Dear Silberman community, 

On April 13th, we wrote a letter to Dean Cavanaugh and Director Gelman requesting that all students be granted automatic passing grades for the current semester due to the global health pandemic. Dean Cavanaugh and Director Gelman responded by sharing that “...in accordance with [Hunter’s] accrediting body, [they] cannot simply grant all students a passing grade in every class,” because of “critical benchmarks around which social work students must be assessed.” 

According to The Council on Social Work Education’s (CWSE) Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS), “Social work competence is the ability to integrate and apply social work knowledge, values, and skills to practice situations in a purposeful, intentional, and professional manner to promote human and community well-being.”  

As was explained in our initial email exchange with the administration, Silberman students have been fighting on the frontlines of this crisis since it began. We are delivering food to families in need, organizing our blocks, raising money for mutual aid, engaging in rent strikes, fighting abusive policing, advocating for housing rights, and working to free all people incarcerated everywhere. We are doing all of this while balancing our school work, internships, jobs and family life.

We believe that our organizing and activism critically demonstrates core competency and reflects our ability to integrate and apply social work ethics. Our letter to the administration aptly documents our understanding of the relationship between trauma and oppression, and shows our commitment to dismantling structural violence. We demand that the administration take stock of our collective work as a student body and factor it into current academic standards, as well as the assessment of our grades. 

Dean Cavanaugh and Director Gelman have notified us that “...what they can do, and have already been doing, is asking all instructors to be as flexible as possible [with regard to these core competencies].” This is a great first step, but we know from history that vague policies leave room for racism and other forms of discrimination to flourish. A different side of the same coin: the administration has advised us to “let [them] know” if “there are instructors who [we] believe are not responding in ways that are helpful to students.” This type of neoliberalist approach to education, again, leaves the door open for prejudice and divides students and faculty, whose well-being is inextricably linked. We cherish our professors and value the solidarity that exists between students and faculty in public universities.

It is incumbent upon the administration to foster equity and an environment free of discrimination. This is achieved through the implementation of thoughtful and proactive anti-oppressive policies. For all these reasons, we have crafted a list of concrete demands, which we hope will safeguard against racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, anti-semitism, fatphobia, classism, ageism, anti-blackness, and any other form of discrimination that might occur within the Silberman community. Please see our demands below, which we hope will be implemented as soon as possible. 

1. All students in their final semester will graduate on time regardless of the status of their assignments — nobody in their final semester should have to withdraw from a class as a result of the crisis. Students who choose to withdraw from a course will accrue no additional cost. Professors will immediately notify any students they believe are at risk for failing and begin co-creating a plan for their success, which may include extensions or an alternate assignment. Students will complete all outstanding assignments according to an agreement established between them and their professor.

2. Extensions for all assignments will be granted without penalty or time limit. Professors will be reimbursed for any additional time spent grading assignments in order to accommodate extensions. 

3. Students who request letter grades will have the option to retain their letter grade, or opt for pass/fail. All professors will be given explicit instruction to be as lenient as possible for students who rely on letter grades to maintain financial scholarships. 

4. Page expectations for all assignments will be reduced, and final papers will be eliminated whenever possible. Page expectations for Professional Seminar papers will be reduced to 8-10 pages. Students who are completing the creative project option for Professional Seminar will only be expected to write a 4-5 page paper. For all final papers in other classes, the page expectations will not exceed 4-5 pages. 

5. Silberman will hire one full-time clinical social worker for every fifty students enrolled, effective immediately. The student body has felt under-supported by the lack of therapeutic staff on campus, and this has only magnified during the current crisis. This ratio of 1:50 will apply equitably to all students, including students that take classes at night. Historically, students that take night classes are given access to fewer resources than students who take daytime classes, and this is unjust. These newly hired social workers will facilitate support groups for students who need a space to process grief, financial stress, trauma, and any other issues that arise. These groups should not exceed 10 students. 

6. Students will be reimbursed for the cost of the Spring 2020 semester. Students paid for in-person courses, which they are no longer receiving. Therefore, they deserve to be reimbursed for the change in learning structure that took place. For the record, we believe that CUNY should be free for all. 

7. Students will receive a full refund for all fees related to services that have become unavailable due to the crisis. These fees include, but are not limited to, activity fees, technology fees, and consolidated service fees. 

8. There will be no tuition hike nor an added “wellness fee” on July 1. Raising tuition during an economic recession is class war and would add unnecessary stress to CUNY students at a time when relief is sorely needed. 

Silberman community, if you feel similarly to us, please consider signing our petition! Let our solidarity ring the empty halls of Silberman as we learn to create the world we need and deserve.

Sincerely, 

Michaela Brown, 2-year program, CO track

Asaf Calderon, 2-year program, clinical track

Biviana Coyomani, 2-year program, CO track 

Stephanie Del Cid, 2-year program, clinical track 

E Gueron, accelerated 18-month program, clinical track

Tennessee Jones, dual degree program (Union Theological Seminary), clinical track 

Ren Lee, 2-year program, clinical track

Menemsha Milnor, 2-year program, clinical track

Pauline Pisano, 2-year program, CO track

Emily Scott, 2-year program, clinical track 

Teresa Shen, 2-year program, clinical track

Simone Taylor, 2-year program, advanced standing