In our biggest issue ever we present the story of open admissions,
how it is helping_us form an educated society, and the awful truth of
how a group of people would like to see open admissions closed.

VOICE OF THE VOICELESS

“PSteaking the chains of silence”
April 20,1998 BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE/CUNY Volume I + Number X

OPEN

ADMISSIONS

th € story

Mayor Giuliani and Herman Badillo are waging a war against open admissions.
Before the fight ends we offer our ‘two cents’— 32 pages explaining everything. —



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EDITORIAL po

CUNY’s going

ivy League

SINCE Mayor Giuliani's
election to public office and
since Herman Badillo’s nomina-
tion as vice-chairman of the
Board of Trustees, open admis-
sions has come under scrutiny.
It appears that after 29 years,
we don’t want an educated soci-
ety.

I am unaware of Mayor
Giuliani’s history before his re-
election last year, but I do know
that he is not about to win any
congeniality contests. As for
Badillo aka ‘The Butcher of
CUNY’ he has stirred anger and
disgust in students, causing
them to march at his office and
distribute fliers about CUNY
bearing his face and his alias
(see page 17).

We too have decided to leash
a personal attack on Giuliani
and Badillo — dedicating this
entire issue in their favor. It’s
not because we like them, but
because we think they are
attacking our future, our chil-
dren’s future, by leading the
pack of ‘let’s-do-away-with-
open-admissions-supporters.’
And that’s personal!

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Opinion

Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
. Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
Open Admissions
. Open Admissions

pril 20, 1998

I am not concerned with
political rhetoric, in fact I find
it quite boring, but I do find
Giuliani’s mum state on the
matter surprising after his
January 14 addres surprisings.
The Mayor has not said any-
thing on the matter after that
infmaous day, but his personnel
are busy trying to find ways of
justifying their boss’ decision of
wishing to change the
University. There is no justifi-
cation — forget it.

I don’t think anyone knows.
However, in trying to see what
they see, I was sidebarred by
one question: why? Why does
CUNY want to place itself on a
plateau, above other education
systems in the country? Are we
better?

If this Comprehensive
Action Plan (CAP) should be
voted in on April 27, CUNY
will be the only — single, one,
uno — university system in the
United States that does not
guarantee a person bearing a

See, IVY LEAGUE, page 18

Page 18 ...
Page 19...
Page 20 ...
Page 21...
Page 22...
Page 23 ... Student Fees
Page 24 ... Run for SGA’
Page 25 ... Features

Page 26 ... Features

Page 27 ... Features

Page 28 ... Features

Page 29 ... News

Page 30 ...What’s happening
Page 31 ... CUNY’s Job Fair
Page 32... Get involved!

News

ONE would think, and
expect, Student Government,
our student-elected officials, to
be playing an active, assertive
role in challenging the Mayor,
Badillo, and everyone else who
wants to put an end to open
admissions. But no. Not at this
school. Until now, that dream is
well, just a dream.

Several weeks ago, upon
realizing this fact and students
coming to or calling our office,
or visiting the SGA complex,
inquiring about their position or
what they are doing about sav-
ing open admissions. I decided
to write them a little memo.

Editor’s note

What's SG

Later that evening the president
of the organization burst into
our office, asking why I wrote
the memo asking them to get
off their lofty towers and do
something, before it’s too late. I
asked him why is that no one
from BMCC’s Student
Government attend the student
organizing meetings or rallies.
He said something to the effect
of: ‘we don’t have time to be
marching up and down, like
those other students and being
arrested for foolishness.’ He
said that they are working with
the students here. Here. Where
exactly? I must admit Alex

A doing?

Maldonado, a senator, attended
a meeting and they were col-
lecting students’ names and
addresses in a petition to be
sent somewhere. Where. I don’t
know.

We say instead of having
parties/dances/concerts and
catered events, sometimes sev-
eral times a week, and attending
workshops/conferences all over
the country, do something that
will benefit us with with our
money.

Since the group’s appoint-
ment last July, they have under-

See, SGA, page 12



Open admissions gives ill-
prepared students a chance

By MELISSA BALTAZAR

THE CITY University of New York is one of
the largest Universities in the nation. Enrolling
over several hundred thousands of students, the
University would not be as successful without
the utilization of the open admissions policy.

The open admissions policy, guarantee
admission to one of CUNY’s community or
senior colleges to any student who demonstrate
financial hardship and/or for students who
would otherwise be unable to get accepted into
another college or university with just a high
school diploma or its equivalent.

The term disadvantaged students can range
anywhere from students who are non-native
English speakers like those in the ESL pro-
grams, adult students who may have taken time
off of their educational pursuits to create or take
care of family or career matters, students who
graduated high school without adequate prepa-
ration to pass a college entrance examination,
and most importantly students who are unable
to finance the high costs of college education.
The list can go on and on.

CUNY has recognized the ills of society to
be a hindrance to ones academic and business
career, and having a major impact on ones edu-
cational performance. In attempting to close the
gap between the poor remaining uneducated,
with a limited opportunity for success, and the
rich with the advantage for obtaining private
education and therefore obtaining a higher eco-
nomic status in the workplace, the solution was
open admissions. .

CUNY have graduated students who have
gone on to create success stories in professions
that would normally underrepresent people of
color.

However, in order for the open admissions
policy to work, other support programs needed
to be implemented like: counseling services,
remediation, and international student services.
These support mechanisms are the life lines of
this policy, and without these important net-
works CUNY would not be following the pre-
tense under which the University was built.

These very programs are under attack by the
Board of Trustees, and are being threatened
with abolishment. These programs need desper-
ate reconstruction, but the permanence of a dis-
continuation of one program cannot take place
without drastically affecting other areas of the

college.

For example, if remediation was eradicated,
students who are unable to pass CUNY’s
entrance exam would automatically be denied
admission to the college, and the enrollment
rates would drastically decline. This would pre-
dominately affect students who were ill pre-
pared in high school, older students who are
attempting to return to school and who may
need a refresher course in basic skills, and stu-
dents from other countries who are not familiar
with the educational practices in the United
States.

Sometimes one can’t help but suggest a hint
of discrimination in even the thought of
attempting to remove the very threads that
weave the web of the City University of New
York as we know it today.

There is no doubt that some of these support
mechanisms at the Borough of Manhattan
Community College have grown to become a
stagnant structure in the college that produce
mountainous amounts of paperwork, yet have
lost its relevance in the production of a success-
ful college student (ie counseling department.),
however major reconstruction efforts are des-
perately needed, for the benefits that may reap
from a college with functioning services is
guaranteed to improve the standards of students
and the reputation of the entire institution.

One last suggestion for the department deal- ©

ing with basic skills and remediation. Students
who fail the CUNY entrance exam often do so
not because of their inability to understand the
work given, but because by the time the test is
administered, some students may have forgotten
the steps to solve basic math problems or the
rules of the English language, some haven’t
been in school in 15 to 20 years prior to their
return. -

Instead of placing a student who fails the
entrance exam into a full semester of remedia-
tion, a special orientation program needs to be
developed where ALL incoming freshman and
transfer students (and anyone who is required to
take the exam) are given a mandatory six week
brush up course on basic skills before taking an
entrance exam, and this will dramatically drop
the numbers of students requiring remediation
and it will give capable students an early start
on their college careers.

E-mail us you questions, comments, suggestions, story, letterS to the editor, quotes, thoughts, dreams,
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thought of Jerry Springer this morning, your favorite thing to do when you are alone, what was George
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wouldn't be any space to put our E-mail address).

omecvoice @usa.net

NOINIdO ©.

In light of
Guiliani’s attack,
BMCC shows
promise

By EWART HUGHES

THE RECENT assault on CUNY’s open admission policy and
the city’s community colleges should serve as a wake up call. While
many amongst us in CUNY have responded with shock and outrage,
and maybe justifiably so, for us here at BMCC, this might be a time
for critical self evaluation, a time when we face ourselves and think.
Negative circumstances and failure in life, at times tend to impact us
more strongly and rather than being defensive the question should
be, how can we make BMCC a better learning institution? This
questions calls to attention all and sundry, adminstration, faculty, and
students.

PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENTS

The administration and the system of operation have both func-
tioned considerably well. BMCC is on the cutting edge of technolo-
gy and this is relfected by the increasing smoothness of registration
afforded by the use of computers. There is access to the Internet,
interactive software teaching mathematics in the Math Lab, and an
electronic message board. These cannot be taken for granted but I
have ought with administration. Their purpose is not only to set and
articulate policies, but also to-mobolize and stimulate the students
for their greatest good.

Like a CEO of a company who from time to time would interact
with the rank and file of the company, the president and vice-presi-
dents of the college should be more involved in the motivation of
the students. Many of our students are single parents or, for the most
part are juggling parenting, school, and work all at the same time.
Undoubtedly, many are under stress and need that encouraging shot
in the arm but may not see the need to talk to a counselor.

The president and vice-presidents should make occasional
appearances over the television monitors, appealing to the students’
sense of direction and resolve. Resolve to overcome the hurdles and
disappointments that are inherent in college life. By the way who are
the president and vice presidents of BMCC? I am sure that they are
well intentioned people.

But why should they appear insular and far removed fro the
hearts of the people the administer? There are monitors on the over-
pass connecting the south building to the north building, upstairs in
the library, in the LRC, and in the lobby. Why should one be hearing
hip-hop or reggae music as one walks by rather than the assuring
voices of the commanders in chief.

Just to see their faces and hear their voices would boost the moral
of the students. It is not enough to have announcements across the
bulletin board, the students need to be told time and again that they
can make it and that though a small beginning, they can make up to
Harvard, Columbia, Whaton, Congress, or the White House. Former
Presidential candidate, Ross Perot attended a two-year college.
Positive reinforcement makes the seemingly impossible, possible.

FACULTY

Faculty has certain responsibilities to lift standards. While many
instructors and professors are adept at their jobs, some just seem to
go through the motion of passing out lots of As at the end of the
semester to keep their jobs and maintain status quo. Some of the
courses are not as practical as they should.

After leaving BMCC some students enter the world but grades
apart, are they equipped and ready? Some of these courses have

See, HUGHES, page 19

SE9IBIIOA ALN 10 BDIOA « RAAL ‘NZ Wdw


OPEN ADMISSIONS «

April 20, 1998 * Voice of the Voiceless

Photos of past student protests.
(Courtesy of Hunter’s The Envoy)
At right: a student activist speaks
with news media.

