Opinion: Budget cuts that are un-American

View in [Browser] | Add [nytdirect@nytimes.com] to your address book. Thursday, January 19, 2017 [The New York Times] [NYTimes.com/Opinion »] [Opinion] Thursday, January 19, 2017 Alex Kosoglyadov has a story that sounds as if it’s out of New York’s glorious past. His parents emigrated from Russia and raised him in a low-income neighborhood in Brooklyn. Alex did well in school and enrolled at Baruch College, part of the City University of New York. There, he was surrounded by highly motivated students, many of them holding down jobs while they went to school and many whose first language was not English. It wasn’t easy, but there was an esprit de corps. “Everyone appreciated the grind it took to succeed,” he said. And yet Kosoglyadov’s story doesn’t come from the past. He is 29 years old now and has a very nice job in Manhattan, as a director at the Bank of Montreal. He’s yet another success story from the City University of New York. My latest column argues that these success stories are much more common than many people realize. A large new research project — analyzing millions of anonymous tax records — found that many colleges are boosting large numbers of low-income students into the middle class and beyond. [And they’re not Ivy League colleges]. They’re public colleges, like CUNY, Cal State and several University of Texas campuses. For every poor student that the Ivy League launches into the middle class, CUNY alone launches more than six. The most alarming part of the story is that state governments have in recent years been cutting the budgets of these engines of upward mobility. It’s hard to imagine a policy less in keeping with American values — or more damaging to the long-term health of the economy. [I hope you’ll read the column]. In addition, you can also look up data from the study [for any college in the country]. The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including John Kerry on [the success of diplomacy], Linda Greenhouse on [guns at the Supreme Court], Danielle Ofri on [the medical benefits of conversations] and columns by [Charles Blow] and [Nicholas][ Kristof]. David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist  ADVERTISEMENT  Editorial [President Obama’s Last Chance to Show Mercy] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD President Obama did the right thing in granting clemency to Chelsea Manning, and should offer Edward Snowden similar leniency.  Op-Ed Columnist [Donald Trump told The Washington Post that he may have military parades in America like this one in North Korea in 2015.] [Are You Not Alarmed?] By CHARLES M. BLOW Donald Trump may push us into another war. Op-Ed Columnist [We’ll soon be craving that Obama demeanor again.] [Missing Barack Obama Already] By NICHOLAS KRISTOF For eight years, the president and his family have set an impeccable example, for which we’ll soon feel nostalgia. Op-Ed Columnist [Erik Pavia at the University of Texas at El Paso.] [America’s Great Working-Class Colleges] By DAVID LEONHARDT Dozens of colleges are vaulting thousands of low-income students into the middle class and beyond, and yet are being starved of funding.  Op-Ed Columnist | Video [Speaking Truth to Trump on Immigration] By NICHOLAS KRISTOF Donald Trump’s denunciation of immigrants is hypocritical.  Melinda Beck [Op-Ed Contributor] [John Kerry: What We Got Right] By JOHN KERRY Many of President Obama’s critics say the United States is in decline. But he leaves the world, and the country, in better shape.  Editorial [From left, Scott Pruitt; Tom Price; and Betsy DeVos, three of Donald Trump’s nominees for his cabinet.] [Donald Trump’s Cabinet Choices Stumble By] By THE EDITORIAL BOARD What’s all this about grizzlies menacing schools? Editorial Notebook [Malia Obama, center, travelled with a group on an educational trip to the Cordillera Real mountain range in Bolivia.] [Malia Obama’s Secret Trip to Bolivia and Peru] By ERNESTO LONDOÑO President Obama’s eldest daughter got a firsthand look at Bolivia, which has a tense relationship with the United States.  [A souvenir shop in Moscow.] A souvenir shop in Moscow. Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg [Contributing Op-Ed Writer] [What Does Vladimir Putin See in Donald Trump?] By THOMAS B. EDSALL Hint: it isn’t that Trump never stops winning.  Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Confiscated guns to be destroyed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department.] [The Supreme Court’s Next Gun Battle] By LINDA GREENHOUSE The justices will decide whether to accept a California case that could test the limits of the Second Amendment. The Stone [Trump supporters at a rally in December in front of the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.] [Bernard-Henri Lévy: Jews, Be Wary of Trump] By BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY His pro-Israel overtures are no substitute for an authentic love for the Jewish people. Op-Ed Contributor [How Donald Trump Can Change Conservatism] By GEORGE HAWLEY The new leader of the G.O.P. has the opportunity to reinvigorate the party with his own brand of populist politics. Op-Ed Contributor [Edward Snowden seen in a live video link from Russia in 2015.] [Snowden Does Not Deserve the Threat He Faces] By ALAN RUSBRIDGER Obama should pardon him before a much less thoughtful president, who has spoken of his execution, takes over the machinery of surveillance. Room for Debate [Media in the Age of Trump] With a president antagonistic to them, and disdainful of the truth, American journalists face a great challenge. How should they respond?  Karolin Schnoor [Sunday Review] [The Conversation Placebo] By DANIELLE OFRI Communication between doctor and patient is one of the best treatment tools we have. And we’re not using it.  ADVERTISEMENT  Op-Ed Contributor [A Scar on the Chinese Soul] By HELEN GAO More than 50 years after the start of the Cultural Revolution, the emotional damage continues to fester. Op-Ed Contributor [Britain’s Soccer Sex Abuse Scandal] By SARFRAZ MANZOOR In institution after institution, a pattern of exploitation of society’s most vulnerable members has emerged. Op-Ed Contributor [Voters in Canberra, Australia, in July. Around three-quarters of Australians have consistently supported compulsory voting.] [Voting Should Be Mandatory] By WALEED ALY Compulsory elections are won in the center. Extremist politicians can’t get traction. Op-Ed Contributors [A microbiologist working with tubes of bacteria samples in an antimicrobial resistance and characterization lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.] [How to Avoid a Post-Antibiotic World] By NICHOLAS BAGLEY AND KEVIN OUTTERSON We need to change the incentives for drug manufacturers.  Letters [President Obama on Wednesday at his final White House news conference.] [A Presidency Ends: Farewells to Barack Obama] Readers discuss the accomplishments and flaws of his administration.  SIGN UP FOR NICHOLAS KRISTOF’S NEWSLETTER Receive exclusive commentary from [Nicholas Kristof] as well as his Thursday and Sunday columns. 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