CITY COLLEGE OF NEW YORK — Veronica Klein sat in the North Academic Center computer lab on a chilly afternoon in October, staring blankly at her laptop screen. The junior Ad/PR major had planned to use her time in the library to catch up on coursework. She opened Chrome, typed in the Brightspace URL, entered her username and password, and waited for the familiar Microsoft Authenticator prompt on her iPhone. Nothing appeared. She refreshed the page. Still nothing. She checked her phone’s notification settings, restarted the app, and tried logging in again. The authentication code refused to load.
“It was so annoying,” Klein recalls. “I was getting really frustrated with something that’s supposed to be so simple.”
Klein’s frustration echoes across CCNY’s campus. Since the fall 2025 semester, CUNY implemented a requirement that forces students to pull out their phones and input a code through Microsoft Authenticator in order to access Brightspace, not just once, but multiple times throughout the day. Designed as a security measure, it has become an ongoing frustration. Repeated authentication prompts interrupt logins and slow access to class materials, forcing students to confirm their identity over and over just to check assignments, announcements, and grades.