(Photo: Jacqueline Forde-Stewart)

[An] open-enrollment
community college
offered me a fresh,

affordable opportunity to
learn how to learn, to
earn higher degrees, and

to defy the expectations
that | would be limited to
blue-collar careers

—Neal M Rosendorf
(NY Times, 2/28/98)

SAVE OPEN

Giuliani sez
end open
admissions

On January 14, during his
State of the City speech, Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani unleashed a
vicious attack on the City
University of New York calling
the 21-school system a “disas-
ter,’

Giuliani declared that CUNY
should end its 28 year policy of
having open admissions, that is,
any person with a high school
diploma or its equivalent may
pursue higher education at a
community college.

The Mayor also outlined a
plan that would introduce
entrance exams and tougher
graduation requirements. He
also threatened to take away the
CUNY ’s $110 million annual
budget if his needs are not met.

“A college can only function
if it has an entrance exam,” he
said. “You can’t have standard
of performance if there are no
standards of entry.”

From that day, students, fac-
ulty, community activists, and
supporters of the University had
had a chance to refute the
Mayor’s claims and present the
University as an integral part of
New York City. City Council
members say Giuliani’s attack
on CUNY is a diversion from
his failure to meet his own
promises to improve the public
schoois.

“What is the reason for say-
ing the answer is taking money
and programs away from the

- community colleges?’’Stephen

DiBrienza, a Brooklyn
Councilman said at a Committee
on Higher Education meeting,
February 9.

“You want to privatize away
your own failure to improve
schools,” he said, addressing the
Mayor, who was not present.

Giuliani has remained quiet
on the matter.



ADMISSIONS

The saga
continues...

CUNY’s 29-year-old open
admissions history in brief

By SHAMEKA THOMPSON
Voice Staff Writer

IN 1969, The Board of
Higher Education (BHE) decid-
ed that it would devise a pro-
gram of “Open Admissions,” a
program that would permit all
New York City high school
graduates a seat in CUNY.

This plan was slated to be
implemented in 1975, however,
on April 22,1969 a group a stu-
dents demonstrated on the
grounds of City College. They
felt that CUNY’s traditional
method of admissions discrimi-
nated against non-white minori-
ties.

As a result, in July, the BHE
put their “Master Plan” into
action. This plan would begin
with all graduates in June of
1970 and thereafter. They
believed that the expansion of
educational opportunity through
increased enrollment, was essen-
tial to educational desirability,
social equity, and and in itself, a
need of the economy. Open
enrollment was expected to
make six specific provisions: (i)
to offer admission, in university
programs, to all high school
graduates; (ii) provide remedial
and other supportive services for
all students that needed it; (iii)
maintain and enhance the stan-

CUNY student protest in 1989 against Democrat Mario Cuomo’s proposed tuition hikes.
(Photo: Courtesy of CCNY Student Liberation Movement)

dards of excellence of the col-
leges of CUNY; (iv) encourage
ethnic integration in the col-
leges; (v) provide mobility for
students between many pro-
grams and units of the universi-
ty, and (vi) to assure that all stu-

dents who entered community
and senior colleges under the
former admissions criteria could
still be admitted. This would
retain the opportunities for stu-
dents eligible under the Board’s
new policies and practices.

In September 1970, CUNY
became the first municipal insti-
tute to open its doors to all high
school graduates. The freshman
class totaled 35,035. This was a

Faculty,

By SHAMEKA THOMPSON
Voice Staff Writer

FACULTY, STUDENTS, and activists
engaged in a discussion of CUNY’s open
admission policies at the Graduate Center,
March 3.

The colloquium featured speakers and
the following is a synopsis of what they
said.

Cecilia McCall, an English professor
at Baruch College said she wouldn’t have
had her job if it weren’t for open admis-
sions and was hired to work with students
who too, entered CUNY through it.
McCall said a large number of students,
as well as professors, of color have bene-
fitted from open admissions and black
and Latino students are now a part of the
growing middle class — thanks to open

programs C
grams. Community colleg
remediation mills nor job

Rather, there are legitimate compret
institutions of higher education

—Joanne Reitano, pro

LaGuardia Community College

(NY Times

enrollment.

McCall introduced the three new
forms of admission under consideration
by the Board of Trustees to replace open
enrollment; (i) you must have a college
level education; (ii) if you do not have a
college level education, you will have to
take remedial courses outside, which may
be expensive; and (iii) you will have to
complete one year of remedial construc-
tion.

Student will only be accepted if they
complete the full year of remediation. She
said that the termination of open admis-
sions is a Civil Rights issue.

Angela Bradford, a student and mem-
ber of the “Welfare Rights Initiative” at
Hunter College, said she is deeply affect-
ed by open admissions. Since she entered
college, Bradford, a former welfare recip-

ient, is permanently off of public assis-
tance; she has moved into a new home,
and is working on receiving her
Bachelors.

Bradford pointed out that 90% of wel-
fare recipients are single women with
children. And as far as she knows, 13%
have had to drop their classes to enter
workfare, a program in which most don’t
stay for longer than three months. “It is
devastating to be told that you cannot
continue your education because of your
financial status,” she said.

If open admissions is terminated, it
will mean the loss of the “Welfare Rights
Initiative,” she said. This program
encourages about 400 public assistance
recipients to, for those that don’t have
one, receive a GED or High School diplo-
ma, develop skills, that will permanently
remove themselves from the system and
exit poverty. She said that welfare recipi-
ents can permanently get off of public
assistance when allowed to obtain higher
education. “Countless others have used
CUNY to change their lives and thou-
sands can do as I did if given the opportu-
nity,” she said.

Ron Mcguire also known as “our
lawyer,” is in fact an attorney. According
to Mcguire, black’s and Latinoes receive
more degrees from CUNY, than any other
college in the country.

Open admissions has produced most
lawyers, doctors, and nurses, he said.
Mcquire said that removal of open admis-
sions is an “educational genocide.” He
said most elementary, junior high, and
high school students are not properly pre-
pared to enter college: “our children [are]
not being under-educated, but under-ser-
viced.”

Mcguire noted that most CUNY
schools, (eg Hostos, Medgar Evers, and
Lehman) were granted open admissions
because they fought for it. He said the

See, HISTORY, page 7

students discuss open admissions

community as well as CUNY students
and staff must get involved in the fight
now to keep open admissions.

Dr Martha Bell, who has been a
teacher for 20 years, now teaching reme-
dial courses at Brooklyn College, spoke
on how remediation will be affected if
open admissions is removed.

She said when she first began teaching
remedial courses, she was sarcastically
asked if she really owned a PhD. She
recalled the first time she taught a reme-
dial course. It was at a high school where
the students didn’t even have textbooks.
Since then she has dedicated her life to
remediation.

Dr Bell dispelled misconceptions that
CUNY ‘invented’ remediation. In 1849
the University of Wisconsin offered its
first remedial course. In 1889, more than
80% of the senior colleges offered spe-
cialized programs. In 1907, Harvard,
Yale, and Princeton began to offer
preparatory courses.

“When my students heard about the
removal of remediation, they asked me,
‘They really don’t want us in school do
they?” I reluctantly replied ‘that may be
true,’” she said.

SNOISSINGY NadO ©

SSO/OIJOA OY} 40 BIJ0A + 9661 ‘Oz IUdV


OPEN ADMISSIONS gp :

By BOYD DELANCEY
Editor

AMIDST the controversy concerning open admis-
sions, our college president Dr Antonio Pérez, strong-
ly opposes Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his allies in
their quest to revamp the City University of New
York by implementing new standards of entry and
exit thus ending the university’s 28-year-old open
admissions policy.

From day one, the Mayor’s intentions were to
“change” the university from what it has become to
what it was in the ‘60s, Pérez said.

He charged Giuliani with making and promoting
“recommendations without knowing enough about
community colleges.”

Remedial requirements of
recent high school graduates

* 59% (718) need remedial instruction
in reading

© 77% (944) need remedial instruction
in math

* 67% (815) need remedial instruction
in writing

* 90% (1,103) need remedial instruc-
tion in at least one area

* 21% (251) need remedial instruction
in one area only

* 27% (334) need remedial instruction
in two areas

* 42% (518) need remedial instruction
in three areas

Based on the remedial placements of the
1,220 freshman who enrolled at BMCC
directly after graduating from high school in
Fall 1996).

Perez: Mayor’s plan to
‘change’ CUNY, contradictory

Giuliani’s plan to transform CUNY, particularly
two-year colleges, contradicts the mission of commu-
nity colleges, which is to serve as “open access” insti-
tutions of higher learning. This philosophy is consis-
tent with the aim of community colleges across the
country which are open to all students who have
acquired a high school diploma or a GED, Pérez said.

“In the ‘60s when the community colleges first
began, their purposes were different from the four-
year colleges — which were the purposes of accessi-
bility,” Pérez said. However, Giuliani’s attack, if
proven successful, will not afford thousands of
today’s students the opportunity those in the ‘60s had.

He said the Mayor’s plan is bias and “predeter-
mines” who gets accepted and who is not accepted
into college.

According to Giuliani, CUNY’s graduation rates
have “declined precipitously” since 1980. He claims
only one percent of community college students grad-
uate in two years and only nine percent of senior col-
lege students receive their diplomas in four years.
Pérez said, however, “ours [graduation rates] are simi-
lar to the national average. We’re not any different
than most colleges or community colleges in the
country.”

From a profile which outlines the remediation
needs of the 1,220 new students enrolled at BMCC
directly out of high school for Fall 1996; 90% of them
needed remediation in either mathematics, English, or
writing.; 42%needed remediation in all areas.

“They put the blame on us, but we can only work
with the students and what their needs are,” Pérez
said.

As for remediation, the president acknowledges
that BMCC may undergo some changes, however,
depend on CAPs reception.

“In trying to accommodate everybody, we [college
community] felt that students came in at the lowest
levels and so we offered some levels of remediation
that faculty and administration tell us that maybe we
shouldn’t have been offering,” he said, citing arith-
metic and low level of reading as examples.

President Pérez assures that programs will not be
cut, but become more “intensive.” Courses will be
revamped and the college will continue to accept all
students.

“Some of the students that come into the college
have a need in the lowest levels of remediation ...

* Voice of the Voiceless

April 20, 1998

JOIN THE FIGHT TO SAVE
OPEN ADMISSIONS!

[some of them] need so much help that our current
model does not work for them.

“The college will seek out other intensified and
inexpensive avenues for students,” Pérez said.

According to the Plan, he said, colleges will only
allow students with little or no remediation to apply
and be admitted through the “normal process.”
Students in need or remediation will have one year to
complete such classes, and will be admitted either
through intensive institutes or the summer program.
According to Peréz, as per the new plans, students

ANTONIO PEREZ, BMCC PRESIDENT

will be REQUIRED to attend summer sessions.

After the summer, some students may enter regular
classes, however, they will need to complete remedial
courses during winter immersion.

