OPEN ADMISSIONS AND LAGUARDIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

A Report by Abraham: J. Habenstreit

June 1, 1972



This report, undertaken at the request of Dean Freeman Sleeper,
is based on three visits to LaGuardia Community College, discussions
with numerous members of the administration, faculty and student body,
both in pre-arranged interviews and at random, and a careful review of
written materials provided by Dean Sleeper and other members of the
staff.

I wish to state at the outset, however, that this report is as
impressionistic as it is objective, and should be viewed in that light.

LaGuardia Community College is new. While there are many
problems in launching a new institution, there is every indication that
the launching of the College was handled efficiently and well.

There also are advantages to being new, and these are very
much in evidence at LaGuarida. The College is small, so people know
each other. There is a sense of adventure in being a part of a new
undertaking that permeates the College community. And since the Col-
lege was started after the advent of Open Admissions, all of the staff
came to the College with the knowledge that they would be a part of an
open-door college; many, indeed, came because they especially wanted
to be involved in the challenge of Open Admissions.

These "advantages of newness'' have resulted in a relaxed,
congenial and optimistic atmosphere at the College, an atmosphere
hospitable to the College's achievement of its educational mission. It

goes without saying that newness alone has not produced the existing



life-affirming and education-affirming atmosphere of the College. The
faculty and administration are to be commended for making the College's
first year one in which the advantages of newness were so evident and
the disadvantages of newness were held to a minimum.

It is my strong feeling that the greatest challenge now facing
LaGuardia Community College is to retain as much of its present spirit
as possible as the "advantages of newness" begin to fade -- as the Col-
lege gets much bigger, quickly, and as the nitty-gritty problems of
Open Admissions and expanding operations begin to preoccupy the faculty
and, especially, the administration.

The remediation programs developed during the Spring '71
planning year were well-conceived and based soundly on accepted al-
though somewhat traditional educational practice, especially in the
English (reading and writing) areas. In mathematics, there seems to
be more of an interest in Recbhaninn more flexible and innovative reme-
diation programs, through the use of the modular approach, emphasis
on imaginative texts and indirect motivation.

The following suggestions are offered for consideration by
appropriate college bodies. Not all of them are exclusively felated to
Open Admissions and remediation programs as it is difficult -- and
self-defeating -- to consider these areas as isolated from the main-
stream of the College.

THE PROBLEM OF DISAPPEARING STUDENTS: Many of the

people interviewed were concerned about the numbers of students who



"disappear" from the remediation courses -- and from the College itself --
during the course of each quarter. This, of course, is a problem which
is present at all of the CUNY community colleges and which no college
has solved completely. But given the fact that LaGuardia's students were
better prepared than those entering any of the other community colleges
last fall, (according to pre-entrance standard testing), and given the
fact that LaGuardia students seemed well-motivated in eles and
pleased with the College, this problem deserves immediate attention
before the College begins to lose the ''advantages of newness" outlined
above. ; I would suggest that this matter be the subject of a community
or town meeting of the entire faculty at an early date and that an appro-
priate student-faculty-administration committee be established to in-
vestigate the problem intensively and make recommendations for imple-
mentation before January 1, 1973. Some of the suggestions which follow
may be appropriate for consideration by such a group, although the pos-
sibilities are certainly not exhausted by what is mentioned in this report.
ACADEMIC EARLY WARNING SYSTEM: A system should be
cinsidexed whereby teachers, especially in the remediation classes,
compile a list of students in each class who seem to be headed for aca-
demic difficulty because of excessive absences, lack of interest, possible
drug use, etc. These lists should be submitted every two weeks to a
central coordinator who would have the responsibility of seeing to it that
every person on the list is seen by a counselor within five days. The
teachers' lists should contain not only the student's name but some indi-

cation of the problem. After a counselor sees ‘the student, he should



send a written report immediately to the teacher with his recommendations.
Teachers and counselors should meet regularly regarding these students,
and the College administration should provide the necessary time for such
meetings. It is essential for the success of such a system that no more
than 10 days elapse from the time a teacher identifies a problem until the
teacher and counselor jointly develop a proposed solution. Among other
advantages, such a system would integrate the teaching and counseling
aspects of the College and bring teachers and counselors together around
real problem-solving.

THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR: It is too early to determine
whether the quarterly calendar results in serious educational problems.
There seems to be a widespread feeling among faculty that condensing a
semester's work into nine of ten actual teaching weeks may not be the
wisest thing to do in some courses. The experiment with the quarterly
calendar should continue, in my opinion, but a mechanism should be es-
tablished whereby it can be evaluated at regular intervals. Faculty dis-
cussion of the quarterly calendar should be encouraged at both the depart-
mental and college-wide levels. The calendar is not necessarily an
"either-or'' situation. It is quite possible that some courses should be
condensed into seven or eight weeks while others should be stretched
out to cover fourteen or fifteen weeks. Such a flexible system, of course,
could confuse students, not to mention teachers and administrators. The
problems could very well be insurmountable. But this possibility should

be explored, among others relating to the academic calendar.



ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE: There seems to be some vague-

ness about administrative responsibility and accountability in the remediation
programs. Inthe math area, the remediation efforts seem to be unmis-
takably an integral part of the Natural Environment Division. The division
chairman played a key role in the initial development of the remediation
program and he continues to devote a major part of his time and interest
to the operation and refinement of remediation efforts. ta the reading and
writing areas, on the sive hand, most of the administrative direction
seems to come from the Office of the Dean, although the chairman of the
Language and Culture Division has been asked to accept responsibility for
evaluating teaching personnel in this area. While there is no indication
that this administrative vagueness has adversely affected either academic
performance or faculty morale, it is important that accountability be
clarified by the College administration as soon as possible, before the
staff in these areas is enlarged significantly.

ACADEMIC RANK DISTRIBUTION: Most of the initial staff has
been retained in the instructor and assistant professor ranks, and it is
suggested that the College could benefit at this point from an infusion of
more senior and experienced faculty at the associate and full professor
levels. This would make for a more diversified and broader-based faculty
and would lend added substance and maturity to the faculty corps. This
suggestion is made in full knowledge that the College administration will
be under intense pressure to provide as many teachers as possible to

cover the anticipated doubling of enrollment in 1972-73. Still, the value


of a diversified faculty should not be underestimated or overlooked, and
some reasonable balance should be struck between the two valid and ad-
mittedly conflicting needs -- for more senior people on the one hand and
foftmany teachers as possible to serve the students on the other. Special
efforts should be made to recruit additional Black and Puerto Rican faculty.

READING AND MATHEMATICS LABS: The labs seem to be very
stocked with self-study materials and the lab technicians appear capable
and dedicated. Although the student's lab work is integrated into his
classroom studies, greater collaboration between the lab technicians and
the classroom teachers is strongly recommended. Lab technicians should
feel that they are as important to the academic program as members of
the faculty. It is suggested that every lab technician should spend at least
two or three hours a week sitting in on classes and/or actually teaching.
Teachers should be encouraged to spend an hour or two a week filling in
for the technicians in the labs. Lab technicians and teachers should meet
together on a regular basis both to discuss the problems of individual
students and to exchange teaching ideas in general.

PEER TUTORING: It is strongly recommended that the College
institute a student-to-student tutoring program. Sucha pion vaad could
be financed in part through work-study funds. Tutoring within the College
could also be one of the internship options offered to students. It was
indicated that some students, especially majors in the liberal arts, are

bored with their co-op assignments and would prefer to work on tutoring

or other meaningful assignments within the College. A portion of the



College's regular instructional budget could also be assigned to support a
tutoring program. My personal experience at Staten Island Community
College with a student-run tutoring program has been extremely positive
and this program has proven to be an efficient and wise use of college
funds. Consideration could also be given to the establishment of advanced
Honors Courses in the English and Math areas in which a significant
portion of the student's work for credit could be devoted to tutoring
students in the remediation program. This, too, has proven highly suc-
cessful at Staten Island Community College.

