The man behind the ending of remediation in the City University of New York’s (CUNY) four-year colleges is not New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani — although the Republican mayor certainly set the political tone earlier this year by calling for the end of remediation.
The man behind CUNY’s controversial move is a Democrat who ran for mayor almost thirty years ago and who today serves as an educational advisor to the mayor. He opposed open admissions then, and it appears he has finally found a way to enforce that policy.
Herman Badillo, vice chairman of CUNY’s board of trustees and founder of Hostos Community College, the first bilingual college in the state of New York, authored CUNY’s resolution ending remediation.
“Those who are saying it’s an anti-Black arid anti-Latino move don’t know what they’re talking about,” he says.
The resolution, adopted by a 96 vote late last month against the opposition of the system’s presidents, says that students at the eleven four-year colleges in the CUNY system will be allowed only one summer’s worth of remedial classes prior to entering as fully matriculated students. If after the summer class they are still unable to pass three exams — in math, reading, and writing — they will have to continue remedial work at one of the six community colleges in the system before returning to a four-year college.
According to figures prepared by City University, this could reduce enrollment at the four-year institutions by as little as one-third or as much as two-thirds, depending on the institution (see accompanying chart). And the drops, according to CUNY, could be most dramatic for African American and Latino students.
Badillo brushed aside those estimates.
“That’s the worst-case scenario,” he said.
That assessment is shared by Hunter College president Dr. David A. Caputo, who said, “it would be surprising if we lost a third of our students, provided we are creative about finding solutions.”
Besides, Badillo says, those people who say that the plan has been put in place to make more room for White students just don’t understand that CUNY “is primarily a Black and Latino institution.”
Badillo’s resolution is part of his overall push for higher standards — not only in the city’s higher education system, but also in its K-12 system.
“I have my sights on the whole system beginning in kindergarten.”
By that, he means that in the next three years — as the new admissions standards are phased in — CUNY’s senior colleges are supposed to start working with high schools in the city to ensure that students are better prepared for college work. For example, one plan is to administer the entrance exams to all juniors in high school to demonstrate what will be expected of them.
Dr. Erich Jarvis, a graduate of Hunter College of the City University of New York, says that would have helped him. Now a research scientist at Rockefeller University and about to take a tenure track assistant professorship at Duke University, he needed remediation when he entered Hunter in the mid-1980s.
“I criticize my high school for not preparing me,” he said.
However, Jarvis says, had he not been able to complete the remediation in the summer, he probably would not have gone to a community college for further remediation.
“If I had had to go to community college, I don’t know if I would have had the resources or the time or the will power to do that,” he said.
For that reason he is angry about the new admissions policy.
“I find it very insulting that remediation is said to bring down the quality of the school,” Jarvis said.
That is one of the concerns expressed by Dr. Raymond A. Bowen, president of La Guardia Community College, one of CUNY’s six community colleges.
“I want to be judged by the outcomes, not the input,” he said. “How do the students look when they graduate? To me, that’s standards.”
Although Bowen opposed the new remedial policy, he said, “It’s policy, and naturally we’re going to follow it.”
But, he warned that if the new policy causes an influx of students into the community colleges from the four-year colleges, “We don’t have space.”
He is also concerned that the community colleges might be thought of as “remedial mills.”
“Transfer is just part of our mission,” Bowen said. “There are other things that community colleges do, such as career education and continuing education.”
However, the new policy could force CUNY to develop stronger articulation agreements between the community and senior colleges so that students will be able to transfer credits from one institution to another, he acknowledged, adding, “It’s very, very loose, to be quite candid. There has to be serious talking now.”
Hunter college president Caputo says that part of what Hunter will do to respond to the new policy is to strengthen relationships with the public school system.
“One of the strategies is how we can get earlier contact with our prospective students,” Caputo said.
Hunter had already adopted a “one semester rule” — whereby entering students had one semester, either in the summer or fall, to complete remediation — which, Caputo said, “has been very successful.” His office reports that 85 percent complete the remediation in the summer but that some students, because of work or family obligations, are unable to take the summer remediation class.
Although Caputo thinks that “senior colleges have a role to play in remediation” and thus opposes the new policy, he agrees with Badillo that this new policy will help “ratchet up the standards” for New York City’s public schools.
“That’s clearly one of the objectives here,” he said. “It sends a very clear message to students and the public schools.”
Although Badillo criticizes CUNY for having lost a reputation for excellence, he saves his harshest criticism for the public schools.
“In New York City, we have a worthless school system.” In Puerto Rico, he adds, “if you do your work, you pass. If you don’t, you flunk and no one says it is racist because we’re all Puerto Ricans. In New York, if you do the work, you pass; and if you don’t, you pass.”
Badillo came to New York from Puerto Rico when he was twelve years old and by the time he was twenty-five, he was a graduate of City University with a law degree and a CPA. Because CUNY was so well regarded then, he said, “even though I had a heavy accent, could get a job anywhere.”
COPYRIGHT 1998 Cox, Matthews & Associates
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Comment
Name *
Email *
Website
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
