#suny new paltz

[newpaltzmusiccollective]

Democracy Matters! Especially having to do with sexy sexy posters ;)

Congrats Poster Two

[staatsf]

Old Main, SUNY New Paltz, watercolor, Staats Fasoldt

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

SUNY New Paltz, New York: Students and other protestors who were arrested waited in the parking lot of the Health and Wellness Center, waiting to be processed and taken to one of many jail locations, including ones in New Paltz, Esopus, Highland, Ellenville, Kingston and Wappingers Falls.

At noon on Friday, students walked out of their classes in solidarity against the university’s actions. Approximately 200 students met outside the Haggerty Administration Building, where the offices of President Wheeler’s cabinet and staff are located. Participants chanted “40,000 people dead, you’re arresting kids instead” and sang the protest song Solidarity Forever.

[thelastlightningbug]

small liberal arts college hinge is boring, u run out of little gay ppl in your phone so fast. and if you don’t swipe on people who have clown makeup on in their photos the number of potential matches is halved. at home i had my pick of any little gay person in the area. i could have set my filters soooo specific and it would’ve been like “yes here’s two blonde curly haired she/theys named aerin who you could get to on public transit”. here it’s all over if you don’t want to drive to suny new paltz to fuck a clown

[eretzyisrael]

by Justin Feldman

As a Jewish student leader at NYU, the widely-viewed House Committee hearing on campus antisemitism last month moved me and articulated the isolation that my Jewish peers and I have been experiencing, simply for partaking in higher education as Jews. From the barring of Rachel Beyda from student government at UCLA in 2015, to Jewish students being removed from a sexual assault survivors organization at SUNY New Paltz in 2022, to last month’s testimonies of exclusion, this discriminatory pattern has proven potent. I’ve unfortunately been no exception.

During the same period President Liz Magill of Penn and President Claudine Gay of Harvard yielded to pressure to resign for their comments on campus “call(s) for Jewish genocide”, I was sent a “Vote to Dismiss and Terminate Position” email, as a Student Justice for New York University’s Graduate Student Council (GSC). My student council president was calling to remove me, one of the only Jewish students in NYU’s student government.

Fabricated “technicalities” brought in bad faith were invoked to falsely accuse me of the unauthorized use of GSC’s name in my resolution, even though my use of the GSC name was solely used as an identifier for my position. I was clear that I was not claiming to speak for anyone but myself and the resolution’s cosponsors.

The true, underlying reason that prompted my removal was that my resolution, which defined and “condemned the endorsement, promotion, or excusing of civilian murder (terrorism) in academia”, undermined the expressions — and by relation the stature — of a number of our radical student senators and their pro-Hamas student backers. In particular, my resolution cited famous justifications, praises, and denials of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks by unnamed faculty, student leaders, and student organizations.

Yet, despite indirectly implicating the aforementioned pro-Hamas groups and individuals like the Faculty/Students for Justice in Palestine (FJP/SJP), the resolution also included condemnations of both recent Islamophobic and antisemitic hate crimes and proposed universally beneficial safety measures on hate crime reporting and transparency on free speech.

Not only were these reforms voted down in early stages, contrary to various antisemitic resolutions that passed. I was also singled out by my council president for removal weeks later – simply for voicing opposition to extremist support for terror on campus.

A comparison of articles on “removal” of councilmembers, from the publicly available NYU GSAS GSC Constitution & Bylaws, ratified Spring 2020 (left), and the NYU GSAS GSC Constitution and Bylaws, secretly modified and never voted on for ratification – uploaded to the GSC Drive on December 10, 2023 (right).

Despite notifying administrators and our SGA Elections Commission officials in advance of these offenses, no actions were taken to prevent this inconsistent and discriminatory vote from being carried out. I was removed by less than half of the attending councilmembers.

Unlike Dr. Gay and Dr. Magill, I was not accused of dehumanizing any group, nor subjecting certain people to visible double standards. I, myself, became the target of clear double standards for humanizing myself and my Jewish community amid the backdrop of peers chanting for the very genocidal rhetoric that these former administrators failed to distinguish as violatory.

But sounding this alarm about NYU isn’t just about me, or the brutal and carefully planned murder, rape, and kidnapping of over a thousand Israeli Jewish and Arab citizens. As I stated in my last GSC meeting before being voted out by less than half of our attending council: the October 7th terror attacks targeted citizens of more than 40 different countries across continents that came to Israel.

At NYU, an elite institution with an abundance of global campuses and students attending from all over the world, I could not fathom how so many in my student council – including students from affected countries – could downplay the effect that this moral collapse had on our physical safety.

