Res. No. 193
Resolution in support of naming a newly designated space at City College in honor of General Colin Powell as "The Colin L. Powell Hall."
By Council Members Dickens, Comrie, Fidler, Gentile, James, Nelson, Rose, Vann and Halloran
Whereas, The City College of New York ("City College") is one of 23 institutions within The City University of New York ("CUNY"); and
Whereas, General Colin Powell, an alumnus of City College, is a prominent African-American who has served as four-star general in the United States Army, National Security Advisor and the U.S. Secretary of State under President George W. Bush; and
Whereas, With a grant from the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, General Colin Powell founded the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies at The City College of New York in 1997, which is an educational, training and research center that seeks to build a strong culture of civic engagement; and
Whereas, The center's mission is to prepare new generations of publicly engaged leaders from underrepresented populations in public service and public policy; and
Whereas, The Colin Powell Center provides training and support for students and faculty members and actively engages community-based partners and the public at large; and
Whereas, The Colin Powell Center has enriched its students by offering generous scholarships, leadership development training, and opportunities for public service and public policy research; and
Whereas, The Colin Powell Center also encourages faculty to teach service-learning courses to engage in community-based research and sponsors numerous conferences, symposia and workshops on an annual basis; and
Whereas, The Colin Powell Center is currently housed in Shepard Hall, where the main office is located on the fifth floor, and the conference site is on the second floor; and
Whereas, The Colin Powell Center shares Shepard Hall with the Multimedia Arts department, the Music department, the Center for Algorithms and Interactive Scientific Software and several administrative offices; and
Whereas, The Colin Powell Center has expanded rapidly over the past four years, supporting four times as many student Powell Fellows, sponsoring 20 public events and 15 service learning classes each year; and
Whereas, In addition, several hundred City College students participate in Powell Center activities; and
Whereas, A new space is urgently needed for conferences, receptions, classrooms, lecture halls, and student research areas, which the Powell Center cannot currently accommodate; and
Whereas, City College is renovating one of its buildings and will relocate the Powell Center to a designated space in that building; and
Whereas, This new space would be appropriately named "The Colin L. Powell Hall," because it would integrate the vibrant activities of the Powell Center into the broader life of the campus; and
Whereas, The Colin L. Powell Hall would serve as the premier location on campus where government officials, community groups, faculty and students would meet to discuss issues of public interest; and
Whereas, General Colin Powell is a distinguished scholar who has made significant contributions nationally and internationally, and especially to City College and The City University of New York; and
Whereas, The new space should be named after General Colin Powell in recognition of his contributions, and in celebration of the growth and success of the Powell Center; now, therefore be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York supports naming a newly designated space at City College in honor of General Colin Powell as "The Colin L. Powell Hall."
LS #432
3/31/10
3:34 p.m.
TC