GUNY T0 TIGHTEN
ADMISSIONS POLICY
AT 4-YEAR SCHOOLS

A FUNDAMENTAL CHANGE

Students Must Display Skill in
Reading, Writing and Math
to Enter Senior Colleges

By KAREN W. ARENSON

Trustees of the City University of
New York last night voted to exclude
any student from the university’s
four-year colleges who cannot pass
proficiency tests in reading, writing
and mathematics, making the most
fundamental change in standards
since instituting open admissions
nearly three decades ago.

At a meeting broken by loud pro:
tests from students, faculty mem-

and other observers, the board

voted $6. approve a new system
first propos: Rudolph W.
Giuliani more than a ye ago.and-

e E. Pa-

later backed by Gov. Georg:
taki.

After the vote, Mr. Giuliani
praised the trustees as ‘“‘coura-
geous.” In a statement, Mr. Giuliani
said that the trustees ‘were under
tremendous pressure to defeat the
proposal, and they should take great
pride in their action. Their vote sends
a powerful message that CUNY is
starting the important and difficult
process of restoring its reputation as
one of the great public institutions of
higher learning in the country.”

Anne A. Paolucci, the board’s
chairwoman, said, “‘We have had a
period of 30 years of neglect.” Talk-
ing to reporters after the board
meeting at CUNY’s administrative
headquarters on East 80th Street,
Dr. Paolucci added, ‘‘We are clean-
ing out the four-year colleges and
putting remediation where it be-
longs.”

Critics, some of whom demon-
strated outside the meeting, assailed
the vote as destructive. ‘‘It’s going to
be the dismantling of the university
and its whole purpose,”’ said the Rev.
Michael C. Crimmins, a trustee who
voted against the measure.

Although may critics said the vote
was tantamount to ending open ad-
missions, in fact, that concept has
been broadly misunderstood. The 11
senior colleges in the system have
always had some restrictions on ad-
missions, but a few senior colleges
have had standards so loose they in
effect had open admissions. In addi-
tion, the 6 two-year community col-
leges have accepted any student with
a high school diploma or its equiva-
lent.

Unless derailed by legal chal-
lenges, the plan will be phased in
over three years, beginning in Sep-
tember 1999, and could affect nearly
half of the students entering CUNY’s
bachelor’s degree programs — about


CUNY Limits
1970’s Policy
Of Admission
For All Pupils

Continued From Page Al

dents a year. Approximately that
many entering students fail one or
more placement tests that all enter-
ing students must take.

Those who fail the tests could take
remedial classes in summer immer-
sion programs or at CUNY’s com-
munity colleges, which will continue
to admit students who need remedia-
tion. Then, if they later pass the tests,
students could enter bachelor’s de-
gree programs at any of CUNY’s 11
four-year colleges.

One unanswered question is who
would pay the cost of those remedial
courses students might take over the
summer; those who enroll at com-

colleges would still be eligi-
ble for state and Federal grants to
cover tuition and living expenses.
Those not enrolled as full-time de-
gree students in a CUNY college
would not be eligible for financial
aid.

“These are things we have to nego-
tiate,”” Dr. Paolucci said.

The plan will bar many students
who are now allowed to enter
CUNY’s senior colleges — the goal of
the university’s harshest critics, who
have long argued that its standards
have been eroding since the advent
of the operradmissions policy in 1970.
The newly approved admissions sys-
tem is different in so many ways
from the pre-1970 policy that any
direct comparison is difficult.

'**We’re pleased that the board vot-
ed to restore standards at CUNY,”
said Charles Deister, a spokesman
for Mr. Pataki.

Protesters in the meeting last
night repeatedly shouted objections
to the new plan, calling it ‘‘racist,”
and accusing trustees of ‘‘killing our
colleges.” After repeated disrup-
tions, Dr. Paolucci repeatedly plead-
ed for order and finally asked the
police to clear the room. Twenty-four
people were arrested, according to
the police, and handcuffed outside.

Trustees who support the plan ar-
gued that it would raise the value of
the CUNY diploma and help students
complete their remediation more
quickly.

They also denied the most emo-
tional allegation of their critics, that
the new system would hurt minority
students the most.

‘1 have every faith that black,
Latino and Asian students will do as
well as other students, and that this
will benefit them as well as every
other student,” said Herman Badillo,
vice chairman of the board of trus-
tees.

Opponents of the policy disagreed,
arid have said they might bring suit
to stop its implementation.

Among those organizations consid-
ering lawsuits, which would likely
charge that the plan will dispropor-
tionately affect minority students,
are the Puerto Rican Legal Defense
Fund, the N.A.A.C.P. and the Ameri-
can Jewish Congress.