I witnessed the consequences of unchecked sympathy for terror firsthand. In November at NYU’s Bobst Library, I saw the aftermath of an antisemitic hate crime in real time, where a Jewish student was called slurs and physically assaulted for wearing Israeli and American flags in NYU’s Bobst Library. Security personnel did nothing for minutes on end. The perpetrator was eventually detained by NYPD and released hours later – photographed entering the same library the very next day. 

In Washington Square Park, Jewish students (including myself) were physically threatened by an inebriated man multiple times over the course of months, calling us “animals”, saying “f*** all you Jews”, spitting, and threatening physical attack. Many of us were just wearing a kippah or a Magen David necklace around campus.

These examples are drops in the ocean in the vast record of hate crimes that Jewish-Americans disproportionately face, compared to any other minority group per capita in the U.S. and beyond.

As we saw in the case of Liz Magill and Claudine Gay’s resignations, what campus antisemitism reveals is the underlying moral failure of our elite institutions (and society) to equally enforce many things: free speech, fair admissions, transparent financing, just hiring practices, and accountable student conduct.

What my story of removal from NYU’s Graduate Student Council also illuminates is that this fight is just as much a battle to restore my generation’s recognition of a “shared humanity” – including Jewish humanity – as it is a battle to save liberal values in higher education and our country.

[historicity-was-already-taken]

my local university (SUNY New Paltz--if you’re not from NY and never got to access the SUNY system, I’m so sorry) has an AMAZING library with so many books in my field. they have a program where locals can access the library for a low yearly fee and anyway i regularly go in there and take out 12 books at a time with titles like “Poison and Gas and Genocide: a History,” and “Treblinka: the Anatomy of a Death Camp” and the head librarian has started looking at me like “u ok sis?”

answer: lol who even knows

[whoreforcaufield]

wait what’s an ib school

what schools did you get into??

IB is the international baccalaureate program, it has the same rigorousness as AP

I applied to 14 schools and I got into 12 of them

I didn’t get into UMICH or Clemson

but I got into OSU, Union, SUNY Cortland, SUNY New Paltz, UHart, LIU, BU, Pace, Utica University, U of A, Dirty Albs, RIT

[blaze4567810]

Ï don’t care ŴÁT¿? those alphas at Utica college 4th ⬇️ ŴIT then showstoppers & SUNY New Paltz ice ice ice & sweethearts has ŤØ say 🅱️BẞØUT anything…

Its just pasta ¿? ÑĩĠ9🅰️🪢🐵🙈🙉🙊🪮 shut ⬆️ yall were eating from 🅰️ spot ĎAT ❌ouldnt pass FDA inspection until Ï worked there & on top of ĎAT Ü ate from someone burning ÜŘR food purposely constantly trying ŤØ get unemployment…wanting yall ŤØ get him fired…

Ü 💭 Ü had yourselves 🅰️ personal slave in ÐA kitchen & got mad …

ĎATS cute of Ü ŤØ have those ideas WHEN¿? Ï ⬅️ in 06 ÐA same year Ü decided ŤØ arrive around ÐA same area Ï ⬅️ from until Ï had ŤØ come Bẞ🅱️🔙…

This isn’t an apartment & business clean ØŘR car scam hiding from ÐA NYPD in 🅰️ car Ü stole…

Whether 🅰️ it’s on ÐA grill ØŘR in 🅰️ pan Ï make food people ❌an eat even if Ï don’t eat ŴÁT¿? im cooking myself…

Literally never bite ÐA hand ĎAT feeds Ü ¿? hows ÐA food now ÑĩĠ9🅰️🪢🐵🙈🙉🙊🪮 ¿? this isn’t 🅰️ cookout ØŘR 🅰️ BBQ…

Never seen 🅰️ bunch of people mad at ÐA quality of food going ⬆️ whether it’s price ØŘR ÐA way it’s served before…

Keep going ŤØ Italians WHO¿? don’t know HOW¿? ŤØ cook ØŘR struggling ŤØ culturally survive using their ethnicity as 🅰️ crutch…

Ï know upper class Italianos anyways…

WHO¿? else scared of me being supervisor capable ¿? stupid ass fake tears just ŤØ get out ÐA game because it’s 🅰️ waste of time & Ï couldn’t use ÐA same ways others packed their bags & ⬅️ ÐA job…

