end. This is especially overwhelming for faculty who live on campus with their families.
“I did not expect to have kids at this point in my life,” said Kerry Manzo, assistant professor of global studies and chair of general studies. “Their family home was, in many ways, a COVID casualty, and so the housing here has really been amazing because I have been able to continue my job, provide stable housing for them, and take care of the many needs that come from fostering kids, like getting them established with doctors. That would have been much more difficult without the support.”
Manzo lives in The Commons with his fostered son and two daughters, the youngest of whom is 12. As their guardian and a full-time professor, Manzo spoke about the benefits of having accessible housing on campus.
“I really appreciate the housing,” Manzo said. “I’ve lived here for four years. I did the first two years and the next two years. I would have liked to do two more years, and we cannot. So, what this means for us is, based on my household size and my income, we are eligible for housing support. One of the things I’m working on is accessing that support to live in the area, which is stressful.”
There are many faculty members who make the commute to campus, whether that’s once or multiple times a week. Some travel a significant distance because living in Westchester County is simply not affordable, especially not on a professor’s salary. The Faculty in Residence Fellowship had been able to alleviate some of the difficulties that came with being a professor at a public college.
“It’s a loss for the community,” Manzo said. “I’ve heard students like to know that we’re there. I’ve heard that having faculty around makes them feel like they’re part of an intellectual community. They’re part of a college community.”
Manzo said he had been told that the decision to remove faculty from their apartments on campus came as a result of the many dorm buildings that are in disrepair. More space is needed, both for incoming students and for students who may find themselves displaced in case of an emergency. However, this comes at the expense of faculty who have relied on this program and who have, in turn, contributed a lot to the community.
“Faculty housing is an amazing resource,” Manzo said, “especially for faculty who come from marginalized backgrounds who may have less family support, who are single parents or dealing with disability, and for so many reasons. I think that for many faculty, the housing has been a tremendous support. Of course, we do extra work for it. We teach an extra course, and we do extra service associated with it, so it’s not free. But even then, it’s an amazing resource for faculty who need the leg up to get established in what is a very expensive area.”
Like every faculty member in the residence program, Manzo has been teaching a first-year learning community seminar. His course has had a large focus on LGBTQ+ resources both at and beyond Purchase.
“Usually, more than three-quarters of the class identifies somewhere under the LGBTQ+ umbrella,” Manzo said, “so it’s a safe space for this cohort of students coming onto campus.”
Manzo also brought in international guest speakers, as well as people from The LOFT LGBTQ+ Community Center, which is a local non-profit institution that serves the queer community of Westchester County. Manzo’s class has also formed connections with the Ali Forney Center, a center for LGBTQ+ homeless youth in Manhattan.
“I think the college gets more than their value out of having the faculty here on campus,” Manzo said. “I love teaching this class. Nobody has asked me to teach again. I’m not sure how they’re going to.”
Faculty living on campus do not have tenancy agreements, which are contracts between landlords and tenants that clarify factors like rent, payment, and duration. Instead, they have housing agreements. According to the 2025-2026 faculty housing agreement that faculty signed, the relationship between the college and faculty is that of permitor and permittee, and the college may revoke their residence immediately, at any time, without cause: “It is understood and agreed that this permit does not constitute a lease and that the relationship between the college and permittee herein is that of permitor/permittee, not landlord/tenant. The college may revoke this permit immediately, at any time, without cause. Notice of such revocation shall be served in writing to permittee. Under no circumstances shall the college be held liable for damages of any kind, either direct or indirect, for termination of this permit.”
Manzo explained that he had received an email announcing the end of his housing contract in early January. “Right before the semester started,” Manzo said. “It’s actually not enough time. For me, it’s difficult because if you’ve dealt with social service systems, social welfare systems, they take a long time to go through application processes. In order to be able to afford a place that’s big enough for me and my kids as a single parent, I’ve gotta be able to use the social welfare systems. It takes a long time to do all the paperwork, get your way through the system. For me, it’s not as easy as turning around and, ‘Oh, I’ll just go rent something.’”
Manzo said he surmised that the decision to push faculty off campus was a result of the financial pressure from SUNY to tighten budgets and cut full-time employees.
