Equal opportunities to realize success and to live in Manhattan were the main points of new Borough of Manhattan President Scott M. Stringer’s speech on February 1st. Stringer’s speech, immediately following Present Pérez’s State of the College address, incited laughter and much applause as he focused on his current political agenda as well as the reasons why BMCC is a vital institution.
Stringer reaffirmed the College’s aim to ensure that all students have the opportunity to “succeed in this community, whatever their background.” He went on to say that “Manhattan is the center of the universe,” and not a playground for the wealthy. He promised to work towards providing affordable housing so that “the people who came here and built and made Manhattan great [can] stay.”
The experience of living in Manhattan, Stringer noted, is an important opportunity that should be made accessible to Americans living in other parts of the country and new immigrants, fleeing persecution from foreign countries. He borrowed from African-American poet, Langston Hughes’ famous poem (“Harlem: A Dream Deferred”), insisting that without community colleges like BMCC, dreams of personal fulfillment “will be deferred.”
Having been born and raised in Washington Heights, Stringer is no stranger to the city’s public schools. “I know I’ve got a suit on,” he said, smiling, “but I went to Kennedy High School. If you come up in the public school system, you still have the right to be somebody,” he insisted. “BMCC is special and it matters,” he said, citing the school as an equalizer for gifted and intelligent students coming up in the New York City school system. At BMCC, he explained, motivated students can level the playing field and have the same advantages as those lucky enough to have gone to the finest prep schools in the area.