But no one turned it around like me huh ¿? now ÐA same job has ŤØ support me & my mental health FØ’ ÐA rest of my life ¿? & alot of Ü students have 🅰️ little issue on ÜŘR hands ŴIT trafficking & education as well as WHY¿? Ü were there & WHO¿? gave Ü ÐA ability ŤØ stay around…

HOW¿? does it feel ŤØ 🅱️Bẞ treated like Ü were in highschool in such 🅰️ big school WHERE¿? ÜŘR unknown ŤØ go ŤØ 🅰️ small town college were ÜŘR acceptional ŤØ others not by grades but by looks & sexually getting Ü attention more than ÜŘR actual intelligence ¿? ĎATS apart of ÐA sec trafficking scandal Ü played apart in…

But we will handle ĎAT later & my part of ÐA operation Ü owe me FØ’ ‼️

[newpaltzmusiccollective]

God Bless

[your-just-a-man]

The Power of Vulnerability: Breaking the Silence

Society often tells men to be strong and silent, but true strength lies in embracing our vulnerabilities. I recall a pivotal moment when I was alone in upstate New York, at SUNY New Paltz. Born and raised in New York City, this was my first time truly away from home. Surrounded by unfamiliar faces and far from the comfort of my family, I found myself confronting old memories and emotions that I…

[philvelez]

SUNY New Paltz Alumni Network

SUNY New Paltz signage near the Old Main Building – photo by Phil Velez I am a proud alumnus of the State University of New York at New Paltz, my home away from home for approximately the last 30 years. For the past several, I have been a member of its Alumni Council, which represents over 72,000 alumni across the U.S. and around the world. I love promoting my alma mater whenever possible,…

[tomsphotos]

Vincent Cianni: We Skate Hardcore

Artist Research 2/8

Vincent Cianni is known for his documentary photography that explores different discussions of social justice, community, and a recollection of memories. He has an MFA in Photography from SUNY New Paltz and teaches in NYC at Parsons, the New School for Design. He published his first book, We Skate Hardcore, in 2004 where he photographed his neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY. In this series of photographs, Cianni captures life at McCarren Park where he was drawn by the neighborhood's culture and its people living there. In his exploration, we are drawn to his perspective through handwritten notes and text that provides context to that specific photograph and what it entails. 

Anthony, McCarren Park

Cianni captured portraits of people at McCarren Park. These weren't ordinary photographs. These people told stories of their life all through the imagery. In this specific photo, Anthony was a nineteen year old boy. He displayed tattoos on his arm and a scar that stretched down along the center of his stomach that he got from a knife fight. Hidden behind the pride and masculinity of Anthony lays his innocence that was stripped away from the life he lived within his neighborhood.

There is more to this image than a crooked photo of three guys in an abandoned factory. Vincent and his group of friends enjoyed skating. They were always moving place to place to find a suitable skating place since the city never cared to build a skate park in Brooklyn. Him and his friends built their own rails to skate on. To them, it was more than just skating, it was a way for the youth within the community to come together and stay off the streets where drugs and violence was high. The handwritten note adds a characteristic to the photograph because we can understand more so the social injustice these youth faced when they simply wanted to have fun and skate.

This series of photographs ends displaying a range of imagery of everyone growing up and going their own separate ways. We see the progression of this friend group and their lives changing that contrast their lives within the neighborhood. Richie and his wife Pamela [photographed here] handwrite their unconditional love for one another surrounding the image with words. Growing up captures change. Sometimes you have to allow for change to happen because there is more to you than the neighborhood you grew up in. But never forget where you came from and the memories, community, and happiness you have created along the way.

My Synopsis:

I really enjoyed this series of photographs by Vincent Cianni. There was so much storytelling in the life he lived in Brooklyn and all the memories he has created. It felt like I was reading a diary of one's life and got to learn more about the person as I flipped the page. This inspired me to look at my life differently and what I take photographs of. We tend to stress about capturing the perfect picture when it's the people and the community around us that we are truly looking for. I want to explore more about my own neighborhood and community for this next project to highlight the different aspects of myself.

[giannatomczak]

Bigger Fish, or Bigger Pond?

I really related to this podcast episode because I experienced what they were talking about this past month. I was originally at SUNY New Paltz for a week, which was a pretty big pond for me. About 7,800 students go there and about 2,000 here at STAC. It was such a big culture shock to me and I felt a lack of comfort. I couldn't focus on my courses and there was so much competitiveness within the arts. It didn't feel like it was meant for me, I needed a school that could truly help me thrive and not just being another number on a chart. So I moved back home and now at STAC. I enjoy the smaller pond because it is nice to know my surroundings so well, along with the people (less overwhelming). Some may say I should have stayed in the bigger pond to challenge myself but I know I do my best when I am comfortable and know the people around me. Overall I am happy with my small pond.