Critics point out that although
CUNY is a heavily minority institu-
tion, with whites making up only one-

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Police officers arresting protesters outside a meeting of the trustees of the City University of New York. The
trustees voted to exclude any student from its four-year colleges who cannot pass proficiency tests.

By DAVID ROHDE

Eliminating remedial classes
at the City University of New
York will affect as many as 13,000
freshman and transfer students
each year and could cost the uni-

wndreds -of“iiilifions of
dollars in tuition revenue, accord-
ing to CUNY estimates.

The plan, if not overturned by
legal challenges, is to be phased
in over three years, beginning in
September 1999 at Baruch, Brook-
lyn, Hunter and Queens Colleges.
After those colleges end remedial
classes, five others — City Col-
lege, Lehman, John Jay, Staten
Island and New York City Techni-
cal — are required to end remedi-
al classes by September 2000.
Medgar Evers and York Colleges
have until 2001.

Richard F. Rothbard, CUNY’s

New Rules May Cost CUNY Millions

vice chancellor for budgeting, es-
timated in March that the univer-
sity could lose $80 million in tu-
ition revenue in the first year, and
more in sui

dents who 2 .

are bar rom enrolling.

Mr. Rothbard has also said that
setting up and running the reme-
dial programs outside the col-
lege’s existing curricular struc-
ture could cost $10 million to $15
million. CUNY’s total budget is
$1.3 billion.

The largest impact on new en-
rollment would occur at John Jay
in Manhattan, according to esti-
mates. Officials say the changes
would result in a 64 percent drop
in new enrollment there in the
2000-01 school year. The least af-
fected would be Baruch, with an
estimated 34 percent decline in
new enrollment in fall 1999.

third of the senior college enroll-
ment, a higher proportion of minor-
ity students fails the placement tests.

CUNY estimates that 38 percent of
white students would have trouble
meeting the new standard, com-
pared with 46 percent of black stu-
dents, 51 percent of Asian students
and 55 percent of Hispanic students.

Identifying himself as a member
of a minority group and a civil rights
leader, Alfred B. Curtis, a trustee
from Staten Island, said he dis-
agreed that CUNY was eliminating
programs that benefit members of
minority groups.

“I believe anyone who wants to
earn a college degree will be able to
do so,” he said.

The board is made up of 17mem-
bers, 16 of whom have votes. Any
policy change requires 9 votes for
passage.

All of Mr. Giuliani’s five appoint-
ees supported the measure, and
three of Mr. Pataki’s six appointees
did.

The other members are a,student
represeptative, who voted no; a fac-
ulty representative who does not

¢

have a vote; and four appointees
named by previous governors.

Of those, one who opposed the
measure was absent, Mr. Badillo vot-
ed yes, and two others voted no.

The board has been sharply divid-
ed on this issue for months, without a
majority behind any proposal. Yes-
terday, Richard Stone, a law profes-
sor at Columbia University named to
the board by Mr. Giuliani, declared
that he would support the change.
With that decision, which he called
“one of the most difficult decisions I
have ever made in my life,” he be-
came the ninth vote.

The impact of the policy approved
last night is still unclear, even to
those within CUNY. If the senior
colleges shrink by several thousand
students, what would that do to the
schools, and the faculty and their
state financing? “If the enrollments
are going to be dropping at the senior
colleges, it will be very easy for the
Governor to cut their budgets,” said
Matthew Goldstein, president of Ba-
ruch College.

And can*the community colleges
absorb the thousands of students who
are likely to enroll, once excluded

TRENDS

Turned Away
The City University of New York

few program will be phased in over
three years at CUNY’s 11 four-year
colleges.

fame 1997-98 base enrollment

@ Estimated enrollment of new
students following change
in admission policy.

PHASE 1, SEPT.1999

(thousands)
0 1 of o> ae

Baruch jum
i ——~, $
Hunter mpmag™”=
Queens jase"
PHASE 2, SEPT. 2000

City __

John Jay ener

Lehman enw

NYC Tech. j

Staten |.

PHASE 3, SEPT. 2001

Medgar

Evers

York a

“Freshman and transfer students
entering four-year bachelor program.

Source: City University of New York
The New York Times

from the bachelor’s degree pro-
grams at the four-year colleges? No
one at this point can say.

What is clear, however, is that by
barring all students who need reme-
dial work, CUNY is taking a highly
unusual step, educators say. Many
high school students today graduate
without finely honed skills in writing
and mathematics, and many enter
college needing additional help in
these areas bgfore they move on to
other courses.