Lehman Students Fear the Impact of Justice Ginsburg’s Death
(Photo Credit: Sebastian Kim / August)
By Rebekah Gamble
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18 devastated many Americans. For Lehman students, 68 percent of whom are female, the news caused a wave of uncertainty regarding the future of gender equality.
Samantha Didonato, a Lehman junior majoring in Anthropology, Chemistry, and Biology and a visible advocate against racial discrimination and for LGBTQ rights, cringed at the thought of what a more conservative supreme court could do to the country. “As a woman, I have the right to get an abortion right now if I felt it was necessary for me,” she said. “I think that if we have a Conservative appointed to the Supreme Court, I will likely lose that right.”
At stake with Ginsburg’s newly confirmed replacement, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, is the ability for a woman to exercise her right to an abortion. With the Supreme Court already leaning to the right with a 5-4 conservative to liberal vote, a sixth conservative justice can set back progressive change decades at a time. With conservatives in power, a woman’s right to choose an abortion could become illegal, and this could increase the number of children born in the US without tackling poverty and the lack of educational resources that are prominent in minority communities.
As an advocate for equal rights, the “Notorious RBG” was known throughout her career for her fiery dissents and powerful opinions. She did not hesitate to speak up for both men and women.
In the 1973 court case of Frontiero vs. Richardson, she became an outspoken leader against discrimination based on sex in the workplace. Before the determination that this violated the Fifth Amendment, the right to due process, women were not allowed the same benefits as men, and they could not report violations to their male supervisors.
In the 1975 case Weinberger vs. Wiesenfeld, Ginsburg fought for the rights of a father who lost his wife and needed social security benefits. When he went to apply for the benefits typically granted to widows, he was denied on the basis that he was male. According to The New York Times, “although he was caring for his child in an identical situation as a widow would be, [the benefits] were payable only to women and not to men.”
Through this case, Ginsburg sought a world where sex was not a reason to deny someone the right to an opportunity-filled life. During her tenure on the Supreme Court, the Affordable Care Act was challenged but never defeated.
Jean-Luc Thomas, a computer science junior at Lehman, said: “I look forward to fatherhood in the future, and I would feel more comfortable knowing that this country would support my child and me. I want paternal rights, and if the new nominee is the opposite of Ginsburg, we’ll all be in for hell.”
Some Lehman faculty reflected on how Ginsburg’s career paved the way for future generations, one court decision at a time.
Political Science Professor Ira Bloom stated, “Both as a litigator and later as a judge and then a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, she was one of the people at the forefront of expanding the scope of opportunities available to many of the people in succeeding generations.”
Students, Presidents, & Union Reps Discuss the Impact of COVID at Lehman
(Photo credit: Lehman College News Center)
By Emmet O’Boy
College students have seen their worlds change drastically throughout the COVID-19 crisis with dorms shut down, classrooms closed, and social lives screeching to a halt. This has prompted them to question the new academic order they find themselves in. “I think it is unfair of Lehman to charge their students the same price for arguably less engaging and effective online classes,” said Leah Benitez, a junior in the Lehman Scholars Program. “We pay the current rate of tuition for on-campus instruction, readily-accessible student services along with social and extracurricular opportunities. Not to sit behind our computers.”
Dr. Daniel Lemons, the interim president of Lehman College, acknowledged this complaint. However, when asked if tuition would decrease, he told the Meridian, “No, I don’t think it will… I think it is really hard to see how any reduction in tuition would work. I think it would hurt students.” He added, “Truth is we aren’t able to provide our students nearly what I wish we could provide. Our students deserve that but we can’t offer that.”
“We pay the current rate of tuition for on-campus instruction... Not to sit behind our computers.”
Students also raised objections to distance, or online learning, which has been the only viable option for CUNY’s almost 300,000 students during the fall semester. Asked whether this might change by spring Lemons said, “I don’t think I would even say possibly. We are looking to be fully online in the spring. There is nothing to suggest that we will have a different situation by January.”
The pandemic has also hurt CUNY’s finances. While the federal CARES Act allocated $118 million in funding solely for the students of CUNY, a 5.1 percent decrease in enrollment will cost $52 million, a loss that will add pressure to cut costs. This means that students are not the only group deeply impacted by COVID-19 on college campuses. Queens College’s, The Knight News stated that CUNY has laid off approximately 3,000 adjunct professors in response to the pandemic. When questioned about layoffs, Lemons redirected the conversation towards union issues Lehman has faced. “We also needed to get the agreement with the union to extend the amount of time during which employees could take their vacation,” he said. “The initial deadline was Aug. 31, and fortunately there was an agreement to extend that until December.”
Robert Farrell, the chair of PSC CUNY’s Lehman Chapter, told the Meridian that this fight was not so black and white. “In May, the PSC demanded that CUNY extend the deadline. It wasn't until August that management was willing to bargain on the issue and that after a major campaign from workers in July,” he explained. “The PSC wanted to extend the deadline into 2021, but management put forward Dec. 2020 again, after waiting several months and keeping staff in a state of suspense.”
COVID-19 has changed the shape of higher education, possibly forever. As the pandemic continues, Lehman students, faculty, and administration continue to redefine and debate what the best course of action is for universities to take. Until it is safe enough to go back to the classroom, there will be no more “normal” college experiences at Lehman for any community members.