Oceanside, Island Park Letters to the Editor

Trump is too immature

To the Editor:

In his recent letter “Middle class has had enough” (March 24-30), Patrick Nicolosi offers a variety of reasons why many are attracted to Donald Trump. I submit there is only one.

Trump offers a worldview that comes straight from the third-grade playground. Threaten to beat up the kids you don’t like, exclude the ones you don’t want to play with, make fun of everyone who looks or acts different and talk incessantly about how great you are. That’s Trump’s appeal in a nutshell. Simple, mindless, nonsense that demands no thought, analysis or logic.

I understand exactly why folks like Mr. Nicolosi love Trump. As for Mr. Nicolosi’s difficulty understanding why the rest of us do not, I offer a suitably simple answer. We’re not eight years old.

Frederic Stark

Oceanside

SUNY schools need more state aid

To the Editor:

The $60 million table target for higher education announced by the Legislature is beyond disappointing for SUNY students.

In last year’s budget, SUNY itself received $54 million in restorations and additional funding from the governor’s budget, which still wasn’t enough to cover costs. This year, $60 million was allocated for all colleges and universities in New York, not to mention scholarships and other educational programs. It’s an outrage.

SUNY is the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the nation, offering world-class courses with incredibly prestigious educators, all for tuition rates that are well below neighboring and peer states. The students have spoken, and have said time and time again that their investment in their own education must come with substantial support from the state. The board of trustees has provided the state a path to avoid a tuition hike at our state-operated campuses: paying their fair share and giving us the $73 million in funding that we need to squeeze by. No one, including the board, wants to raise tuition if they don’t have to.

On behalf of the 465,000 students of SUNY, I implore the state to fund SUNY at the level we deserve. Public higher education in New York deserves better.

Thomas Mastro

SUNY Student Assembly President