3/18 email

3/18/2020

Dear President Fritz and Provost Parrish,

The faculty and staff of the Department of the Library write to express our concern over the College’s decision to keep public-facing services, such as the Library, open to the public during a global pandemic that is racing through New York City at alarming speed. We know that you are making challenging decisions in an unprecedented health crisis, and we understand that these decisions affect not just the health of faculty, staff, and students, but also our academic integrity as we attempt to finish this semester. This is why we are writing to you directly with such urgency.

It has become clear to us, based on current (and evolving) information, that indefinitely closing the Library is the ONLY way to ensure the health and safety of our community. Scientists have stated that social distancing must occur for everyone, and that we should all assume that we are asymptomatic. As such, everyone must assume they have been exposed and act accordingly. The administration’s decisions must be rooted in scientific fact and concern for the safety of students, faculty, and staff alike. Short-sighted measures to keep services open during this pandemic are detrimental to the community and interfere with the college’s stated mission to “propel the College of Staten Island into this century and beyond . . . [and] serve its students, faculty, and staff, as well as our community, to the best of its ability.”

Our commitment to our work, this college community, and to our students cannot be doubted. We are deeply committed to providing the best service we can to those who use the CSI Library for academic assistance. We could write at length about the technological methods with which the library is already prepared to deliver our expertise and our resources online, but in short: we are flexible and creative workers, who are confident in our ability to support distance learning to our library users. To be clear: we are asking for ALL library employees to be able to work from home without a loss of pay, such tasks to be defined by respective Library Supervisors. There is plenty to do and we are willing and able to do it.

We urge CSI Administration to follow other CUNY colleges’ lead and close the Library as an unsafe place for faculty, students, and staff. As of today, March 18th, the following CUNY campuses have closed their campus libraries to the public: Lehman College, York College, CUNY Graduate Center, Brooklyn College, New York City College of Technology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Baruch College, Kingsborough Community College, LaGuardia Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY School of Law, and the Craig Newman Graduate School of Journalism. Medgar Evers Library is open without any staff. All NYC public libraries are closed (as are, by executive order, all restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters, cafes, and more). Furthermore, on March 17th the American Library Association called for all libraries to close to the public in a press release.

Given the dramatic actions being taken at the state and local levels across the country, this is not the time for equivocation and half-measures. It is the time to prioritize the health and wellness of all members of the College of Staten Island community. Not only is closing the campus fully in line with the calls for action from both the mayor and the governor, it is the right thing to do.

Respectfully,

On behalf of the Faculty & Staff of the CSI Department of the Library

Ewa Dzurak Anne Hays Christine McEvilly Betsy Yoon Maureen Garvey Dennis Schaub Kerry Falloon Judy Xiao Christina Boyle Ewa Sukiennik-Maliga Mark Aaron Polger Valerie Forrestal James Kaser Izabela Barry Andrew Leykam Lois Cherepon Wilma Jones Catherine Healey Jonathan Cope