This statement was sent out by CSCU this morning. Statement from The Committee to Save Cooper Union on the Premiere of Ivory Tower documentary on CNN Tonight, the struggle to preserve The Cooper Unions 156-year legacy of free education for all will be profiled nationwide in an award-winning documentary called Ivory Tower to be broadcast on CNN (9pm EST). This acclaimed film, by director Andrew Rossi, chronicles one of the most pressing issues facing our country today – rising student debt nationwide and the corporatization of the American university. While it is deeply unfortunate that The Cooper Union is at a juncture where it would even be mentioned in the same breath as rising student debt, the film does a great service in prominently underscoring the dedicated students of The Cooper Union who have fought and continue to fight to preserve free tuition and for fiscal responsibility on the part of the administration. On the very day when Ivory Tower will be shown in households across America, watched by parents already nervous about college payments and young people increasingly anxious about job prospects, The Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha has the audacity to appear on a panel at a Crains Business forum entitled Innovating NY’s Biggest Industries: Higher Ed. The audience of influential New Yorkers in attendance should question his track record and ask for answers rather than celebrate poor investment decisions; a culture of waste and excess; and management conducted under a shroud of secrecy. The Cooper Union benefits from millions of dollars in tax benefits from New York State which may now be in jeopardy as it departs from offering free tuition, yet another misstep in its fiscal management. What is innovative about The Cooper Union has been its economic value to students and to New York City. Students graduate largely debt free allowing scores of the creative class - architects, engineers and artists - to live and work in the City and pursue their dreams and careers, an increasingly difficult prospect for so many college graduates in New York City. Their work is reflected in New York Citys skyline, museum halls and growing tech sector. The new tuition policy is not a panacea for the schools fiscal woes, as President Bharucha would have you believe. Rather, the policy sets the school on a course to become a growing corporate brand more aligned with todays trend of fancier buildings, dorms, gyms and other bells and whistles, amenities that have little do with intellectual thought, personal growth or advancing career opportunities for students. The Committee to Save Cooper Union, a coalition of students, alumni and faculty, eagerly await a judges decision on a NYS Supreme Court case that seeks three things: a return to free tuition, the formation of an oversight body that would hold the Trustees accountable and a full accounting of The Cooper Union. In recent months, Save Cooper Union has built support among local elected officials and community leaders, as well as supporters from around the globe, to maintain the legacy of one of New Yorks industrial and philanthropic visionaries, Peter Cooper, and we plan to continue these efforts until The Cooper Union leadership is held accountable. Media Contact: Karen Imas, Connelly McLaughlin & Woloz 212.437.7373 kimas@cmw-newyork
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 23:14:59 +0000
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