This proposal also has some loose ends that need
tightening, Pérez said. He worries what will happen to
students who can only afford to attend school part-
time, and will not be able to complete remediation in
the prescribed time.

If student

the prob’
most likely in
schools. Tryinc



Guys with wise ideas

Meet the two major players in the
battle to end open admissions

RUDOLPH GIULIANI,
New York City Mayor

BHE, from page 5

great increase compared to the 19,559
of the previous year. It also topped
26,000 who entered via the pre-open
admissions. The number of Black and
Puerto Rican students had increased
by almost 20%. But this was only a
test. Some predicted that open admis-
sions would become a revolving door

in reme

ganizations
oy at the

commitment

Research. (NY Ti

2/28/98)

with a very high drop-out rate. The
new policy had to prove successful to
know if higher education should be
available to all who wanted it, regard-
less of their ability to pay or having to
jump academic “hurdles.”

The progress of open admissions
was important to the diffusion of
racial tension in New York City as
well as across the country.

Open Enrollment did
prove to be a success. By
March of 1974, 70% of the
students that entered
through open admissions in
1970, were still enrolled
four semesters later. This
showed that the speculated
result of open admissions
was indeed wrong.

Despite the success of
open admissions, there
were certain issues of con-
cern. One major issue was
overcrowding.

tion

SNOISSINGV NadO N

HERMAN BADILLO,
Vice-chair, Board of Trustees

Unfortunately, when the board pre-
sented open admissions, they didn’t
make sure the CUNY colleges had the
proper accommodations.
Overcrowding had become routine.
Brooklyn College’s campus had to
have new buildings built to house the
overflow. Hunter College had to rent
space around its Park Avenue building
to accommodate a student body of
10,758. Hunter College’s campus was
built only to house only 2,500.

By 1975, CUNY was faced with yet
another problem; budget cuts. It was
believed that open admissions faced
certain disasters because of the budget
cutting into remedial programs.

The BHE had to ask themselves if
they could afford to “pull along” stu-
dents that were far below college level
work.

Regretfully, they couldn’t. Shortly
after this discovery, the Board of
Higher Education ‘illegally’ gave
chancellor Kibbee the power to

“destroy” CUNY as well as its faculty
and students.

He proposed a $55 million cut that
would initially eliminate open admis-
sions. Students and faculty members
were not given the right to speak on
“The Educational Mission of CUNY.”

So, the BHE put aside their plans so

that they could follow through with
them while the students were on vaca-
tion. By this time the chancellor had
the full power to propose any cuts or
create the programs he wanted.

Because of the BHE’s haste, stu-
dents and faculty pulled together and
demonstrated at The Board of Higher
Education. They protested inside and
out. Shouting “No cuts, No way, and
eduction is our right.” This made the
BHE members tense.

Today, students are fighting to keep
what was fought for in the ‘60s alive.

SSO/OIIOA O43 $0 BD}OA + EEL ‘Oz Udy


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OPEN ADMISSIONS

April 20,1998 «* Voice of the Voiceless

Badillo aka ‘Butcher of CUNY’ tells
why he is critical of the system

(The following article is reprinted with
permission from Hunter College’s The
Envoy.)

ENVOY: The CUNY Board this year
passed the requirement that students
pass an English language exam only a
few days before the end of the semester.
Why wasn't this requirement passed ear-
lier, giving the students more notice?

HERMAN BADILLO: No. This
requirement, I think, goes back to 1979
when the Board of Trustees passed a
resolution requiring that students pass a
written assessment test for English lan-
guage. The test was supposed to be an
entrance test so that if the young people
didn’t speak English properly, they
would [have to] take remedial courses.
What happened at Hostos is, the
entrance test was changed from a
CUNY written assessment test to a
Hostos written assestment test, then
when the students failed it, the students
demonstrated on the Grand Concourse.
Then the administration of Hostos
changed the requirements of the test
altogether to say that you didn’t have to
pass the test... [and] if you got a good
mark in the class, you would be able to
graduate. Now, we didn’t know that the
administration had done this. We had
thought all along that the CUNY
[requirement] was in effect. We didn’t
find out from the president or the
administration at Hostos. When we
found out, we said, “Wait a minute. It’s
bad enough that you changed an
entrance test to a graduation test, but at
least you have to have a graduation test,
because it would be a simple test.’ So it
wasn’t anything that came up at the last
minute, we found out that the require-

ments had been changed [at Hostos], but
the requirements were always there [at
CUNY].

ENVOY: Recently, you have made many
criticisms of CUNY in newspapers.

HB: Well, when Ann Reynolds resigned,
we discovered information that, in my
opinion, is appalling as far as CUNY is
concermed. As I said, we found out

pared for college work.

ENVOY: You made a comment that stu-
dents at CUNY have been lowered
because it’s the politically correct thing
to do because, of the many blacks and
Latinos.

HB: Actually, I said that about [the] ele-
mentary and secondary public school
system because, we you know, I worked

When the students in the public school system are
white, they have standards; when the students

became black and Hispanic, they abolish standards

and they introduce social promotion.

about Hostos from the fact that the stu-
dents demonstrated. We found out when
Reynolds resigned that 50% of the stu-
dents were getting As and Bs. That’s
strange, when you have students coming
in from a school system that is inferior
in quality, as the New York system is,
that they were getting As and Bs.
Because, let’s face it, the kids who come
into CUNY are not the one who get the
Regents scholarships, [or] the ones who
graduate from Bronx Science or
Stuyvesant; they’re the kids who gradu-
ate from schools like Taft, Roosevelt,
and Kennedy High schools in the Bronx.
They’re the kids who require assistance.
It’s unlikely they would be getting As
and Bs because they are not really pre-

with the Mayor as the special counsel
on the field of education. I said, “When
the students in the public school system
are white, they have standards; when the
students became black and Hispanic,
they abolish standards and they intro-
duce social promotion.’ In other words,
when it was a white system, if you do
your work you pass, if you don’t you
fail, when it became a black and
Hispanic system, if you don’t do your
work you pass, if you do your work you
pass. That’s called social promotion, but
I think it is dooming blacks and
Hispanics to a life of being unable to
perform because it is guaranteeing that
they will be unprepared for the work
that exists. You have to ensure that those

students who come to us at CUNY who
are educationally unprepared are not
passed along with the same social pro-
motion system — in the lower grades
it’s called social promotion, in CUNY
it’s called grade inflation, but it’s the
same thing.

ENVOY: You have been critical of the
open admissions policy.

HB: No, actually, that’s another thing
that they accuse us of which I never
said. All I said was, ‘I believe open
admissions with standards, because to
take young people under open admis-
sions and automatically pass them is not
really doing them a service.’ We will
take them in, but we then have to give
remediation tests to find out what help
they they need, give them help they
need, then move them on to college
work, but not just pass them automati-
cally.

ENVOY: You suggested creating remedi-
ation institutions.

HB: No, immersion. The immersion sys-
tem means that instead of taking reme-
diation and spreading them over four or
six years, you concentrate the first year
on remediation, the immersion system,
so they get it out easy. I think it would
be better for students.

ENVOY: So what would be an extra
year. They wouldn't get college credit
for that year.

HB: Well, they wouldn’t get college
credit, but the point is they need it. It
would only be one year.

Board of Trustees is expected to vote on the Plan to end open admissions

By BOYD DELANCEY

Editor

ON MONDAY, April 27 the fate of

open admissions will be decided upon as

members of the Board of Trustees are
expected to vote on the Comprehensive
Action Plan (CAP).

The CAP, developed as a result of
Mayor Giuliani’s and his proponents
claim that CUNY is failing, “is an effort
to develop an overreaching policy con-
cerning the preparedness of students for
college-level work at CUNY,” the draft
read.

The Plan hopes to “strengthen” stu-
dents’ “preparedness” by targeting them

early. CUNY will send its admissions
criteria, including testing information to
high schools. English as a Second
Language requirements and a listing of
high school courses beneficial to
prospective students will also be distrib-
uted. CUNY hopes to continue working
with the New York City Board of
Education to coordinate its standards
with the new Regents graduation require-
ments. The University will also familiar-
ize middle school students about its
admissions requirements.

As per the March 19 draft copy of the
Plan which has been changed and modi-
fied several times since its introduction
February 27 at the Trustees’ monthly

meeting, high school graduates will be
asked to submit SAT scores. Non-English
speakers will be required to submit
TOEFL scores.

Students at the community colleges
will be given one academic year to com-
plete remediation requirements.

“Students who are unable to complete
such a sequence in two of the three skills
areas would be referred to an Intensive
Skills Program for further remedial work
and would be readmitted if successful in
demonstrating readiness,” the draft read.

Associate Dean of Academic Support

See, CAP, page 16

CUNY ’s proper function is not to
replicate the lvy League

Students may be CAP-ed, Monday

City University should continue the

unique mission it adopted at its

inception in 1847, to educate tt

children of the whole people

—Lawrence Rushing, professor o
at LaGuardia Community

College (NY Times

2/28/98)


Did you hear this one?:

class identities, and deconstructing
the relation of power and gender —
anything but working single-mindedly
on basic skills. But the far greater
threat to a student's self-esteem will
come not from a professor's red ink,
but when our illiterate but self-
assured student can't get a job.”

THE NEWS print media has
‘trashed-talked’ CUNY. In fact, every
week you can look forward to an edi-
torial, opinion, or news piece on the
City University falling from grace or
how we are ‘farming out degrees.’

Though, thought provoking, many
were arrogant and written with angst.

THIS IS OUR FAVORITE:

It was written by Heather
MacDonald, a New York Daily News
opinion writer.

She writes:

On that same page, David A Paterson,
writes:

Seven out of 10 attend CUNY schools
part-time during their college

careers. They are poor in income —

“CUNY's remedial programs
embrace a foolish ideology. The dom-
inant belief in almost all CUNY’s
remedial departments is that remedia-
tion is itself an oppressive construct
of the elite, designed to further mar-
ginalize the poor. Correcting stu-
dents’ grammar and spelling, this rea-
soning goes, risks destroying stu-
dents’ creativity and self-esteem.

Instead of learning the rudiments
of English, remedial students are
exploring their racial, sexual and

Call to End CUNY Open

“Open enraliment i far,” Giuliani
If Mayor Rudolph Giuliani must point fingers over motel salt Wy ea tes Bones cee am M eee

Myth & Reality

What Rudy don’t know is a lot

MYTH #1: GIULIANI SAYS CUNY
HAS NO STANDARDS.

The Reality:

1. CUNY awards more master’s degrees
to Black and Latino candidates than any
other institution in America.

2. CUNY offers nearly all of its courses
for three credits. Exactly comparable
courses are offered at NYU for four
credits. This puts an additional burden
on the number of courses students at
CUNY must complete to obtain their
degrees, currently 40 for CUNY, only 30
for NYU.

