When you pay CUNY tuition, you do so under the assumption that you're paying to learn in a safe environment. In fact, CUNY's own policies say as much: " CUNY and its constituent campuses are responsible for providing a safe learning and working environment for students, faculty, staff and other members of the University community."

This is what New York law calls a "specific promise."  It's an explicit statement that tells you what to expect in return for paying tuition. To say the least, letting asbestos, lead, and forever chemicals pervade the air breaks CUNY's promise. That makes the school in breach of contract.

Additionally, those with pre-existing conditions, and/or conditions that they have disclosed to the university, have every right to seek accommodations if the present environment is likely to exacerbate that condition. When it comes to an environment full of asbestos, lead, and PCBs, virtually everyone would qualify for this condition. 

The school is assuming that you will ignore your legal rights, or consider them unenforceable. But if we work together, we can show them that their assumptions are wrong - just like ours were, when we set foot on this campus.