“It is extremely stressful,” Manzo added. “I know there are still a couple of professors who will stay in campus housing, who have another year or so left. I don’t know what will happen after that. There may be a new cohort of faculty coming in.”
One of the faculty members who will be remaining on campus is Kristyan Gilmore, assistant professor of law and justice studies, who lives in The Commons with her young daughter.
“As a first-year assistant professor of law and justice,” Gilmore said, “the faculty-in-residence program is helping my family adjust to the unique dynamic of the Purchase College community.”
Gilmore’s initial agreement had been for two years, renewable for two more, but instead her contract will come to an end after the 2026-2027 school year. For now, she will continue to stay in her apartment on campus and plans to teach a handful of courses in the fall.
“There are maintenance issues and administrative changes that cause disruptions, but I am grateful for colleagues who are advocating for us,” Gilmore said. “I hope the administration will continue to offer this opportunity in the future, and I sympathize with my friends who are being displaced abruptly.”
With professors like Manzo and Gilmore racing to find affordable housing while simultaneously preparing for the school year ahead, others continue to push for more transparency regarding the sudden shift.
“So much of the decision to end the Faculty in Residence Fellowship is being made unilaterally by Patty Bice,” said Mehdi Okasi, associate professor and chair of the creative writing program. “I met with her. I believe in diplomacy. I explained to her that the timeline of how they did this was highly suspicious.”
When Okasi began teaching his first-year learning community seminar in 2022, it was titled “Learning How to See” with the goal of building a cross-disciplinary approach to learning. His students would learn about neuroscience, discuss the biology and physiology of the eye, then dig deeper into how different species communicate even without visual senses.
“Purchase has a history of investing in something for a couple years and then just giving it up,” Okasi said. “There was good data, it was building retention, students were super engaged, so it was working great! Everything was working well. I guess at some point, they stopped collecting data.”
Okasi and the other faculty members who had joined the program in either 2022 or 2024 were expecting a notice to be sent out regarding their lease for the next two years, but nothing came.
“We didn’t get notice about a new lease,” Okasi said. “In the initial communication for the fellowship, it said two years, renewable for another two years, and then beyond four years is possible if there’s capacity and at the discretion of Bice and leadership.
“So a lot of us, in good faith, were like, ‘This is going great.’ It’s not like we’re getting huge enrollment; it hasn’t changed. According to the numbers, it really hasn’t scaled up, and there have been no plans for capital improvement. What they’ve told us is they need flex space because of all these issues.”
A round of housing applications for the 2026-2027 academic school year went out in January of 2026, with the deadline for new applicants closing in March. Faculty like Manzo, who are leaving at the end of the semester, had been told that they had maxed out their allowed time for living on campus and would not be permitted to apply.
"If you’re ending the program, why are you sending this message asking for new applications?” Okasi asked. “It doesn’t make sense. To me, it’s a very poorly made decision because it comes at a very critical moment, where the culture, the morale, is very low here."
“What is highly suspicious,” Okasi continued, “is the contracts that were sent; the language, without anyone knowing, was changed. It went from two years to one year. New faculty were told that it would be a two-year contract. When they looked at their contract, it said one year, and then Patty Bice sold it as ‘Oh, you’ve only been here one year. As a favor, I’ll let you stay another year.’ That is not transparent.”
When asked when the decision to end the program was made and when faculty were notified of the change, Bice replied in an email: “We repurposed student housing for a faculty fellowship that provided housing to teach a seminar course. All faculty in housing have a housing agreement with start and end dates. The program was designed to be a short-term program to rotate among faculty. It was never intended as permanent, ongoing housing for faculty.”
Okasi said he met with Bice to bring up his concerns with what he characterizes as the sudden decision to end the program. During this meeting, he said he hoped to encourage a change in plans; some faculty would certainly be able to find their own housing elsewhere, but this is not the case for everyone.
“For those for whom it would be a real hardship,” Okasi said he suggested to Bice, “give us a one-year extension, because you guys told us really late. As academics, we work on the academic cycle, so we have conferences, we have things planned.”
With plans to teach an intensive class this summer, Okasi was granted an extension: he now will have until Aug. 8 to move out of his apartment. Afterward, he will likely end up commuting from his mother’s home in Boston. This, Okasi predicts, will be a three-and-a-half-hour drive, not accounting for traffic and weather.