3. City College is the third largest source
of bachelor’s degree recipients who have
gone on to earn doctorates and Hunter
College is the third largest source of

and rich in ambition. Fifty-five per-
cent of entering freshman aren't
recent high school graduates, and

overlooked.

official said that open enrollment can be said’ =

Ste

women who earn doctorates

4. City College alone has graduated
eight alumni who went on to win Nobel
prizes — more than any other institution
in America.
5. Over the past 11 years, 178 CUNY
faculty have been recipients of National
Endowment of the Humanities
Fellowships and 34 are Guggenheim
Fellows.
6. In 1991, CUNY conferred 1,011 mas-
ter’s degrees to Black and Latino stu-
dents, while SUNY awarded only 238.

MYTH #2: GIULIANI SAYS
ENTRANCE EXAMS IMPROVE
STANDARDS.

The Reality:

Tests do nothing to prepare students for
college, they only exclude those most in
need of an education. Real preparation at

'_ SaaS

Colle TR Tek bas bees the opposite,
aya need the a edi

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Mayor’s Plan
On Admissio1
To CUNY Stir

seo
wv °°
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State of the City address this we

New York would become virtua

More Roadblocks to CUNY Reform

more than 56% don't speak English > . . 3 _
as their first language. About a third pay gig heer g feed es at Hunt ge a ——
are recent high school graduates of ne a big step... owen’ Its board later & {let a
New York City’s failing public high of yet body ia avis ‘ial ed a + C a ! rh te
schools. this in a system that has an entire reme”’ ; ets cu a
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high school and primary school levels
raises quality. Most New Yorkers sup-
port quality public schools, so the Mayor
is trying to justify his program cuts by
blaming students for the failure of
schools to teach them. Entrance exams
exclude students. They are really an
admission of failure, not a program for
improvement.

In fact, no other community college
system in the country has an admissions
exam. Most people are civilized enough
to know that the job of schools is to
teach. Throwing students out guarantees
they won’t learn. Strong remediation and
enough financial aid to ease the work
burden will encourage students to excel.

MYTH # 3: GIULIANI SAYS END-
ING REMEDIATION AT THE
SENIOR COLLEGES AND REDUC-
ING IT AT THE COMMUNITY

COLLEGES WILL IMPROVE THE
SCHOOLS.

The Reality:

Hello? What world does this guy live in?
Let’s go over this one last time...
schools teach people things they don’t
know. The purpose of the community
colleges is preparation for the four-year
colleges. They can’t make up for 12
years of over-crowded, under-funded
schools in six months. Many students
come into the senior colleges prepared
to do work in their major, but with
weakness in a different area. Should
young scholars who never got geometry
be denied their chance to learn?
Hundreds of Hunter College’s students
were expected to graduate in January,
yet most had passing GPAs. This is what

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Giuliani’s madness does to our lives.
Only we can stop him.



10
o

OPEN ADMISSION

2
$s

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&

5

Open admissions:
Program fora
democratic
university

Open admissions has guaranteed every New Yorker with a high
school diploma or GED the chance to attend a college within the
City University. A victory of the Civil Rights Movement, open
admissions means working people, the poor, people of color, and
immigrants whose segregated, inferior public education may have
failed to adequately prepare them for college-level work would not
be denied the chance for a decent education a second time by being
denied access to college.

Since open admissions was won in 1970, more than 450,000 stu-
dents earned their degrees from CUNY. Since 1970, more people of
color have graduated from CUNY than any other institution in the
history of this country. Open admissions has been one of the most
significant democratic educational achievements in this country
since Reconstruction.

2. STOP PLANS TO STRATIFY CUNY BY RACE AND CLASS

Because the city’s public school system reflects and reinforces
racial and class inequalities, any plan to establish a few elite colleges
with descending tiers to a non-college immersion basement is inher-
ently racist. Community colleges should not be used as a remedial
dumping ground; open the senior colleges to students who are pre-
pared for college work, but may need some remedial work. No non-
college “instances.” CUNY must be a public university responsive to
the communities it was created to serve.

3. FULL ACADEMIC SUPPORT FOR INCOMING STU-
DENTS

Integrated developmental (“remedial”) programs into the regular
CUNY instructional programs. No warehousing of ESL students and
students of color in low-budget, non-college institutes. Students
should earn college credit when they can do college-level work,
including credit for language learning.

No time limits. Graduation rates based on two years and four
years are not meaningful for CUNY students. Students — not
CUNY, the Trustees, or the Mayor — should decide how long one
can attend college. No tests designed to enforce artificial time con-
straints. Reconstitute and enhance programs such as SEEK and
College Freshman Immersion. Open admissions requires a commit-
ment to retain CUNY students.

No deferred “admissions.” The Mayor, the Manhattan Institute,
the Trustees, and the CUNY administration are arguing over whether
developmental instruction should be turned over to private contrac-
tors or run by the CUNY administration as non-college language
immersion institutes staffed by non-union, adult education instruc-
tors paid only half as much as adjuncts. In either case, removal of
students from college instruction and college credit into such insti-
tutes eliminates the democratic content of open admissions and vio-
lates the mission of CUNY to educate “the whole people.” Unionize
all instructional staff including the Research Foundation and contin-
uing education instructors with union wages and full union benefits.

4. FULL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ALL STUDENTS

CUNY should be tuition-free as it was for more than a century
when the student body was almost entirely white. A stipend should
be available to students who continue their education in the universi-
ty. As a first step, use the current budget surplus to roll back tuition.
Make available full tuition assistance programs and more financial
support for part-time students. Use all tuition money paid by stu-
dents in developmental classes to finance the development of such
programs.

In recent years, the politicians and their hand-picked appointees
on the Board of Trustees have made it more difficult for all but the
affluent to attend CUNY. A CUNY education is now one of the most
expensive among public universities nationwide. As tuition has

See, OPENAD, page 12

Education

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Students
arrested
during
protest

ON MARCH 19, over 75 New
York Police Department officers
attacked demonstrators after a
rally outside the offices of
Herman Badillo. Five students
were arrested, and one hundred
cops surrounded Hunter
College’s main campus after
demonstrators went inside.

The attack occurred on 64th
Street and Lexington Avenue as
protesters were marching to
Hunter after the rally.

According to a protester, the
melee began when Inspector
Fox of the NYPD went onto the
crowd to retrieve a bullhorn.
According to the NYPD, the
marchers had a permit to use
sound equipment at the rally, but
not while marching. When Fox
entered the crowd, the police
officers charged and began to to
take students out of the crowd.
Students were hit by police offi-
cers, one was held in a head-
lock.

“They [police officers] were
confused,” said another protest-
er. “It seemed [as if] they didn’t
know whether to arrest people,
or why they were charging the
crowd.”

The incident marked the sec-
ond time the students were
harassed by the police. Earlier,
while students were crossing an
intersection, seven undercover
police officers began to shove
students unto the sidewalk.

Four students were arrested,
including Manuel Colon and
Ana Deferrai from Hunter
College, Brad Sigal and David
Suker from City College. Adan
Jesus Quarez, a project coordi-
nator for the Hunter
Undergraduate Student
Government, was also arrested.

As students regrouped, they
continued to march to Hunter,
under heavy police presence.
The students convened on
Hunter’s third floor. As they ral-
lied, officers from the
Community Affairs department
asked Hunter’s Vice-President

A young protester rally at Badillo’s office.
(Photo: Jacqueline Forde-Stewart)

for permission to enter the cam-
pus.
Under pressure from the stu-
dents, Vice-President Gizis
relented, and asked the police to
leave.

The NYPD proceeded to send
seven undercover police to
search for student activists.
When confronted by students,
the officers denied they were
police officers. After 30 minutes
of negotiation, the SAFE team
finally escorted the police offi-
cers off campus. “I was totally
freak-out,” said a Hunter
activist. “I mean, cops were run-
ning around to arrest students, in
my school.”

The Badillo protest marked a
flurry of actions to reject the
Comprehensive Action Plan
(CAP). The Plan would limit
remediation in the community
colleges to one academic year,
and eliminate it completely from
the senior colleges.

Students who fail their reme-
diation requirements will have to
take their remedial courses over
the summer or evenings in

“immersion centers.” Mayor
Giuliani has proposed to have
these centers run by private
companies such as Kaplan and
other educational corporations.

Professor William Crain of
City College said the new plan
draws on no significant research
or analysis of the University, but
is an “ideological attack on open
admissions.”

“CAP was hastily put togeth-
er and it would place arbitrary
limits on remediation that would
exclude thousands of students,”
he said.

Professor Barbara Radin of
Hostos Community College,
said the Plan “will actually
destroy programs and polices
that have enabled under-pre-
pared students to succeed since
CUNY began its open admission
policy way back. It will severely
limit educational opportunity to
New Yorkers wishing to strive
for self-improvement.”

—ALIE SHERIFF,
HUNTER Envoy


is a right
FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

Students’ pressure
delays Board’s vote

ON MARCH 23, almost 300
protesters converged at the head-
quarters of the Board of
Trustees.

The demonstration called by
the CUNY Coalition for
Admissions was aimed at stop-
ping the implementation of the
Comprehensive Action Plan
(CAP),a proposal which, if
approved, would limit remedia-
tion at the community colleges
to one academic year, and end
remediation at the senior col-
leges all together.

Students marched shouting,
‘No CUNY, No Peace,’ and
“Money for CUNY, Not for
Jails,’ on their way to the Board
meeting on 80th Street.

Over seven CUNY campuses
were represented at the event,
alongside community activist,
CUNY faculty, and high school
students, demanding the contin-
uation of open admissions, the
policy which guarantees a place
in the CUNY system for all high
school graduates.

“In 1969, 247 students took
over City College, allowing it to
become a place that represents
all New Yorkers,” said Jed
Brandt, a Hunter College stu-
dent. “Open admissions was
born out of struggle.”

Keeanga Taylor, a student at
City College, linked the battle
over open admissions with the
deterioration of New York City
high schools.” What about the
standards at our high schools
where children are being killed
by falling bricks because there’s

no money for maintenance?”
asked Taylor.

As marchers encircled the
headquarters, students attempted
to enter the meeting where the
fate of CUNY was in balance.
Like past Board of Trustees
meetings, a limited number of
students were allowed in. When
it was discovered that political
honchos were began to chant:

‘Let us in, Let us in.’ Eventually,

a student representative gained
access to the meeting.

This was the third political
action in two weeks.

Unlike March 19, the March
23 police presence was notice-
ably quiet. Two hundred cops
were present, and some manned
the roofs of high-rise apartment
buildings. This prompted a few
members of the crowd to chant,
‘Jump! Jump!.’

