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Letter to PSC President Irwin H. Polishook from Candido Antonio de Leon, Hostos President

By June of 1976, when it became clear that Hostos Community College would be saved from closure, the President of the college, Candido Antonio de Leon wrote a letter to the President of the Professional Staff Congress, Irwin Polishook, thanking him for his efforts in saving the school. The Professional Staff Congress is the union that represents City University of New York faculty and staff, and they were instrumental in the campaign to prevent Hosotos Community College from closing.

In 1975, in response to the New York City fiscal crisis, the City University of New York proposed massive cuts and closures across the campuses in order to dramatically cut spending. Of all the campuses in the system, the administration targeted campuses primarily serving minority communities for their most extreme measures. Hostos Community College was slated to merge with Bronx Community College in order to dramatically cut spending. It was this threat that led to the second iteration of organizing to save Hostos. Determined to preserve Hostos for the South Bronx as a place for students to pursue a bilingual higher education, students, faculty, staff, and community groups joined forces to keep Hostos open for the community.

Source | Hostos Community College Archives
Creator | de Leon, Candido Antonio
Date Created | June 17, 1976
Rights | Obtain From Hostos Community College Archives
Item Type | Text (Diary / Correspondence)
Cite This document | de Leon, Candido Antonio, “Letter to PSC President Irwin H. Polishook from Candido Antonio de Leon, Hostos President,” CUNY Digital History Archive, accessed March 19, 2024, https://cdha.cuny.edu/items/show/4502.

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