The Queens College Academic Senate passed a motion expressing frustration at the administration for the QC website shut down at its Feb. 13th meeting.
The QC Academic Senate, composed of 40 faculty members and 20 students, proposes and reviews policies on admissions, nominations of departmental deans, requirements for the completion of degrees, and the curricular expectations of students. At the Feb. 13th meeting, the senate passed a motion, titled “Motion Regarding the College Website,” and received an update on the accreditation process from QC Provost Patricia Price.
“Be it resolved that the academic senate expresses its deep disappointment with the college administrative leadership for failing to provide an accessible and functional website during the end of the January term and the beginning of the Spring term, causing immeasurable negative impact on enrollment, registration, accreditation and day-to-day functions of students, faculty, and staff,” states the Academic Senate’s Motion Regarding the College Website.
The Senate’s motion also requests a written report from QC’s Information Technology Services (ITS) detailing the full circumstances behind the website outage, alongside a plan and timeline for the college’s website full restoration, to be delivered to the Senate before its meeting in April. Following the proposal of the motion, the floor of the Academic Senate opened for discussion.
Eric Silberberg, Assistant Professor, Librarian for Instructional Design and Education for Queens College Library (QCL), shared an experience he had with a student amidst the website shut down.
“I had a student’s question at the desk that they were — as far as I understood, because they were quite upset — something having to do with having to find contact information. They couldn’t because the website was down for someone, a student, at Financial Aid, and this had some bearing on their green card status. This was a heavy situation personally to deal with, and I had to be the face of the institution at that moment, and I really felt for that student. So I fully support this motion.”
In response to the points brought up by the Senators, QC Chief Information Officer Troy J. Hahn provided a brief background explanation on the website outage and a preliminary timeline for the website’s restoration. At the meeting, Hahn estimated that about 80% of the website’s functionality had been restored and anticipated the website to be fully restored within five to six business days.
After discussion amongst the senators, the Motion Regarding the College Website was passed in overwhelming favor by the Senate.
The Senate meeting also featured a presentation from QC Provost Price and QC Associate Provost, Rebekah Chow, who provided an update on the college’s accreditation process. Here, the Provost office shared that they are beginning the process of writing the actual self-study for accreditation. Following the update on accreditation, Provost Price invited senators to raise questions they had.
QC English professor Barbara Bowen asked the provost about the college’s efforts to protect undocumented members of the QC community from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), urging President Wu to release a clear statement and protocols to protect these members of the QC community. Bowen stated:
“About the protection of students and staff here from federal agents, specifically ICE — we have one of the more open CUNY campuses. I have not seen a statement from President Wu about non-cooperation with ICE,” Bowen said. “ I also haven’t heard anything about a protocol if somebody from a federal agency, potentially interested in detaining a deporting member of our community, shows up.”
The provost responded to this inquiry by first acknowledging Bowen’s concerns. The provost added, “ I don’t feel fully enabled to speak to the level of detail that you’re raising. I know that it has been a conversation among the presidents, and certainly here in the administration at QC.” The Provost continued, “We are a part of a system, and one of the things that we have to do is make sure that we are coordinated with our chancellory and the other [CUNY] institutions.”
Six days later, on Feb. 19th, President Wu issued a statement via email that reaffirmed, “the college will continue to adhere to New York State Guidance on Safeguarding the Rights of Immigrant Students (January 2025) shared by our state leaders.”
Access to full audio recordings and minutes from academic senate meetings can be found on the academic senates webpage on the QC website
