Public hearing airs out CCNY's questionable room name http://www.theticker.org/sections/news/public-hearing-airs-out-ccny-s-questionable-room-name-1.1644969
Davon Roach Published: Monday, April 6, 2009 A public hearing was held regarding a lawsuit against CCNY after a banner was removed bearing the names of Guillermo Morales of Assata Shakur on the Student Center. The Student Liberation Action Movement, Students for Educational Rights and Dominicants 2000 are leading the fight againt CCNY, asking for the names restored and claiming that the first amendment was violated in its removal. A lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in New York, has been pending since 2007, seeking a temporary injunction against CCNY from taking disciplinary action against students who replace the sign, or evicting the groups that use the center. In a 2006 report by NY1, Mary Lou Edmondson, vice-president of communications for CCNY said, "Only the university's Board of Trustees can name any part of any campus of the City University of New York." Policy 8.4 of the CUNY Board of Trustees' Manual of General Policy supports her claim by stating, "all namings of physical assets require the approval of the Board of Trustees." Such approval was not acquired by CCNY students who held a strike in the Morales/Shakur Center against proposed tuition hikes in 1989. In a post on the center's MySpace profile, Ydanis Rodriguez, founder of Dominicans 2000, said, "we were able to persuade the governor not to increase tuition … as part of the negotiation, we got that space to use as a student and community center." The students named the center in honor of CCNY alumni, Guillermo Morales and Assata Shakur. In 1977, Shakur was sentenced to life plus 33 years in prison after being charged with two murders. Two years later, she successfully broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women she was being held in by the help of the Black Liberation Army. Morales was arrested in 1978 after attempting to bomb a New York military installation. Facing 89 years in prison for the possession of illegal firearms among other charges, Morales escaped from police custody in 1979 by jumping out of a New York hospital window. Both Shakur and Morales currently reside in Cuba under political asylum. Despite the stories of Shakur and Morales,Room 3-201 of CCNY's North Academic Center bore their names for 17 years until 2006, when a letter to the editor brought the center to the attention of the New York Daily News. Shortly thereafter, the Daily News expressed outrage over the name of the Morales/Shakur center. Following the Daily News article, CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, wrote a letter to CCNY President Gregory H. Williams requesting the removal of the sign. The sign was eventually removed "in the dark of the night" according to an article in CCNY's student newspaper, The Campus. CCNY's Office of Public Safety returned the sign to the director of the Morales/Shakur Center. In 2007, City Councilman Charles Barron personally replaced the sign atop room 3-201 only for it be taken down again hours later by CCNY officials. According to the CUNY Board of Trustees Manual of General Policy, "The merits of any naming in honor of an individual should be determined by carefully weighing the individual's high scholarship and/or distinguished service. All naming requests must involve a thorough review by the campus to ensure appropriateness and be supported by evidence that the honoree or donor meets the highest values and societal standards." Ronald B. McGuire, the lawyer representing the students in the case, said documents are currently being gathered for a federal lawsuit. The judge in the current case, being held in the U.S. District Court of New York, will be taking final submissions til May 6 in order to make a decision. "CUNY made a motion to dismiss the federal civil rights case and it will be at least several months before the court decides that motion." said McGuire. "Until then, the case is on hold." . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