The protesters ended the
demonstration later that evening
and marched back to Hunter
College. There they were
informed that a resolution was
defeated that would have given
senior colleges the autonomy to
decide their own remediation
schedule. “This is a small victo-
ry, but a victory nonetheless,”
Suzy, a Brooklyn College
activist.

The next political action will
take place on April 22, when
students and faculty will cele-
brate the 29th anniversary of
open admissions.

—KeiTH MITCHELL,
HUNTER ENVOY

Be a part of the

next rally,

April

27 @ CUNY Central.

The battle starts
at 3pm.

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Top:Professor of psychology at City College, William Crain, speaks with the news media; center, police
Officers survey the crowd during the rally at Badillo’s office; and above, student scales Board of Trustees’
table during a meeting.



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April 20, 1998 * Voice of the Voiceless

Campuses to set
their own entrance
requirements: BOT

IGNORING the sounds of
hundreds of protesters echoing
outside their East 80th Street
headquarters, the CUNY Board
of Trustees voted Monday,
March 23 on a resolution to
allow individual CUNY schools
to determine their own entrance
and remediation requirements.

The resolution, a smaller
component of the controversial
Comprehensive Action Plan
(CAP), was an attempt to pro-
vide Baruch College with the
ability to do away with remedia-
tion of any kind by next semes-
ter. Currently, individual cam-
puses are required to provide
remediation for students who
require it.

The previous week, almost 50
teachers and students filled the
board room and angrily blasted
the Board for trying to enact the
plan. CAP is the form through
which programs would be cut
and masked as a way to improve
the university. At a March 16
public meeting, where only four
acting trustees showed up to
hear the speakers, not one per-
son supported the CAP proposal.
Following this meeting, and
media coverage of what faculty
and students call a ‘decidedly
hostile sentiment’ to the Plan in
general, the Board made the
decision to postpone the vote.

The March 23 vote made
clear where the individual
trustees stand on the whole CAP
issue many trustees voiced their
opinions before the actual vote
was called. James Murphy, one
of the the ‘few lame duck
trustees’ from previous city
administrations, expressed shock
and outrage that the resolution
had appeared on the agenda.

“This plan,” he said
“would only marginalize further
those who really need CUNY to
raise their place in life.” He

pointed out that even though
CUNY will be receiving “the
best budget from Albany in the
last 5 or 6 years,” attempts are
not being made to pass these
windfalls onto students.

Mizanoor Biswas, the stu-
dent-elected member of the
Board, expressed his strong
opposition to the plan and noted
a popular sentiment among other
dissenters. “If Baruch goes
ahead with the plan,” he said.
“So will other campuses. There
will be no way to stop it or con-
trol it, once this happens.”

Another concern raised by
Murphy and others, was that the
new proposal was an attempt by
other Board members to circum-
vent present resolutions regard-
ing entrance requirements and
remediation.

Matt Goldstein, Baruch
College’s president, confirmed
that a study by the Board’s legal
department had found that in
order for Baruch to end remedia-
tion, current regulations would
have to be changed.

Before the vote was taken,
Goldstein, who at on time had
been considered a front runner
for the CUNY chancellor posi-
tion vacated by Ann Reynolds
last year, presented his view of
the successes for the current
Baruch plan to remove remedia-
tion. In his view, students at
Baruch require “appropriate
treatment” regarding subjects
that they are weak in on entrance
to college. He described the
treatments as a combined
“scheme of tutoring and institu-
tional support.”

A Board member point-
ed out that it seemed like a
catch-22 for some students.
They would not be allowed into
Baruch until they pass the
entrance tests, yet some students
need help, such as remedial

offers, to do this. The trustee
asked Goldstein how these types
of students would be able to use
the tutoring Baruch offers since
tutoring in only available to stu-
dents currently enrolled at
Baruch. Said Goldstein: “It is
not Baruch’s job to provide the
lowest levels of ESL and reme-
diation. There is no need to
advance remediation at (Baruch)
as it is traditionally used.”

“I don’t know if our model
will work everywhere through-
out CUNY, though it might,” he
told another Trustee. When
pressed on this statement he
finally agreed that the Baruch
model, would most likely not
work CUNY wide.

After the discussions, a vote
on the resolution was called by
Chairwoman Paolucci. Voting
for the resolution were trustees
Anne Paolucci, Herman Badillo,
Satish Babbar, Richard Stone,
Kenneth Cook, John Calandra,
Alfred Curtis, and Nilda Ruiz.

Opposed to the resolution
were trustees James Murphy,
Mizanoor Biswas, John
Morning, and Susan Mouner.
Abstaining from the vote were
Edith Everette and Michael
Crimmins.

The final vote was 8-4, one
vote short of passing. Trustee
Stone pointed out that two
trustees (Ronald Marino and
George Rios) were absent and
because of this the resolution
should be voted on at the Board
meeting scheduled for April 6.
Chairwoman Paolucci decided
instead to send the resolution to
the Board’s Long Term Planning
Committee where it will be fur-
ther studied and debated.

—KEITH HIGGENBOTHAM,
ENvoy

BOARD of Trustees at a recent monthly meeting at CUNY Central. (Photo: Hunter Envoy)

OPENAD, from page 10

expensive among public univer-
sities nationwide. As tuition has
increased, tuition assistance has
been drastically reduced. More
students are forced to choose
between dropping out complete-
ly or attending part-time.
Financial difficulty is the lead-
ing cause of students leaving
CUNY. No student should be
forced out because of an inabili-
ty to pay extortionate tuition.
Education is a democratic right,
not a privileged reserved for the
affluent.

5. FULL SUPPORT FOR
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE
RECIPIENTS

End workfare as we know it.
New, union-busting, punitive
workfare regulations are driving
students receiving public assis-
tance from public education pro-
grams. Education, particularly
college education, not dead-end
forced-labor, can help people to
Tise out of poverty.

6. MORE FULL-TIME
QUALITY INSTRUCTION

Improve the ratio of full-time
instructors to adjuncts. Major
cuts in CUNY’s operating bud-
get have reduced full-time facul-
ty by 50% and increased the
number of part-time, low payed
adjuncts to nearly 60% of the
teaching staff. This is far above
the national average of 40%. /
CUNY adjunct are not payed for
office hours — or even given
office space. Immediately con-
vert 2,300 adjuncts to teaching
positions in order to bring
CUNY on par with the national
average for public colleges.

7. DEMOCRATIC ELEC-
TION OF CUNY TRUSTEES

Students, faculty, and the
people of New York should con-
trol CUNY. The current board is
dominated by Wall Street mil-
lionaires who want tax-cuts for
the rich through budget-cuts for
the rest of New York.

SGA, from page 2

gone several changes: the presi-
dent resigned; the secretary and
now president cannot work
together; security has to be
called to settle arguments,
amongst others. What is going
on? They seem to be getting
paid — yes, they get a monthly
stipend, which has recently
increased — to do nothing I can
say is beneficial to my deyelop-
ment as a student. Instead, they
lounge about their offices, chat
on the telephone, and entertain
friends. Mind you, this kind of
behavior is normal and every-
one should be allowed the

8. APPROPRIATE ASSESS-
MENT OF CUNY STUDENTS

No racist tests or phony stan-
dards to exclude students and
downsize CUNY. Last May, the
Trustees demanded that passing
the infamous CUNY Writing
Assessment Test (CWAT) be a
requirement for graduation from
all of the community colleges.
This test has been widely
described for its bias against
ESL, African-Americans, and
Caribbean-born students, and for
its failure to measure basic writ-
ing proficiency or predict col-
lege success. Restore faculty
judgement and academic integri-
ty to the placement and assess-
ment process. No testing proce-
dure is acceptable that dispro-
portionately excludes people of
color and has, itself, failed every
test of validity and fairness.

9. IMPROVE PUBLIC
SCHOOL EDUCATION

Under-prepared students
reflect the failure of the public
school system. We need better
schools, K-12, not more tests to
exclude students from college.

10. CELEBRATE OPEN
ADMISSIONS

Let April 22, 1998 be pro-
claimed open admissions day
and celebrated throughout the
city with political demonstra-
tions and other acts of resistance
and mobilization.

We will join the people of
communities who depend on
CUNY: high school students,
labor organizations, civil rights
organizations, welfare rights
organizations, religious groups,
CUNY students, full-time facul-
ty, adjuncts, adult education
instructors, students, and staff to
fight to defend and extend open
admissions.

—A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCE-
MENT FROM THE STUDENT
LIBERATION ACTION
MOVEMENT (SLAM!).

opportunity to relax — but
work should be done as well.

I’m sure that as soon as they
read this editorial someone will
burst into my office asking me
why I wrote this. The Voice of
the Voiceless is the students’
newspaper. We represent the
students who have been coming
and coming to SGA’s office
inquiring about what is being
done at this college about open
admissions. We would like to
know what you have been
doing, or have done in a year.
Election is almost here again,
and I hear that some of the pre-
sent members are seeking re-
election. Uh.



High schoolers and CUNY:

High schools are failing, not CUNY

BOARD OF Education data shows that while New
York City high school drop-out rates have fallen, more
students are taking five, six, even seven years to gradu-
ate.

This is a similar situation for CUNY students, except
CUNY students often have jobs and children of their
own to take care of. While fewer than half of the NYC
high school students graduated on time in 1996, CUNY
saw only 28% of their college students stay beyond the
traditional four years.

Ironically enough, Giuliani officials see this as a posi-
tive. “Staying in school longer is not negative for many
students,” the New York Times quoted Margaret’
Harrington, chief executive for school programs and
support services at the Board of Education.

“We want you to stay in school; we want you to earn
a diploma. If that takes five years, it takes five years,”
Harrington said. Contrast that tolerance and encourage-
ment with Giuliani’s remarks about CUNY’s problems!

The ironies continue.

Harrington explained that high school students were
taking longer because they entered high school “over age
and under prepared in reading and mathematics.”
Moreover, the Times article continued, limited speakers
of English took longer to graduate. “In the class of 1996,
almost 50% of limited English speaking students gradu-
ated on time.

Board officials said schools would have to offer at
least three periods of English instruction in addition to
other academic subjects to raise their graduation rates,
but that not enough money was available.” In 1996, the
city spent only $6,381 per high school student, by far

APRIL 22

less that the $7,394 in averaged across the system.

Now, aren’t these the same explanations open admis-
sions proponents advance when defending CUNY reme-
diation and the long periods of time necessary to gradu-
ate its students?