“Some staff have slept in their office because it’s so expensive here,” Okasi said. “We don’t make a lot of money. I’ll be okay, but because I support–and I explained this to Patty, I explained to the president–I support my elderly mother and my father, who’s wheelchair bounded. I pay the mortgage at the house, and financially, I help them. I can do both because of this program. I can be here, and present, and run this program. I’ve created a bunch of internships, I’ve created all these opportunities, fostered community, I go to a bunch of admission events. It’s not just teaching this extra class. I won’t be able to be as available as I am right now. Last night, a bunch of students came over to check in on me, and one of them was in my freshman seminar.”
For Okasi, who has been dealing with an abundance of issues on top of managing the creative writing program, this has been especially overwhelming. As a child, he came to the United States as a refugee from Iran. Currently, with civilians and their homes being bombed as a result of the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, Okasi has been unable to maintain consistent communication with his family overseas. “I've been sick with worry about the fate of my family,” Okasi shared. “I still haven't been able to reach my father.”
Hoping to find an approach that would be beneficial to all those involved, Okasi proposed an alternative solution to Bice: if the issue is money, it would be possible to come up with an agreement between faculty who live on campus that will allow them to stay in The Commons, continue to teach their classes, and also pay whatever market rate is fair for their apartments. “When she responded to me, there was no data given, no reasoning,” Okasi said.
When a reporter contacted Bice to ask for her response to these specific points, she said in an email that she did not have anything more to comment beyond the statement she'd already given to The Phoenix.
In an open letter to faculty, students, staff, and alumni, Okasi addressed the inconsistencies he has noticed regarding transparency and honesty with the college’s administration. He also highlighted the many programs at Purchase that have shown potential, only to have been cut down with no explanation. Ultimately, Okasi said his goal is to inspire a positive change, as he believes Purchase has a lot of potential under the right leadership. Okasi initially sent the letter to the faculty-presiding officer, Keith Landa, in hopes that he would share it with the wider campus community. Landa did not do so.
When The Phoenix reached out for comment to Landa, he responded in an email: “As chair of the college senate and faculty presiding officer, I need to maintain impartiality. It’s not appropriate for me to be gatekeeper; to determine that one person’s open letter is sent out to everyone while others aren’t. An open letter represents one individual’s perspective, or maybe a self-selected group of individuals; it’s not a governance document.”
While Landa did not send out the letter, he explained that there are attempts to bring attention to issues like those Okasi brought up.
“In lieu of sending out the open letter to everyone,” Landa said, “I discussed with the Faculty at Large Executive Committee putting the governance issue on the agenda. I also had the open letter available in the SharePoint folder for this meeting, in case anyone wanted to reference it during the meeting deliberations, but discussion of issues around policies governing assembly on campus took up the full time, and the Faculty in Residence Fellowship was not discussed.
“Faculty at Large Executive Committee and I have discussed the need for a venue where faculty can raise issues like this without having to go through the faculty presiding officer as gatekeeper, and based on that discussion, I’ve set up a private Teams channel and added all of the voting faculty. We’ll need to see if that solution meets faculty needs. Maybe a Brightspace discussion area will better serve, we’ll have to see.”
Bice, who is referenced in Okasi’s letter, said she did not have anything to share regarding its contents. She reaffirmed that the goal of ending the Faculty in Residence Fellowship is to ensure the school can house all students requesting to live on campus and renovate housing for students.
Okasi also met with the president, Michael E. Steiper, and suggested that Steiper share the letter himself. Steiper did not respond to requests for comment, nor did he share the letter, so Okasi sent it out himself in an email to creative writing students on April 24.
"There’s been a problem here at this college of communication, of transparency,” Okasi said prior to sharing the letter. “When I wrote the president, I was trying to understand, because he promised transparency, he promised data-driven choices. All the data, the improved retention rate that we have–and Patty Bice herself affirmed this at a U.U.P. (United University Professions) meeting: the data is great. Things are working well. Now, losing all the faculty in residence, they’re going to have to pay faculty to teach these freshman seminars. Financially, I don’t even know if it makes sense. I understand you need to make these choices, but give us an explanation, give us the data, and work with faculty for whom, at this moment, this is a real hardship.”
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