Letter: Nassau college raises are hypocritical
Donald P. Astrab, president of Nassau Community College, in a February 2011 file photo. Credit: Handout
Since Donald Astrab assumed the presidency of Nassau Community College two years ago, this institution has lurched from crisis to crisis. During his tenure, he has terminated 39 full-time teaching faculty in an alleged response to state and county cuts to the college budget. Astrab has declared that we are in a "new world" of sacrifice.
So imagine our surprise when we recently learned that many college administrators received hefty raises over this same two-year period. In 2011 alone, 16 administrators received raises totaling almost $200,000. The raises averaged 10.5 percent, with some individuals receiving up to a 33 percent hike.
All of this while classes are becoming overcrowded, student services are being cut and supplies go unreplenished. It is no wonder that the learning environment at NCC deteriorates by the day -- all to the detriment of our students.
Sacrifice? It seems to be a one-way street these days at NCC.
Faren R. Siminoff, Brooklyn
Editor's note: The writer is an officer with the Nassau Community College Federation of Teachers and an associate professor of American history.
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