Why are Giuliani’ excuses, as embodied in his expla-
nations for slow high school graduation rates, not appro-
priate explanations for CUNY’s allegedly slow rates?
Deficiencies in preparation and problems with the
English language do not go away in the summer between

It’s asinine of the Mayor to blame
CUNY for his abject failures. Despite
his hypocrisy amid the rhetorical and
financial attacks he and other political

anthrax launch against CUNY, the

school continues...

high school and college at CUNY.

Both educational systems have also been hammered
by budget cuts. “Over the long term, large amounts of
resources taken out of the educational system can make a

difference, and they have have been removed,” Robert
Berne, Vice-President of Academic Development at New
York University, told the Times.

Berne was referring to the detrimental effects
Giuliani’s budgets have had on the city’s education sys-
tem. But clearly CUNY suffers some of the same devas-
tation.

Within the Mayor’s warped logic, deteriorating per-
formance, caused by a lack of staffing and funding, sup-
ports the cause to further cut staffing and funding.

But the most obnoxious aspect of the Mayor’s attack
on CUNY remediation is his administration has admitted
failure to prepare New York’s youth for CUNY and dare
anyone to call them on it. At the City Council
Committee on Higher Education meeting, Giuliani aide
Anthony Coles said, “these students entering CUNY
may have a piece of paper that is called a high school
education.

As a result, our community colleges, as supposed
institutions of higher learning, are [sapping] their
resources... to educate students who should have never
graduated [from] high school.”

It’s asinine of the Mayor to blame CUNY for his
abject failures. Despite his hypocrisy amid the rhetorical
and financial attacks he and other political anthrax
launch against CUNY, the school continues - albeit now
less sharply - to fulfill its mission, helping millions of
New Yorkers become the flesh and blood of civic soci-
ety.

— Ros WALLACE, CCNYs MESSENGER

IS

Open Admissions Day

WHAT’CHA GONNA DO?

SNOISSINGY NAdO —

“3

SSE}@9}0A BY} JO ED]I0OA » Q66I ‘Oz [Udy


OPEN ADMISSIONS =

April 20, 1998 * Voice of the Voiceless

Giuliani's two-faced
approach to educa-
tion: what it means

DURING his January 14 State
of the City address, and at his
subsequent budget announce-
ment, Mayor Giuliani attacked
CUNY ’s open admissions policy
and its remediation courses.

Sine 1970, under open admis-
sions, any New York City high
school student who obtained a
diploma was guaranteed a spot in
at least a CUNY community col-
lege. Those students who cannot
handle college material are placed
in remedial courses until they can
do so.

at CUNY ill-prepared, through no
fault of their own, CUNY has to
pick up the slack that Giuliani
and previous mayors have let out
in the public schools,” said a City
College adjunct. “So Giuliani
shouldn’t be attacking CUNY, he
should be kissing our ass because
we’re helping fill in for his fail-
ures.”

CUNY statistics show 47% of
its freshman class comes directly
from New York’s public high
schools.

an 11.7 percent decrease. The
report declares that as special
education costs have increased at
a greater rate than mainstream
classroom costs, “real per-pupil
spending on general education is
being squeezed even further.”

The decline in funding there-
fore can be directly attributed to
the budgets the Mayor and the
City Council concocted over the
past few years.

The IBO declared that there
isn’t necessarily a connection
between the amount of

Open admissions was
implemented after black
and Latino students at
City College started suc-
cessful protests against
the exclusionary tactics

Low graduation rates exists in the

money spent per pupil
and the quality of edu-
cation. But IBO’s own
numbers seem to indi-
cate that there is

indeed such a connec-

of the CUNY system : tion. Between 1992

which, in 1979, was public schools and at CUNY. and 1997, the Board of

comprised primarily of iuliani is r i Education instituted

white students. G Z ou se BUS ble for the budget cuts of $2.6
During his address, quality of education at the public | pinion. The BO

the Mayor, citing the schools, many CUNY students and | declared 32.9% of the

community college’s
poor graduation rates,
declared that the city
shouldn’t pour millions
of dollars into a universi-
ty that cannot graduate
its students.

“A college can only
function if you have
standards of entry,” the
Mayor declared, calling
for entrance exams for CUNY’s

. colleges.

At a February 9 meeting of the
City Council Committee on
Higher Education, Anthony
Coles, a representative from the
Mayor’s office, testified: “the
overall two-year graduation rate
in the community colleges has
fallen from 3.6 percent to one-
percent; and the overall four-year
graduation rate has fallen to 16.3
percent. Today, 99 percent of
CUNY community college stu-
dents fail to graduate within two
years.”

But as the Mayor and his
flunkies attack CUNY and its
remediation system, the public
school system, from which many
CUNY students graduate, suffers
from many of the same problems
Giuliani sees in CUNY. Low
graduation rates and deteriorating
performance are some of the
dilemmas both school systems
face. Indeed, as Giuliani is
responsible for the quality of edu-
cation at the public schools, many
CUNY students and faculty claim
Giuliani himself is responsible for
the existence of CUNY’s remedi-
ation program.

“Because many students arrive

PADD * er oe PAP eee
BR A ra “tee

faculty claim he is responsible for
the existence of CUNY’s

remediation program.

GIULIANI FLOPS
ON EDUCATION

A January 1997 report issued
by the New York City
Independent Budget Office (IBO)
showed the Board of Education
spending the least amount of
money per pupil in a decade.
Adjusting for inflation, per-pupil
spending collapsed from $7,892
in 1990 to $6,952 in 1997.
Though overall spending has
increased, the number of students
has skyrocketed — almost 13,000
students per year. Adding stu-
dents decreases per-pupil spend-
ing, unless proportional bud-
getary increases are made.

Moreover, the City’s contribu-
tion to the Board of Education’s
budget has decreased while the
state and federal contributions,
making up to 60% of the Board’s
budget, have remained relatively
stable.

From 1988 to 1994, the city’s
per-pupil spending increased
from $3,165 to $3,276, a nominal
increase. From 1994 to 1996,
when Giuliani took over the may-
oralty, city per-pupil funding
decreased from $3,276 to $2,805,

cuts, over one-third,
were taken in educa-
tion services compared
to only 11.9% from
teacher productivity
increases and cuts in
administrative costs.

The Mayor's
own management
Teport, recently
released, showed high
school class*sizes have increased
steadily. Two students per class
per year have been added since
1990. One high school teacher
complained to New York Newsday
that her school, built for 2,800,
now holds 4,300.

The report also showed that
the number of administrators has
grown by more than 3,000 in
community school districts and in
high schools. Granted, many of
the new hires are school lunch
aides brought in to fill the open-
ings teachers left when the
teacher’s recent contracts dictated
that they no longer had to serve
as lunch aides.

Still, this is a mayor who has
hollered so much about cutting
the administrators out of the edu-
cation system.

By 1996, New York’s schools
were so under supplied that
Giuliani’s system was without
enough school-building capacity
for 91,000 students of all grades.
Classes were, and still are, being
held in closets, bathrooms, and (a
suggestion from the Police
Commissioner?) in a dangerous,

See, GIULIANI, page 18

igs ttt bon i
Pa ee a ee eK)
OSE IT


What do you think of Giuliani's
plan to get rid of open admissions?

XAVIER VALENTINE

I think it sucks, because it is a very good way of getting
under-privilege kids to come to school.

Open admissions students, who frequently work and raise
families, generally d through the two and four

leges at a slow e, but they eventually earn degr
rates close to those of student nation The students at

CUNY are earning their success

—William Crain, professor of psychology
at City College (NY Times 2/3/98)

JOKAIRA ARIAS

I think it’s bad because.a lot
| of people will stay out of
school:

CYNTHIA MARTINEZ

I think it’s a bad idea,
because there will be less
people attending college.

Photographs and
interview by Rosa
Arias

ISAAC OTERO

I think it’s a bad idea because students who want to get

into this school will not be able to. It will also decrease
the number of students attending college.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

Write a letter to the Editor. Bring it to our office (S-206D) or leave it in our mailbox
in Student Government; or E-mail us bmccvoice @usa.net.

Don’t forget to attend the rally on April 27 during the Board of Trustees’
monthly meeting, 4pm at CUNY Central, 80th Street. (For more info visit our office).



SMAN oc)

April 20,1998 »* Voice of the Voiceless

Clearing up
common
misconceptions

* REMEDIATION IS UNIVERSAL AT COMMUNITY COLLEGES.
If CUNY eliminated remedial courses at the community colleges and ended open
admissions, we would be the only community colleges in the country to do so. In
addition, 81 percent of public four-year institutions nationwide offer remediation.

* REMEDIAL STUDENTS ARE NOT LESS LIKELY THAN OTHERS TO
GRADUATE.
The claims made by the Mayor’s office and the media have centered on how long
it takes students to graduate and the large numbers of students who fail the skills
assessment tests. The actual success of students in remedial courses, which is con-
siderable, is rarely mentioned in the media. The increasing length of time needed
for students to graduate comes primarily from increased tuition, combined with
the students’ work schedules and family responsibilities. The high rate of place-
ment in remediation results from the inability of the public school system to pre-
pare students adequately in reading, writing, and mathematics.

* FAR FROM LOWERING STANDARDS, REMEDIATION IS A WAY OF
MAINTAINING STANDARDS WHILE STILL OFFERING STUDENTS
ACCESS.

Some state universities used to practice “revolving door” admissions, accepting all
students, placing them in college-level courses and expelling most of them quickly
when they failed. The opposite method, passing nearly everyone without remedia-
tion, would mean lowering standards precipitously. CUNY has chose instead the
third and better way of offering a real chance to the maximum number of students
while maintaining standards.

* REMEDIATION IS NOT DEVOURING MOST OF THE BUDGET AT
THE CITY UNIVERSITY. IN FACT, ONLY 12.4 PERCENT OF ALL
INSTRUCTION AT CUNY IS IN BASIC SKILLS.

By comparison, in 1991, 30 percent of all English courses and 16 percent of math
courses at two-years throughout the country were remedial. It is a myth to believe
that money can be taken away from remediation and redirected to “real” college
courses. If remedial students were excluded, the College would lose the tuition
and TAP money for their college-level courses, falling into a downward financial
spiral that would drain resources from the entire curriculum.

* PRIVATIZATION IS NOT THE ANSWER.
No magical technique has been devised by private learning systems to “fix” reme-
dial students in a hurry and a low cost. If the city were privatize remediation at
CUNY, private concerns would probably end up hiring our adjuncts to do what
they have learned to do at CUNY — but at even lower rates than they are now
paid.

—Compiled by Phillip Eggers, Chairperson, English Department.

DON’T JUST SIT THERE...
TAKE A STAND!
SHARE THIS ISSUE WITH YOUR
FRIENDS, FAMILY TELL ABOUT
WHAT IS TO HAPPEN TO CUNY!

CAP, from page 8

Wednesday.

