CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez visited Queensborough Community College last Thursday. His first stop was a surprise visit to a music class, followed by a tour of a new exhibit at the Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC), “The Concentration Camps: Inside the Nazi System of Incarceration and Genocide,” an immersive installation that focuses on the complexity of the mechanism of Nazi terror and extermination and explores the broader ramifications of prejudice, racism and stereotyping. The Chancellor also met with Manfred Korman, a Holocaust survivor and current chairman of the KHC Advisory Board.
The Chancellor concluded his visit with a discussion with members of the Planning Committee for the College’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Campus Center, which seeks to promote a deeper understanding of the diverse racialized experiences of the Queensborough community, and to develop new ways to build relationships and social solidarity.
“This new exhibition is difficult and sobering but so important. Its relevance to today’s world, and this week’s horrors in Ukraine, is all too clear. And it is a prime example of the many ways that CUNY community colleges draw on their campuses’ rich resources to do something ambitious, engaging their neighborhoods and boroughs and contributing to the shared culture of New York City.” CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez