October 7, 1968, Letter from Al Vann to the editors of the New York Amsterdam News
Item
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THE BEDFORD
STUYVESANT
COALITION on
EDUCATIONAL
NEEDS & SERVICES
268 ASHLAND PLACE / Room 602 / BROOKLYN, N.Y. 11217
212/855-6731, 32
Mr. A. Vann, Chairman
October 8, 1968
Letter to the Editor
New York Amsterdam News
2340 Eighth Avenue —
New York, New York 10027
Dear Editor:
Your readers and the community deserve an accurate record of the
progress Lo establish a junior college in the Bedford Stuyvesant area.
It is true, as stated in your September 28th editorial, the college is
yet unnamed and the president has not been chosen. However, these two
facts should indict neither the community representatives nor the members
of the Board of Higher Education for their, “indecision, bungling, foot-
dragging, indifference or ineptitude."
To the contrary, in just seven months the Bedford Stuyvesant Coali-
tion on Fducational Needs and Services (which developed from an ad hoc
committee of community organizations after the February, 1968 announcement
by City University to establish a college here) and the Coalition's
Negotiating Team members, (activated in May to work intensively with the
Board of Higher Education) have made significant and unprecedented
achievements,
City University's innovative programs for the youth attending
Community College Number Seven are enumerated in the 1968 Master Pian of
City Universit 6 ADT
Waitor ~ New York Amsterdam News
October 8, 1968
"This new community college will serve as a testing ground for
many new programs in... the field of social technology to produce
recreation leaders, child day care personnel, welfare assistants, and
aides for elementary and secondary schools... [and] other career
and transfer programs .'
Since the Negotiating Team has been working as part of the Presiden-
tial Search Committee (Board of Higher Education representatives), it has
achieved the following:
de
This college will have the authority to offer some bachelor
degrees in specified areas to be determined by ne community ,
although it will be a junior college. This is a unique authority.
The Admission Policy for this college will not exclude Blacks and
Puerto Ricans (as is overwhelmingly true of other City colleges)
but will facilitate their entrance.
Curriculum planning for this college takes special cognizance
of the academic deficiencies the lower school system has
created and is being designed to provide motivating approaches
to help overcome these Limitations.
Ideas of laymen from the community, and the advise, research and
expertise of professional educators are being correlated to form
curricula responsive to community needs.
Bedford Stuyvesant's college iid be controlled by the
ipl regarding all policies puhevdat to the total operation
of hs college.
« «© » more
‘Editor - New York Amsterdam News ~3- October 8, 1968
The president is not here now only because we have been immersed in
the imperative to develop a meaningful and relevant institution of |
excellence to serve our young people long after the president to be has
come and gone. Bue we have not been remiss here either.
Many leading educators across the country have responded to our press
statement and letter of inquiry seeking a president. The sample quotes
below are a testimonial to the revolutionary process our community is
engaged in to create not just another college:
". . . it is the rarest kind of opportunity to become involved in the
most ethene step yet taken to provide higher education opportunities
for Black people."
") , . an educational institution which will be among the ont
significant in American education."
"
- - . provocative, exciting . .. to redefine and make education
relevant to Black youth.”
WW tt
° i » your most excellently conceived junior college. ..
", . .share your conviction . . . of an educational institution that
must address itself to the rapid upgrading of human resources."
"Education for city youth should be extremely revitalized through
this proposed institution."
In view of the facts, the inferences in the editorial directed at the
Coalition and its Negotiating Team are unwarranted and unjust. The
interests of community cohesion demand better investigation and closer
communication with the people directly involved, in order to avoid
> « » more
Editor - New York Amsterdam News -- October 8, p968
misleading half-truths that promote divisiveness. The needs of our
community, at these critical and uncertain times, require support,
confidence and unity!
Very truly yours,
hb ber Vow
ALBERT VANN
' Chairman, Bedford Stuyvesant
Coalition Negotiating Team
THE BEDFORD
STUYVESANT
COALITION on
EDUCATIONAL
NEEDS & SERVICES
268 ASHLAND PLACE / Room 602 / BROOKLYN, N.Y. 11217
212/855-6731, 32
Mr. A. Vann, Chairman
October 8, 1968
Letter to the Editor
New York Amsterdam News
2340 Eighth Avenue —
New York, New York 10027
Dear Editor:
Your readers and the community deserve an accurate record of the
progress Lo establish a junior college in the Bedford Stuyvesant area.
It is true, as stated in your September 28th editorial, the college is
yet unnamed and the president has not been chosen. However, these two
facts should indict neither the community representatives nor the members
of the Board of Higher Education for their, “indecision, bungling, foot-
dragging, indifference or ineptitude."
To the contrary, in just seven months the Bedford Stuyvesant Coali-
tion on Fducational Needs and Services (which developed from an ad hoc
committee of community organizations after the February, 1968 announcement
by City University to establish a college here) and the Coalition's
Negotiating Team members, (activated in May to work intensively with the
Board of Higher Education) have made significant and unprecedented
achievements,
City University's innovative programs for the youth attending
Community College Number Seven are enumerated in the 1968 Master Pian of
City Universit 6 ADT
Waitor ~ New York Amsterdam News
October 8, 1968
"This new community college will serve as a testing ground for
many new programs in... the field of social technology to produce
recreation leaders, child day care personnel, welfare assistants, and
aides for elementary and secondary schools... [and] other career
and transfer programs .'
Since the Negotiating Team has been working as part of the Presiden-
tial Search Committee (Board of Higher Education representatives), it has
achieved the following:
de
This college will have the authority to offer some bachelor
degrees in specified areas to be determined by ne community ,
although it will be a junior college. This is a unique authority.
The Admission Policy for this college will not exclude Blacks and
Puerto Ricans (as is overwhelmingly true of other City colleges)
but will facilitate their entrance.
Curriculum planning for this college takes special cognizance
of the academic deficiencies the lower school system has
created and is being designed to provide motivating approaches
to help overcome these Limitations.
Ideas of laymen from the community, and the advise, research and
expertise of professional educators are being correlated to form
curricula responsive to community needs.
Bedford Stuyvesant's college iid be controlled by the
ipl regarding all policies puhevdat to the total operation
of hs college.
« «© » more
‘Editor - New York Amsterdam News ~3- October 8, 1968
The president is not here now only because we have been immersed in
the imperative to develop a meaningful and relevant institution of |
excellence to serve our young people long after the president to be has
come and gone. Bue we have not been remiss here either.
Many leading educators across the country have responded to our press
statement and letter of inquiry seeking a president. The sample quotes
below are a testimonial to the revolutionary process our community is
engaged in to create not just another college:
". . . it is the rarest kind of opportunity to become involved in the
most ethene step yet taken to provide higher education opportunities
for Black people."
") , . an educational institution which will be among the ont
significant in American education."
"
- - . provocative, exciting . .. to redefine and make education
relevant to Black youth.”
WW tt
° i » your most excellently conceived junior college. ..
", . .share your conviction . . . of an educational institution that
must address itself to the rapid upgrading of human resources."
"Education for city youth should be extremely revitalized through
this proposed institution."
In view of the facts, the inferences in the editorial directed at the
Coalition and its Negotiating Team are unwarranted and unjust. The
interests of community cohesion demand better investigation and closer
communication with the people directly involved, in order to avoid
> « » more
Editor - New York Amsterdam News -- October 8, p968
misleading half-truths that promote divisiveness. The needs of our
community, at these critical and uncertain times, require support,
confidence and unity!
Very truly yours,
hb ber Vow
ALBERT VANN
' Chairman, Bedford Stuyvesant
Coalition Negotiating Team
Title
October 7, 1968, Letter from Al Vann to the editors of the New York Amsterdam News
Description
On October 7, 1968, Al Vann, chairman of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Coalition on Educational Needs and Services, wrote a letter to the Editor of the New York Amsterdam News, responding to an editorial published a week earlier. The editors of the Amsterdam News had expressed concerns that Community College 7 might never come to fruition because of the “indecision, bungling, foot-dragging or ineptitude” of the CUNY officials and Bedford-Stuyvesant community delegation, led by Vann, charged with developing and implementing the plans. In his letter, Vann details his delegation’s successes in convincing CUNY officials to agree to key demands for a college that would be controlled by the community. However, tensions among Bedford-Stuyvesant’s community leaders over the nature and extent of the community control to be demanded of CUNY, and concerns that the opportunity for a college in Central Brooklyn might be lost, continued to escalate in the coming months.
In February 1968, the City University of New York (CUNY) announced plans to establish a new “Community College 7 in or near Bedford-Stuyvesant. . . oriented to the Bedford-Stuyvesant Community and operated in consultation with the community.” Representatives of a broad network of Central Brooklyn community organizations engaged in an 18 months-long negotiation with CUNY Board of Higher Education officials over CUNY’s plans for its newly announced “Community College 7,” including discussions about the proposed school’s curriculum, who would lead it, and what role the community would play in the school’s governance. The role of the Bedford-Stuyvesant community in planning and determining the leadership of the college remained a central point of controversy between Central Brooklyn’s educational and civil society leaders and CUNY officials in the negotiations that followed.
Contributor
Woodsworth, Michael
Creator
Vann, Al
Date
October 7, 1968
Language
English
Source
Donald Watkins Collection (Brooklyn Public Library)
Original Format
Article / Essay
Vann, Al. Letter. “October 7, 1968, Letter from Al Vann to the Editors of the New York Amsterdam News.”, CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, accessed March 10, 2026, https://stephenz.tailc22a4b.ts.net/s/cdha/item/2022