Dear colleagues: Please see below for an announcement about what promises to be a very interesting forum on public higher education, to be held at the Graduate Center October 7, 2011.  (Apologies to those of you who are getting multiple postings of this announcement.) Wishing you the best as you start the fall semester, Eva. Eva M. Fernández Associate Professor, Linguistics & Communication Disorders  |  http://people.qc.cuny.edu/faculty/efernandez  Director, Center for Teaching & Learning  |  http://www.qc.cuny.edu/ctl Queens College, City University of New York -----Forwarded by Eva Fernandez/LCD/Faculty/Queens College on 09/01/2011 03:05PM ----- ______________________________________ From: Picciano, Anthony Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 3:36 PM To: Executive Officers; Provost's Office Subject: Defending Public Higher Education - Conference Dear Colleagues, We are writing to ask  assistance in publicizing a conference entitled, Defending Public Higher Education, that will be held at the Graduate Center on October 7, 2011.  Many of us have witnessed first-hand the consequences of state disinvestment in public higher education over the past three decades. Most American public university systems, such as California, Wisconsin, and Illinois, have had dramatic cutbacks in academic programs and student services.  Here at the City University of New York (CUNY), we have gone from a tuition-free system as late as 1976 to one that receives over 45% of its operating budget from student fees and tuition. The percentage of the operating budget covered by tuition and not public investment is expected to grow over the next five years as a result of tuition increases structured into the state budget.  At the conference, we will be discussing these and other issues especially salient to the growing crisis of public higher education and more specifically to CUNY. We would greatly appreciate forwarding this email to your faculty and students and encourage them to attend.  A flyer is attached that you are free to distribute.  Further details including registration information are available at the CUNY Commons, specifically at:  http://defendingpublichighereducation.commons.gc.cuny.edu/ Thank you for your help and if you have any questions, feel free to contact one of us. Sincerely, Mike Fabricant, Ph.D. Program in Social Welfare Anthony Picciano, Ph.D. Program in Urban Education ----------------------------------------------------------------------- This communication (including any attachments) is intended solely for the recipient(s) named above and may contain information that is confidential, privileged or legally protected. Any unauthorized use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please immediately notify the sender by return email message and delete all copies of the original communication. Thank you for your cooperation.