Have a question about becoming a U.S. citizen? The fifth annual CUNY/Daily News Citizenship Now! Call-in kicks off today and hundreds of qualified lawyers and counselors will be on hand through May 5 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. to provide free information on citizenship, permanent residence and other questions important to immigrants. In this podcast, Allan Wernick gives 2007 call-in highlights: more Spanish-speaking counselors, more telephone lines and a new web site: www.cuny.edu/citizenshipnow. To reach a volunteer in English, 212 330-6505 or in Spanish, 212 330-6506.
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Chancellor Matthew Goldstein reports on the city and state executive budgets, a new initiative with New York State to provide career development for students with disabilities, a new state commission on higher education, and on the news that CUNY will raise $1.2 billion as part of its capital campaign four years ahead of schedule, affirming that “CUNY is a worthy place for investment.” With the nation stunned by the Virginia Tech shootings, Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Operating Officer Allan Dobrin detailed the University’s emergency management plan, which includes a trained security force of over 1,000 and close cooperation with the NYPD.
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Public meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 30, 2007, part 1 of 2.
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Public meeting of the Board of Trustees, April 30, 2007, part 2 of 2.
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Nearly 3,200 people have died trying to cross the border into the Arizona desert since 1999, the start of a Clinton-era enforcement initiative known as “Operation Gatekeeper,” says Alicia Schmidt Camacho, assistant professor of American Studies at Yale University. Efforts to tighten access along the US-Mexican border have been cast as a strategy for homeland security, but Camancho contends that border “militarization” is more about labor control than security. In “A Conversation on Borders,” Professor Camacho, participating in the Bella Abzug Lecture series at Hunter College, discusses the implication of current policy and the failure of what she dubs “incoherent immigration reform.”
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Known around the world as the “embodiment of urban misery,” Calcutta continues to garner intense loyalty from its residents, many of whom represent the country’s cultural elite. Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, Lamout university professor at Harvard University, explores an essential paradox of the city, now known as Kolkata, in “The Urbanity of Calcutta,” the fourth Annual Lewis Mumford Lecture on Urbanism at City College. Dr. Sen, a native of India, is the winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics.
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Addressing a group of Border Patrol agents in Arizona, President Bush announced that his tougher enforcement strategy had greatly decreased the number of undocumented immigrants along the Mexican border in the past six months. Allan Wernick explains these tighter security measures and also comments on the debate surrounding the issue of amnesty.
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The level of disappointment in Gov. Spitzer’s first budget discussions shows how difficult it is to change Albany, Dick Dadey says. He adds that the governor tried to accomplish some major reforms but ran into a brick wall. The top two priorities needing to be addressed, Dadey says, are gerrymandering and campaign financing. Dadey suggests ways the state can solve these and other problems, plus accomplish voting and judicial reform. He also identifies New York City issues that his nonprofit watchdog organization feels are in need of reform.
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Meet Christine Curella, recipient of the 2007 Harry S. Truman scholarship and a junior at the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College. This marks the third consecutive year a student from the Macaulay Honors College has won this prestigious award. Ms. Curella talks about her experience as a CUNY Honors College student and how it fueled her passion for public service in order to become a “change agent” for the future.
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The optimism that began with the new year for immigration reform legislation has faded into pessimism while lawmakers, on both sides, are at odds once again. Allan Wernick discusses what caused the momentum to stall and why the leading presidential candidates seem to be avoiding the issue altogether.
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