‘Shit In, Shit Out’
Queens College President Trashes Remedial Students

by Liz Wallenstein
Queens College Quad

“Shit in, shit out. If you take in shit and turn out shit, that is slightly more literate, you’re still left with shit.”
Queens College President Allen Lee Sessoms was quoted by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York (ABCNY) as using these words to describe incoming remedial students, in their recent Report of the Commission on the Future of CUNY. According to the report, Sessoms made the controversial remarks in an interview on September 21 regarding the new remediation policy.

Sessoms’ alleged remarks may have very well exposed the unspoken reasoning behind a proposed amendment approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees in January to phase out remediation. His approval of this amendment cuts to the heart of Queens College’s mission, its place within CUNY, as well as Sessoms’ place within Queens College. According to the ABCNY report, Sessoms’ rationalization for his radical view is that he sees Queens as more of a SUNY college, a “regional” university, rather than a CUNY school, which is geared towards the middle class.

According to the report, Sessoms’ goal is to build a strong connection with the middle class in an attempt to increase funding, a political base. The report quotes him as saying, “The only people who benefit from open admissions are poor people and poor people don’t vote.”

In an interview with The Quad, Sessoms vehemently denied ever making any of the statements, saying, “They took things out of context.”

“I did not say anything which they attributed to me. Their statement, as constructed, was totally false. Everyone in the meeting [from QC] will tell you that.” He described the ABCNY interview as having been supposed to be informal but having turned into “political guerrilla warfare” because he claimed that ABCNY had a political agenda. Sessoms said that the ABCNY are the same people who pushed for open admissions in the ’70s and they see his desire to raise Queens’ standards as a threat. “I’m disappointed that they were so duplicitous,” said Sessoms.
He called for them to acknowledge and retract their error immediately and has since mailed a memo to the members of the Commission on the Future of CUNY, the specific group within the ABCNY responsible for publishing the report in question.

The ABCNY have so far not responded to allegations of misquoting.

Sessoms also said that even though ABCNY is an organization of lawyers, who would normally steer clear of publishing libelous material, he feels that they were not apprehensive about publishing the report because he is a public official and public officials don’t have as strong a case in libel suits. In addition, as there were no tape recorders running during the course of the interview, Sessoms feels that they have no proof to back up their claims that he made the comments.

ABCNY admits to not having recorded the meeting, but said that Thurston Domina, the Research Associate to the Commission Staff and one of the two members present took notes. Also present was the Chair, Stanley Grossman, Esq.

Krista Brenner, President of the Student Association, spoke with Domina shortly after the incident became widely known. According to Brenner, Domina was reportedly so shocked by Sessoms’ comments that there is no possibility for mistake. Upon inquiry if there was a slight chance that Domina could have erred in the note taking, the response was a simple but assertive “No.”

In a letter to ABCNY, pointing out the inconsistencies of their report, Assistant Vice President and Special Counsel to the President Jane Denkensohn, who was present at the meeting, does not deny Sessoms’ quotes but writes his views were substantially distorted and misinterpreted by the commission. The letter states that when the President said, “The only people who benefit from open admissions are poor people and poor people don’t vote,” he was explaining the views of the members of the politically motivated Board of Trustees and was not representing his own views. The letter also says that when he made the “Shit in, shit out...” comment, he was using a somewhat “salty” term as a synonym for “academically unprepared” while discussing academic excellence as an absolute standard.
The letter sent to ABCNY requests that the commission publish and distribute a retraction and a revised report in the same manner as the publication and distribution of the report itself.

Dr. David Speidel, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs for QC was also present at the meeting and said he stands by what was written in Denkensohn’s letter. He said, “Those of us who were present at the meeting think that the President was wronged.”

Dr. Burton Backner, Dean of Students, who was not present at the meeting, defended the ideas behind Sessom’s alleged comments before learning that Sessoms claimed to have not made them. He said that he did not regard the statements as malicious. In regard to the statement about the poor not mattering, Backner said, “[It] sounds more like apolitical statement. It seems he is just making an assessment of the situation. He’s saying that the poor ones are the ones that benefit from this, and by not voting they are hurting their cause.” He also explained Sessoms colorful choice of words to describe Sessoms knack for getting people’s attention and that he was exaggerating to make his point. “It’s certainly provocative,” said Backner.

The reactions of the student body to Sessoms’ alleged comments were bitter. Derek Iannucci found the choice of words to be in poor taste and insulting. He felt that CUNY was losing its goal of “providing the poor and immigrant an education.” Senior Helen Zumaeta called Sessoms “the worst thing that happened to Queens College.”
Student Adina Shapiro said, “The president preaches about wanting to upgrade the school and to be stricter about accepting students with little intellectual capabilities, yet he couldn’t complete an entire sentence without saying profanities.”

Sessoms is waiting for a response from ABCNY before considering any further legal action.

Reprinted from the Queens College Quad.