According a CUNY spokesperson, if
they find anything questionable the Plan
will not be tabled and voted upon on
Monday.

In 1969, 247 students marched on the
grounds of City College for equal access
for all students to the University. On
November 12, 1969 the Board of Higher
Education adopted a statement of
Admissions policy: “The Board of Higher
Education hereby reaffirms its policy to
offer admission to all New York City,
therefore to some college of the
University, effective September 1970.”

“Tt’s ridiculous because it will limit
students to fulfill their education and it
will discourage them... it’s prejudice,”
Jennifer Walsh,

ties for advisement and advanced place-
ment at CUNY for high school students.

* Requires high school graduates to
submit SAT scores as part of the applica-
tion process — a measure of evaluating
student preparedness that is standard at
universities and colleges across the coun-
try, but a significant departure at CUNY.
Requires high school graduates.of non-
English speaking institutions to submit
TOEFL scores, proving another new mea-
sure in assessing student preparedness.

* Calls for replacing remedial courses
with “refresher” courses, for returning eli-
gible adult students, through the use of
evenings, weekends, and/or distance
learning technologies.

+ Limits the number of times associate
degree students may repeat a remedial
course. Limits are now in place for bac-

calaureate pro-

a 24-year-old grams.

Liberal Arts * Requires

major. community col-
Many leges to develop a

activists say the
Plan is a way to
rid the
University of
open admis-
sions. Under
open admissions
any person with

Community college
students will be given
one year to complete

ALL remediation; SAT

scores will be required.

one-year period for
students to com-
plete basic skills
courses successful-
ly, clearly limiting
the time students
will be permitted to
continue with pre-

a high school college preparatory
diploma or GED coursework.

can enroll at a * Requires the
community col- passage of a test of
eee —CAP, TO BE VOTED UPON APRIL 27 | University-

other two-year approved measure-
public college ment of compe-
has an open tence at the ends of
admissions poli- the remedial

cy. sequence, with aca-

THE CAP

* Engages the New York City public
schools in New York City public schools
in new and cooperative ways, building on
the College Preparatory Initiative, offering
the use of the CUNY skills assessment
tests in the high schools, expanding the
College Now Program already in exis-
tence at 20 high schools in the five bor-
oughs, and providing for more opportuni-

demic audit procedures to ensure compli-
ance.

+ Provides for further reform of reme-
dial course-work at the senior colleges,
using intensive skills and immersion pro-
grams as well as new pedagogies.

¢ Calls for the strengthening of advise-
ment and mentoring to assist students to
make informed choices, including career
and academic counselling.

Fully effective February 1, 1999, CAP
would be subject to initial review 18
months later.

Board heads: Ann Paolucci, left; and Herman Badillo sits in at a Board Meeting.
(Photo: Hunter Envoy) .


Ste Th

Herman Badillo

Butcher
of CUNY

Defend Open
Admissions!

ANNOU NCING

More Than 100 Academic
Merit Transfer ops

ghereoisss for the Fall ‘98 Semesters a tee”

AWARDS SCHOLARSHIP REQUIREMENTS:

INCLUDE: The applicant must apply and be formally occepted into one of SUNY

. Utica/Rame's 20 undergraduate progroms
The applicant must have o 3.5+ GPA to be considered for Presidential
Scholarships, and a 3.25+ GPA to be considered for Deans’ Scholarships

, - Acceptance of the Residential Scholarship requires a commitment to
$750 Deans’ Scholarships Rive in the College’s resid halt

{Renewable fer second year)

then ner ads y Most scholarships ore renewable for the second year pending successful
$500 Residential Scholarships* completion of SUNY Utica/Rome coursework, with o 3.25 GPA
Additional Scholarships College applicants will be considered for scholarships on a firstcome,
Available _ firsterwarded basis

Call 1 800 SUNY TEC or email us at: -
admissions@sunyit.edu for more information.

Receipt of a SUNY application and official transcripts will serve as the scholarship application.
No formal scholarship application will be required.
' The Residential } Sehetoreais may be oworded in addition to the Presidential or pane Sehotarmie ~ een the fotol eward by $500



18
7)

NEW

April 20, 1998 ¢ Voice of the Voiceless

GIULIANI, from page 14

makeshift barracks set up in
school yards.

Classes held in proper build-
ings are threatened by structural
problems like falling debris and
carbon monoxide. In January, a
Brooklyn teenager was killed by
a brick that fell from an elemen-
tary school. The New York Times
ran a story earlier this month
about a principal who walks
around wearing a hard hat after
being hit with falling shards of
glass. About half of the system's
100 buildings were built before
World War II, and many, the
article explained, [suffer] “from
years of neglect and deferred
maintenance.” In 1994, Giuliani
winnowed down a five-year $7.3
billion capital-budget request
submitted by then-Chancellor
Ramon Cortines to $2.9 billion-
chump change.

The cuts, overcrowding, and
problems with infrastructure in
the public schools have appar-
ently translated into poorer stu-
dent performance. According to
statistics compiled by the State
Department of Education, 1989
showed both third and sixth

IVY LEAGUE, from page 2

high school diploma or its
equivalent, a chance to pursue
higher education. Imagine that.
Where will the thousands of
young people who graduate
from our high schools each year
go? To prison? The City is vig-
orously preparing to accommo-
date them at a prison coming a
neighborhood near you.
Apparently, they [City officials]
expect an upsurge of dangerous
crimes and is allocating funds
— that should be directed to
education — for the construc-
tion of more prisons.

Protectors call this entire
charade a racist attack. And
rightfully so. Students with
deficiencies in language will be
affected the most, they will be
farmed out to language insti-”
tutes until they are ready to
enter mainstream CUNY. Why
should they be forced to attend
a private institution to develop
basic skills, when the facilities
already exist at CUNY’s six
community colleges.

Again, why does CUNY
want to challenge the estab-
lished norms as institutions
which cater to the needs of the
disadvantaged, or students who
was not accepted to Harvard,

grade reading scores were 13%
higher than they are today. Since
that time spending has decreased
13% as well.

In addition, a 1997 report by
the Industrial Areas Foundation
and the Public Education
Association showed the city’s
worst performing schools are
concentrated in the poorest
neighborhoods. Even as the
report declared per-student
spending consistent across New
York’s neighborhoods, schools
within 14 school districts in the
Bronx, eastern Brooklyn, and
Manhattan — where black and
Latino students are concentrated
— comprised a “dead zone” of
educational opportunity. Half of
the 358 schools in these dis-
tricts, which rank at the bottom
quarter of city-wide elementary
and middle school students in
these districts, are reading at
grade-level.

The 25 high schools with the
lowest graduation rates, under
40%, enroll more than 53,000
mainly poor students, an average
of 2,120.

—Ros WALLACE,
CCNY MESSENGER

MIT, or Princeton. Our colleges
are supposed to offer remedial
courses — hence one reason
they are referred to as junior
colleges. Some students are not
up to par or not ready to work
at a senior college level. Every
community college in the coun-
try offers some form of remedi-
ation. CUNY has been doing so
for almost 30 years now, so
why the sudden decision to
change the policies?

‘Could it be that minorities
are becoming too educated? Is
it because we are becoming
skilled employees?

One could hope this notion
is not true. We thought that the
fight against such a massive
form of discrimination and big-
otry , was won many years ago
— along with right for anyone
to attend CUNY. It’s a major
step backwards. It’s the almost
the new century and we should
be looking forward. Could you
believe it. The City University
of New York awards more
degrees to blacks and Hispanics
than the State University of
New York and California State
University. SUNY and
California State has an open
admissions policy, so again why
do we want to be different.

E-mail us:

bmmccvoice @ usa.net

HPV, from page 26

If a person is infected with an
HPV type that causes warts, will
he or she necessarily get warts?
No. HPV also can live in the
skin without causing any warts;
this is called “subclinical” HPV
infection.

How can genital warts be
removed?

Treatments are available to
remove visible warts, and elimi-
nate symptoms, Because the
virus can lie dormant, warts may
appear months or even years
after treatment.

Some methods of removal are:
Patient-applied treatments
Imiquimod, podofilox
Provider-applied treatments
Podophyllin, trichloacetic, acid,
cryotherapy (freezing), electro-
cautery, laser therapy

HPV AND THE LINK WITH

CERVICAL CANCER

What is the connection
between HPV and cervical
cancer?

Certain types of HPV — usually
not the ones that cause genital
warts — can cause cervical can-
cer. Studies have shown that
HPV is found in almost all
woman with cervical cancer.

If a woman has HPY, will she
get cervical cancer?

Only a small percentage of
women with HPV have cervical
cancer. Of the millions of
women infected with HPV, only
about 16,000 each year develop
cervical cancer.

How can a woman guard
against cervical cancer?
Because HPV is so common,
and because the types of HPV
that are linked with cervical can-
cer have no noticeable symp-
toms, annual Pap smears are
extremely important te detect

Photugroph by Josothan Kantor

precancerous of cancerous
changes in the cervical cells.
early detection is crucial in t
ing abnormal cervical tissue
before it progresses to cervic
cancer. Women who have ab:
mal Pap test results need to
make sure they get follow-uy
testing and treatment.

Do women who have genitz
warts need to be concerned
with cervical cancer?

It is possible to have more th
one type of HPV, so a woma:
with genital warts could also
have one of the HPV types a
ciated with cervical cancer. I
all sexually active women, tt
who have had genital warts,
whose partners have had gen
warts, should have annual Pz
smears.

For free, confidential inform
tion: CDC National STD
Hotline, operated by the
American Social Health
Association, 1-800-227-8922


1IUGHES, from page 3

ood titles and outlines, but are
ar removed from practicality.
otellectual posturing does not
vork in the real world, substance
loes. A case in point is
ternational Trade.

Having passed the course with
nA, I should have had the tools
9 venture into this business but I
lon’t. There should be the avenue
or practical hands-on training or
‘s near to that as possible, not
heoretical knowledge only. I am
tot suggesting that the instructor
vas inept, I just think that provi-
don should be made for this.

STUDENTS ARISE

The onus for success is on us
he students more than any one
ise. We hold our destiny in our
iands. College must be seen as
what it is, a chance to move one’s
life forward and in a sense to level
life’s playing field not a chance to
hang out, date, and flirt.

We have to be mature enough
not to be distracted by everything
that passes, to be focused, and
maintain the spirit of a thriving
learning institution. BMCC is an
excellent college. A microcosm
of New York City, if you will.
Here you can destroy your life.
You can hang out and party and
later on in life remain at “the bot-
tom of the food chain,” or in the
spirit of hardwork and enterprise
make something meaningful of
yourself. At the same time it is
not all about getting As.