INTERNSHIPS: LaGuardia was organized as a cooperative col-
lege and this thrust should in no way be changed or compromised. In-
evitably, however, there are some students who find after their exposure
to work-study that this form of education is not suited to them. Others
may have not wanted to be a part of an internship college from the begin-
ning but found themselves at LaGuardia because of the luck of the draw
at the central Admissions Office. The College has a responsibility to
help these students find alternative ways of pursuing their education, and
these alternatives should include options both within LaGuardia and elsewhere.

CONTINUING PROGRAM OF ACADEMIC SUPPORT: In addition
to the basic remediation programs in reading, writing and mathematics,
students should have supporting academic services available as they need
them throughout their college experience. It is suggested that the proposed
tutoring service, for example, be available to students in "regular' as well

as remedial courses.and programs. Similarly, lab services should be



available to all students,and teachers should be encouraged to integrate
the lab situation into advanced as well as preparatory courses. Further-
more, it might be useful to view the library as a lab and the labs as a
part of the library; the premise here is that collaboration between the
library staff and the remediation lab technicians could produce fruitful
results. a

REMEDIATION TEACHING PROGRAMS: Teachers whose primary
responsibility is in remediation should be actively encouraged to teacha
portion of their time in non-remediation courses. Similarly, teachers
whose primary responsibility is elsewhere should be actively encouraged
to teach at least one remediation course a year. This would goalong way
towards integrating the remediation efforts into the mainstream of the
College.

FACULTY IN-SERVICE PROGRAMS: LaGuardia does not do
very much in the way of staff development through in-service programs.
In this, it is like 96 per cent of America's colleges, according to a recent
federal survey. But because LaGuardia's faculty tends to be young and in
the lower academic ranks, the College probably has more of a need than
most for such programs. A start might be made by asking the faculty
through a questionnaire about the type of in-service programs they would

like to have, if any. Federal funds are usually available for such programs.

COUNSELING: The counseling program is in the process of being
reorganized, under new leadership. The Director of Counseling is full of

interesting ideas and has made a good start in implementing some of them.



The faculty in general seems to have a hazy notion of what the counseling
program is all about, probably in part because of the rearganization of
the program in mid-year. Like faculties almost everywhere, the teach-

"show-me'! attitude about the

ing faculty at LaGuardia seems to have a
value of counseling. It is important that the counseling program become
as visible as possible as soon as possible and that counseling and teach-
ing -- and counselors and teachers -- be as closely integrated as possible.

INTENSIVES: Although I did not look at the Intensives in any
depth, I want to endorse the idea of the Intensives and wish them well. I
think the Intensives are an intriguing way of building flexibility into the
academic program of an institution. Imagine! Courses that self-destruct
after one semester, before they can even be printed ina bulletin. A
wonderful experiment, I think.

ATTENDANCE POLICY: Several students seemed uneasy about
the absence, as far as they knew, of a college-wide policy on attendance.
Personally, I have no objection to what appears to be the present practice
if not policy at LaGuardia, namely letting each instructor set his own
attendance policy as long as he lets the students know early on what is
expected of them. But whatever the College's policy is, sao if it is to
have a policy of not having a college-wide policy, the students should be
informed. This matter, of course, is.a perennial subject for faculty dis-
cussion and debate.

FACULTY ROLE IN POLICY-MAKING: Some faculty members

interviewed indicated that there was insufficient consultation with the

faculty regarding policy decisions at the College. The criticism was mild,



10.
however, and expressed more in terms of sadness than anger, especially
by those who were a part of the Planning Year when there apparently was
a sense of communal participation which did not carry over fully into the
first operational year. There also seemed to be some genuine confusion
about the relative powers and responsibilities of Deans, department chair-
men, and the faculty as an official body. None of the students I spoke with
mentioned governance or seemed concerned about it when I brought up the
subject. This leads me to the conclusion that students (not only at
LaGuardia) may need remediation in self-government and self-esteem
as much as they need help in skills development.

FINALLY, like most students and faculty I met at LaGuardia,
I enjoyed the College and found being there an interesting and productive
experience. I hope this report will be distributed widely among the Col-
lege community and that it proves of some use in the further development

of an exciting new institution of which I am now quite fond.