Greetings Professor,
First and foremost I always treat everyone at Baruch College CUNY with the utmost respect at all times.
That is more important than any of this.
Everyone at Baruch College CUNY is providing a stellar service for the community.
I’m sending this email to all my professors although I should really be sending it to the legislators that I believe are in charge of these types of decisions.
Whatever grade I get, I get.
I 1 million % respect all my professor’s decisions.
I just wanted to include a little information about myself and other individuals in similar situations.
In my humble opinion there should be a classification for students living in extreme poverty such as myself.
There are a lot of students in the United States that are homeless, live in dangerous neighborhoods, don’t have food, etc.
I’m living in the street homeless and I don’t have food.
I’m on public assistance receiving about $8 per day for food.
I applied for hundreds of minimum wage jobs in Manhattan and didn’t get one offer.
I don’t have a criminal record.
I don’t drink.
I don’t smoke.
I don’t party.
I don’t do anything illegal.
I’m in good spirits and making the best of the situation.
Baruch College CUNY and the professors and staff have made my life 1000X more comfortable than it was before I started college.
For example, I have a phone, laptop, winter coat, etc.
I believe that one day I will get a roof back over my head.
I receive many benefits from New York City, the Federal Government, etc.
The only benefit I don’t accept is living in a homeless shelter.
I prefer to be homeless in the street.
When it’s cold outside I’ll sleep sitting up on the steps of a subway platform such as East 77th St in Manhattan.
When it’s freezing outside I can’t sit down.
There are subway stations that are warm but don’t allow people to sit down.
A lot of people think New York City and the subway is a “free for all” but it isn’t.
The subway stations that don’t have heat are more lenient than the subway stations that have heat.
Therefore during the coldest winter months I will have to stand up for hours every night because I can’t sleep—and I’m still freezing.
There are a lot of homeless people like me that work and go to school.
People don’t think or don’t care about homeless people that are trying to elevate their lives.
A lot of us are.
Instead of focusing on that everyone just wants to focus on the most out of control homeless people.
All the schoolwork I did this semester was while I was tired, hungry, and freezing.
My phone was stolen 3 times this semester.
I have police reports for 2 of the times.
The last thing I want to include is that I understand that just because a person isn’t homeless, doesn’t mean life is perfect for them.
I understand everyone has their own hurdles to get over.
Especially these days.
If any of the above facts has a positive impact on my grade, great.
If not, I totally understand.
Thank you and have a great day.
Mark Pine
