Advocate for Alternatives: No Budget Cuts! No Tuition Hikes! No Layoffs! To: Graduate Center President William P. Kelly, Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, the CUNY Board of Trustees, and the other CUNY College Presidents We, the undersigned members of the Graduate Center at the City University of New York (CUNY) community, recognize that the current fiscal crisis is placing dramatic pressure on the lives of all New Yorkers, including the over 220,000 students at CUNY. The budget cuts proposed by Governor Patterson propose to cut over $65 million dollars from the CUNY system. The CUNY Board of Trustees has passed a $300 per semester increase to student tuition, while CUNY has also begun to layoff staff and adjunct faculty. These solutions only further increase the university's dependency on student tuition as state and city funding continues to follow a two decades-long decline in its investment in CUNY. While we understand the gravity of the economic situation that the state, the nation, and the world is currently facing, we, the undersigned, ask that alternative measures be taken to protect and support the academic and economic needs of CUNY students. We ask that the Trustees, the Chancellor, and the College Presidents advocate for alternatives to budget cuts, tuition hikes, and worker layoffs, including: -Asking that the state legislature consider an increase on taxes on the wealthy -Asking the Chancellor, members of the CUNY Board of Trustees and the CUNY college presidents to refuse any pay raises and to accept a 10% cut in their salaries -Using CUNY's Rainy Day Fund as a temporary safety net to absorb the state's budget cut -Supporting the efforts of students and faculty who organize against the budget cuts in any way possible Sincerely, The Undersigned