What a Long, Strange, trip it has been!
Ann Reynolds 1990-1997
Ann Reynolds, who three weeks ago resigned her post as CUNY chancellor to become head of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, had a tumultuous run as head of the third largest university system in the country. From the tragic deaths of nine people during a rap concert at City College (which led to the creation of the SAFE team) and the firing-re-hiring-firing of CCNY Black Studies' chair Leonard Jefferies, to the quadrupling of tuition and retrenching of staff and course selections, one would have thought that CUNY students collectively broke a mirror in 1990. Here are some of the low lights:
June 1, 1990 - Ann Reynolds is named chancellor of the City University of New York. The 53 year-old Reynolds was forced to resign her position as head of the California State University system after she gave herself and other CSU board members a 45% pay increase.
June 5, 1990 - Reynolds begins to call for the raising of academic standards for CUNY. Her remarks are the beginning volleys on the open admission policy which enables low-income New Yorkers to receive a higher education
Sept. 26,1990 - Announces the need to “restructure” CUNY due to increasing enrollment and declining state and city aid. Calls for trimming budget and consolidating classes.
Aug. 2, 1991 - University Faculty Senate and representatives of CUNY campuses lambaste plan by Reynolds to provide $15 million in aid exclusively to schools which combine their majors and attempts by her to cut 200 baccalaureate and associate degrees. Some faculty state, “Reynolds has suffered a loss of credibility.”
June 29, 1993 - CUNY Board of Trustees agree to a plan to create a super university system by shifting certain majors to other colleges, forcing students to travel across the city in order to attend class. Reynolds also given broad power to review all academic programs and set criteria for passing and failing those reviews.
Feb. 22, 1994 - Reynolds is criticized for her extensive outside activities on corporate boards and expenses as chancellor. It is disclosed that Reynolds makes close to $100,000 in board activities alone and has an expense account of over $140,000 to compliment her salary of $158,000 per year.
March 23, 1995 - Over 20,000 high school and CUNY students gather in
City Hall Park to protest a proposed $1,000 tuition increase. Under Reynolds,
an “enemies list”
of student activists is complied by various security chiefs of CUNY
campuses, and SAFE team is dispatch to spy on students to prevent administrative
building takeovers.
Sept. 24, 1996 - Reynolds and the CUNY Board of Trustees award a contract to Citi Bank for the creation of the CUNY ID card. Doubling as both an ATM card and a security device, the CUNY card allows security teams to monitor the movement of students while disclosing the financial status of CUNY students to major corporate interests without student consent.
March 10, 1997 - Reynolds is shouted down after attempting to hold a meeting of elected student government officials from CUNY’s Manhattan campuses over the budget cuts. When David Suker, President of City College’s Graduate Student Council tried to enter the meeting, security guards ejected him, leading to a walk out. Only one student remained for Reynolds’ presentation.
May 27, 1997- CUNY Board of Trustees demand that students of Hostos community college pass a writing test before they are allowed to graduate in June. Reynolds comes under sharp criticism when it is revealed that five out of the six community colleges do not require the exam before graduation.
June 29, 1997- Anne A. Paolucci attacks Reynolds for not raising CUNY academic standards.
July 17, 1997- Reynolds appears before the governing board of the University of Alabama to become head of its Birmingham campus.
July 20, 1997- Official resigns from chancellor ship, and accepts post at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
September 2nd 1997 - No tears shed by Giuliani and Pataki appointees on the Board of Trustees who accuse her of not being bad enough. None shed by students and faculty who received lesser education, 1st Amendment violations and higher tuition. We join the California State University system in wishing good riddance to bad apples.
Research: Keith Mitchell