The point is have we learned
anything? The issue is, how do
we progress after leaving
BMCC7? I have been in classes
where certain Americans com-
plain about the system in a wider
context that keeps them down but
these same students sleep in
class, don’t do their homework,
and at the end of finals barely
maintain a C grade. Fellow stu-
dents, wake up and smell the cof-
fee. This is your greate opportu-
nity to improve your station in
ife. It matters not from whence
you have come, the fact is you
ue here. The effectiveness of
ypen admission must be reflected
yy your ambition and dedication
o hardwork.

Attitude is the essential ele-
nent of success. If you first
elieve that you can be a big suc-
ess with God's grace and resolve
you will make it. But if you
relieve that you just can’t make
t, and that certain races are
smarter than others, you are
ready defeated.

People are just people. It is the
attitude that makes the difference.
Having said that, and at the other
end of the spectrum there are
many students who have the right
attitude, making the Dean’s List
and have even been inducted into
Phi Theta Kappa (the internation-
al honor society of all two-year
colleges in the US). These

accomplishments are noteworthy,
the prestige, the certificates, and
all that but, where is the social
consciousness that causes those
people to reach out and lift the
struggling and discouraged fellow
students to give hope and point
the way forward.

Maybe effort is being made
but, it needs to be felt in a more
dramatic way. Many of us have
been inducted into Phi Theta
Kappa, made the Dean’s List sev-
eral times but we cannot impact
others for their greater good we
would have failed. Man by his
basic nature is a social being and
as he helps others he is himself
helped. Often students have a
greater stimulating effect on each

You've hit the books. Now it’s time to hit the road. Ford can help. College seniors
and grad students get $400 cash back" toward the purchase or Ford Credit
Red Carpet Lease of any eligible Ford or Mercury. It's academic: pocket the cash,
grab life by the wheel. For more College Graduate Purchase Program info,

Oe cage, yo. Ske graauekt with an associate’ Sf Sache degree hehe TOLAM ered LAE cx bee comet, aeveiionds
oes Oa Oa Pane Cr em war ce ee vate UCR ae SW Some costae acd ooticts eget, reIOS a's

other than the instructors.

Where is the voice of Phi Theta
Kappa, where is the voice of stu-
dent government. Student govern-
ment must be pro-active, percep-
tive, and must coordinate the dis-
semination of ideas and informa-
tion with this paper. Though their
approaches might differ, they both
have a common responsibility
which is to inform, educate, and
empower, Speaking of empower-
ment, the BMCC chess team has
once again emerged victorious in
this “braining sport of the nerds.”
It recently won the National
Championship after defeating the
Universities of Illinois and
Toronto, NYU, amongst others.
Most notably it crushed Harvard

University twice a few years back.
There is promise at BMCC.
The chess team has done us proud

and we salute them.

The challenge now is for us to
translate that dominance into aca-
demic excellence and create the
image of a two-year college of
intellectual distinction. Let us
make BMCC a school renown for
math at least. It has one of the
most extensive math departments
among two-year colleges. Let us
agitate for the motions to be used
for revoltingly displaying formu-
las, equations, etc. This will kill
the fear of math and make it our
best weapon. Students let us see
to that.

As we embark upon this new

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call 1-800-321-1536 or visit the Web at vawyvford.com

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venture let us go forward with
dignity. The chess team’s triumph
can be a source of inspiration for >
the administration, faculty, and
students. This quote sums it up
nicely: “there is in the affairs of

men a tide which taken, at the

flood leads to fortune.

On such a full tide are we
afloat, and we must take the cur-
rent when it surfs or forever loose
ventures.” Let us seize this
moment. Use the Voice of the
Voiceless as a medium for com-
munication from students to
administration, faculty, and vice
versa.

While we withstand the Mayor’s
aggression let us tum on the magic
and show that we have class.

EWEB.
www.ford.com

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See you doko ty dita

Seer: Sits



** Senior colleges raise admissions
% requirements for Fall 1998

April 20, 1998 * Voice of the Voiceless

FRESHMAN admissions criteria for the City
University of New York’s senior colleges will be
higher for Fall 1998, marking the third year in a
row that requirements have increased. Students
will be expected to have completed an increasing
number of Regents-level college-preparatory acad-
emic courses in high school, particularly in
English and Math. In addition, senior colleges are
requiring, or strongly advising, high school seniors
to submit SAT scores.

Examples of Freshman Admissions Requirements
for Fall 1998

(These requirements are based on a junior year
record when students apply for college.)

BARUCH COLLEGE: SAT score of 1100 with
14 or more academic units or college academic
average (CAA) of 80 or above, with 14 or more
academic units, three each in academic English
and Sequential Math.

BROOKLYN COLLEGE: SAT score or 1100
with 10 or more academic units or CAA of 80 or
above with 13 academic units; or CAA of 78 or
above with 15 academic units, five of them in aca-
demic English and Sequential Math.

CITY COLLEGE: Liberal arts majors—SAT
score of 1020 or CAA of 80 or above, each with
10 academic units; or CAA of 75 or above with 16
academic units, three in English and two in Math;
Engineering, Science and Math majors—SAT

score of 1020, or CAA of 80 or above, each with
10 academic units; or CAA of 75 or above with 16
academic units, two each in English and Math in
all alternatives.

HUNTER COLLEGE: SAT score of 1020 with
12 or more academic units of CAA of 86 or above
with 12 units, or CAA of 78 or above with 14 aca-
demic units, two each in English and Math.

LEHMAN COLLEGE: SAT score of 1020 or
CAA of 80 or above, each with 10 or more acade-
mic units; or CAA or 75 or above with 14 or more
academic units, a total of four in English and
Math, at least one each in English and Math in
each alternative.

QUEENS COLLEGE: SAT score or 1020 with
16 or more academic units; or CAA of 80 or above
with 14 academic units; or an SAT score of 1050
plus CAA of 80 or above with 12 academic units;
or SAT score or 1150 (at least 500 each in Math
and verbal scores) plus CAA of 77 or above with
15 or more academic units; in each case, five acad-
emic units or English and Math at least one in
each area, will be required.

YORK COLLEGE: SAT score of 1020 with 10
or more academic units; or CAA of 75 or above
with 13 or more academic units; or 16 or more
academic units, two in English and one in Math in
each alternative.

OPEN HOUSE
LEHMAN COLLEGE

The City University of New York

Saturday, May 16, 1998, 12 noon-3 pm, Music Building
Associate Degree Graduates

Enter as a junior with 60 credits. Your Associate Degree means that you
must complete only your Major and Minor requirements and Electives.

* Visit the tree-lined campus which The New York Times has described as “the most attractive of the CUNY colleges...with some
of its finest facilities.”

+ Learn about more than 90 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the liberal arts and sciences
and professional studies.

+ Receive information about admissions, financial aid and academic programs.

CALL 718-960-8713 TO RESERVE YOUR PLACE
AT OUR OPEN HOUSE!

Lehman College welcomes Borough of Manhattan Community College students. The campus is easy to reach by car, with ample parking
in attended lots. Lehman is also convenient to public transportation from throughout the metropolitan area—with more than 10 bus
lines and two subway lines (# 4 and D trains to Bedford Park Blvd. station) within easy walking distance of campus.

Lehman CUNY
250 Bedford Park Boulevard West

e-mail: ENROLL@alpha.lehman.cuny.edu
Bronx, New York 10468



BMCCA office

Where you money goes — but not why“

You've always wanted to know why you pay Student Activity fees. Here is a break-down of what your $39.85 or $19.95 per semester funds

1 BMCC ASSOCTATION INC.
INTERIM BUDGET

Julv 1. 1997 - June 30. 1998.

REVENUE

Student Activitv Fees

eo ee ooo

Full time - Fall & Sorina 17.880
Part time ~- Fall & Sprinc 12.070
Part time - Summer 2 3.530

Total student activitv fees

Interest Income

Athletics/intranural
Media Board

Studv Abroad
Reserve

Collece Purposes

fotal Earmarked Fund

Allocations

Short term loan (revolving fund)
Nurse pinning

Divlomas. cavs & aowns

Honors convocation
Athletics/intramural (additional)

Total Allocations

5/28 497

607.920
205.190
60.010

873.120

12.000

885.120

84.840
50.000
90.000
40.220
67.700

332,760

10.000
4.000
25.000
1.500
52.189

92.689

Student Government

Salaries /Fringes

Postace :

Office suvvlies

Printing

Other suvvlies

Televhone

Computer revair & uvarade
Office equipment maintenance
Local travel

Business meal

Workshop & conference
Student accident insurance
Public relations

Stipend

Lecture series

Cultural performances
Subscription

Community affairs

Project snack

Sub-total
SGA.svecial vroiects:

Black solidarity dav

African heritage month

Latino heritage month

Asian heritage month

Women’s history month
Carifesta

Student election

Student/club award nicht
Collece discovery

Lesbian. aav & bisexual alliance
Audre Lorde women’s collective
Sensitivity day

Clubs

Total SGA svecial vrojects

Total student government

2

18.310
1.000
3.000
1.500
1.000
9.000
8.500
2.500

300
1,500

13,000
7,500
4,000

35,400
4,000
4.000

500
4,000
1,500

120.510

2.000
2.000
2.000
2.000
2.000
2.000
4.000
4.000
2.000
2,000
2,000
2.000
100.000

128.000

248.510

Saleries/Fringes
Postace 2
Office supplies
Printing
Other sunplies
repair & uporade
Office equipment maintenance
Local travel
Business meal
Rental

Sub-total

Other expenses

Audit ;
Bank service charces

Pavroll processing charaes
Dues

Director /officer liabilitv insurance
Pidelitv/burclarv insurance

Total BMCCA office

Total Expvenses

Excess fdeficiencv) of revenue over expenses

3

190.441
S500
1,000
800
100

250
1,200
200
100
300

194,891

9.600
600
1.820
350
3.600
300

211.161

885.120

BOROUGH OF MANHATTAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE
‘The City University of New York

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Defend Access to CUNY

After almost 30 years of open doors and access fo excellence, one
vote on April 27 could limit the future of thousands.

The CUNY Board of Trustees, packed with Patald appointees. is
attempting to end remediation. privatize educational programs and
mit the number of students in the system. ped seashore
Columbia included. locks remediation. No other school expels passing
stucients. But CUNY, o schoo! filed with non-traditional students,
parents anc more people of color than any school in America gets
special treatment from conservatives.

Now is the time to defend the school from this conservative
ideologicog
and people

CUNY Board of Trustees Now
Cast 80th Street somes: wis men

Contact your Student Government or
campus SLAM chapter for more info.
SLAM can be reached ct 212°772¢4261

or

Never

f Aa y ] 2nd the CUNY Coaition to Save Open Admissions

a id