Dropping Remedial Program Has Little Effect on CUNY's Minority Enrollment, Says State Report

NEW YORK
The City University of New York's decision to drop remedial programs from its four-year programs has had little effect on its minority enrollment, according to a state report.
The elimination of remedial courses in math, reading and writing at seven of CUNY's four-year colleges, while considered one of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's controversial overhauls in 1999, has not affected the racial balance of the student body, the Daily News reported earlier this month.
"This proves the wisdom of the mayor's and governor's decision to push for higher standards at CUNY," mayoral spokesman Matthew Higgins told the News.
The proportion of full-time Black students at CUNY's top-tier four-year colleges — Baruch, Brooklyn City, Hunter and Queens — remained at 22 percent last year and this year, while the proportion of Latino students decreased 2 percent to 25 percent, the state Education Department's report found.
Asian students rose 1 percent to 19 percent, while the proportion of White students rose from 32 percent last year to 34 percent this year, the report showed.
But Democractic mayoral candidate and Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who accused Giuliani of shutting out Black and Hispanic students, says the racial mix does not mean everyone has equal access.
"We need to look critically at the number who have been turned away by CUNY," a Ferrer spokesman, John Del Cecato, told the News.
While the analysis shows that CUNY "is on track" with its policy to end remediation, minority enrollment should be monitored for a few more years before conclusions are drawn, Saul Cohen, chairman of the Board of Regents' Higher Education Committee,  told the News.