Regents Block Access to CUNY's Senior Colleges

by Bill Crain

On November 22, in a 9 to 6 vote, the New York State Board of Regents approved CUNY’s plan to phase out remedial classes in CUNY’s 11 senior colleges. This January (2000), students whose placement tests scores indicate any need for remediation will be barred from the bachelor's degree programs at Hunter, Queens, Brooklyn, and Baruch colleges. City College and Lehman College had been scheduled to join the phase-out in September, 2000, but the Regents voted to delay their starting dates to September, 20001. All four people of color voted “No” on the remediation ban.

In three months of testimony and letters, dozens of students and faculty had tried to tell the Regents that CUNY's plan is racially discriminatory. Students of color will be disproportionately excluded from the 4-year colleges. What’s more, all SUNY 4-year colleges offer remediation. Since SUNY primarily serves white, middle class students, and CUNY primarily serves people of color and working class students, the civil rights implications are profound. Many of us told the Regents that they had an obligation to prevent these inequities, but the Regents’ majority didn’t take our points seriously.

An audience of well over l00 listened to the Regents as they prepared to vote. Many City College students and faculty were present, some holding signs such as, “Stop Racism, Vote NO,” and “SUNY Offers Remedial Help. CUNY Cannot?” The audience often shouted in anger when Regents made critical remarks about CUNY and its students and the value of a CUNY degree. Many tears were shed when the vote was cast, as some of us tried to sing “We Shall Overcome.”

The CUNY plan exempts SEEK students, but how they will get the remediation they need is unclear. The plan also exempts students who received a secondary education abroad and pass the math placement test.

The Regents modified CUNY's plan a bit. The “compromises,” heralded by some Regents, will permit some students who barely miss passing a placement test to enroll in senior college courses on a provisional basis.
All in all, CUNY’s new policy will close doors on thousands of students, and it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that social justice has suffered a terrible blow. Will we be able to rise up and challenge this discriminatory policy?

Bill Crain is a Professor of Psychology at City College.