[tsmom1219]

Grubhub tackles campus waste

Read the full story from Packaging Digest. Grubhub expands ReusePass to Virginia Tech and SUNY New Paltz, offering students reusable packaging for food orders. ReusePass helps cut waste, with over 758,000 single-use containers diverted at participating schools last year alone. Robot delivery grows, but reusable packaging is currently not available via robots — future updates may change that.

[stevedeschaines]

Americans are losing faith in the value of a four-year college degree. A Wall Street Journal poll last year showed that just 42 percent of respondents believed that it was worth the cost, down from 53 percent a decade ago. Prospective students have taken this to heart: undergraduate enrollment is down relative to 2019.

Are young people right to shun college? The answer is complex. College can be a path to a better life—but not always.

High college tuition costs deter many prospective students. Waning student demand and increased financial aid have pushed down tuition in recent years, though even adjusted for inflation it’s still higher than 30 years ago. Additionally, students face the opportunity cost of spending four or more years out of the labor force. Along with lost wages, that’s time that students don’t spend gaining work experience and developing their human capital.

College is also a risky investment. Only 62 percent of students finish a degree within six years, with fewer completing in the customary four. Dropouts see little benefit from whatever coursework they might have completed. The high risk of noncompletion makes college much less of a surefire investment than one might think. Whether college is worth it depends on whether the financial benefits outweigh these costs and risks.

While the median college graduate earns 68 percent more than the typical high school diploma holder, it’s misguided to interpret this differential as the financial “return” on a college degree. College students are different from those who quit education after high school. They might be more motivated, have stronger academic credentials, or hail from different family backgrounds. Some of the 68 percent “college earnings premium” is attributable to these differences, not to the degree itself.

In a recent report for the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP), I estimate the financial value of college, adjusting the college earnings premium for these preexisting differences, and then subtracting tuition costs and opportunity costs. Finally, I adjust for the risk that some students take longer than four years to finish their degrees or don’t finish at all.

The results show that college is still worth it—sometimes. The median four-year degree program increases students’ lifetime earnings by $160,000, after accounting for college costs and dropout risk. But not every degree performs so well. Nearly a quarter of four-year programs show no return on investment (ROI), meaning that students typically wind up no better off than if they never went to college. But plenty of degrees deliver returns significantly above the median—and some boost students’ net lifetime earnings by more than $1 million.

Field of study greatly affects ROI. Engineering programs yield a median lifetime return of $949,000, making it the highest-ROI major. Computer science, nursing, and economics are also good financial bets. The median fine-arts program, by contrast, leaves students in the red. The limited earnings gain from these programs isn’t sufficient to compensate students for the costs and risks of college. Other majors with low to negative returns include education, psychology, and English literature.

This isn’t to say that low-ROI majors have no value. But low-to-negative returns for some majors do signal a misalignment of supply and demand. Lots of engineering jobs with fewer qualified candidates mean high wages for engineering majors; fewer jobs in the arts with a surplus of college-trained artists lead to lower salaries for them.

Field of study is not the only factor behind variance in college returns. At New York University, one of the nation’s most expensive schools, the film-studies degree leaves students worse off by about $22,000. But at nearby SUNY–New Paltz, with its much lower tuition, the film program raises net lifetime earnings by roughly $148,000. All else being equal, lower tuition improves the ROI of a degree, even for traditionally low-paying fields.

College students can use FREOPP’s new data to become savvier consumers. Some evidence suggests that students are shifting into higher-ROI fields. In 2022, 123,000 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, the highest-ROI major, up from 86,000 such graduates a decade prior. That 43 percent jump dwarfs the overall 9 percent increase in college graduates over the same period.

Students have started to understand that not all college degrees are equal and have adjusted their behavior accordingly. But the onus shouldn’t be entirely on them.

Governments, too, can help ensure that the schools they fund don’t leave students in the red. The federal government is a particular offender in this regard. Uncle Sam gives out over $100 billion in Pell Grant and student loan funding to colleges yearly. About one-third of that money funds programs that fail to make students better off financially. To the extent that a student loan “crisis” exists, it’s concentrated among borrowers who attended one of the nonperforming programs.

For decades, students have been told that college is a surefire ticket to a better life. While college can be a path to upward mobility, that message should come with caveats. Plenty of four-year college pathways aren’t worth the cost, and some even leave students worse off. We should be honest about this reality—and empower students to make more informed decisions.

Preston Cooper is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.