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.
