The City College of New York celebrated its inaugural classes of the Moynihan Public Scholars and Moynihan Undergraduate Fellows programs last week, created to honor the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a City College alumnus, and his legacy of public service.
The event was held in the Great Hall of City College’s Gothic-style north campus, a building that dates back architecturally to 1897. The high stained glass windows, ceilings, and enormous mural painting provided a grand background for the event.
In attendance were electeds including Governor Kathy Hochul, Congressmember Adriano Espaillat, Assemblymember Al Taylor, former Congressmember Charles Rangel, and City University of New York (CUNY) Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez.
“I hope that you feel proud about the work that is being done here and the legacy that it keeps,” said Rodríguez.
The Moynihan Center is within the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership, and is on a mission to cultivate diverse leaders in public service and public policy. It is funded by a grant from the Leon Levy Foundation and donations from the Achelis & Bodman Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The fellowships are supported by the Teagle Foundation, Charles H. Revson Foundation, Jerome Levy Foundation, and Thomas W. Smith Foundation.
City College President Vincent Boudreau said that the center is meant to exemplify a spirit of debate, engagement, and “intellectual excitement.”
“For too long, expertise itself has been devalued in our public conversations, and so the ability to knit the expertise of the university with the wise thought of how we should guide and shape our society is another animating feature of this center,” said Boudreau.
Moynihan was a shoeshine boy and longshoreman living in Hell’s Kitchen in his youth before he attended City College for free in the 1940s and eventually became a national political figure. Many of his colleagues spoke highly of his legacy and how much education changed the trajectory of his life.
Hochul worked with Moynihan when she was 28 years old. At the time, it was a dream job to be his staffer. “I was so humbled—that kid from Buffalo, N.Y.—to be able to work with him,” said Hochul.
She said that they were at the helm of the last round of bipartisan immigration reforms that passed in the 1980s. She is hopeful that the center’s inaugural class and other classes to come will carry on the legacy of preserving democracy.
The Amsterdam News caught up briefly with some of the undergraduate fellows at the opening reception who were excited to be working toward a life of public service.
“Being a part of Moynihan fellowship, I feel like we’re all getting the unique opportunity to nurture our passions and finding how we can put those passions toward public service and toward the community,” said fellow Alison Holst, 19.
“I just feel truly honored to have been given the opportunity and I think that it’s amazing that we’ll be looked upon to make changes and improvements in the fellowship in later years,” added Briana Domingue, 20.
[updated Thurs, Sept 14]
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.