A Newsletter for The City University of New York • Summer 1996

How Welfare Recipients Bipartisan Workfare Bills Offered enator John J. Marchi (R-Staten Island) tances from campus or home. In May 1996 a Sand Assemblyman Roberto Ramirez (D- similar workfare program was instituted that Succeed at CUNY Bronx) have introduced legislation that would will negatively impact student recipients of oblige social service officials in New York to Aid to Families with Dependent Children. By Dr. Marilyn Gittell, 27,000 students were on welfare or in fami- allow CUNY and SUNY students receiving Co-sponsors of the Senate bill include public assistance to meet their "workfare" Senators Catharine M. Abate; Pedro Espada, Director of the Howard Samuels State lies that receive welfare. obligations on or near their own campuses. Jr.; Efrain Gonzalez, Jr.; Seymour Lachman; Management and Policy Center, GSUC The notion of extending the college oppor- "This bipartisan ef- Serphin R. Maltese; Marty Markwitz; David tunity to welfare recipients as a reliable fort is especially heart- Paterson; Ada L. Smith; Leonard P. Stavisky; ince its founding, The City Univer- route to financial independence is supported ening, because it will Guy Velella; and Dale M. Volker. sity has been a major provider of encourage thousands of Two SUNY campuses are already desig- by social research into the development of students to persevere nated as worksites, noted Sen. Marchi. "We S post-secondary education for the human capital. Even short spells at college need such designations across the state," he metropolitan area’s low- and middle-income and complete their col- make a difference in earning potential. In a lege education, enter added. "It makes sense from the taxpayer residents. CUNY addressed the needs of new national study of community college students the work force, and and the welfare student points of view." mmigrant populations at the turn of the cen- that appeared last year, “Labor Market Re- leave the welfare rolls As Assemblyman Ramirez pointed out, permanently," said "This legislation recog- tury, and through the Depression it educated turns to Two- and Four-Year College,” Tho- poor and working-class students. After Senator Marchi Chancellor W. Ann nizes that students on mas Kane and Cecilia Rouse reported that Reynolds. "We are very public assistance are World War II, it lowered its admission stan- earning college credits had a positive impact grateful to both legislators for introducing working hard to gain the dards to meet the needs of large numbers of on income, even without graduation and re- bills on behalf of these aspiring and deserv- skills they need for gainful ing students." employment and are will- veterans eligible for the G.I. Bill of Rights, gardless of the quality of the institution. which sustained their college education. Since Fall 1995, recipients of Home Relief ing to work for their ben- Education is particularly important for efits. We must have The tradition continues. Following the have been obliged to perform workfare for 20 women, because the wage gap between gen- hours a week under the city's Work Experi- workfare programs that passage of the Family Support Act in 1988, ders is most extreme among those with the ence Program. These assignments have been are not additional impedi- which officially made higher education an least education. Women with masters de- in conflict with CUNY students' class sched- ments to getting people option for welfare recipients, CUNY and New ules and often require traveling long dis- off welfare." grees earn 69% of the average male salary Assemblyman Ramirez York City and State officials developed a ($2,614 compared to $3,748 a month), number of special programs to assist welfare whereas those with only high school or less recipients in their pursuit of a college de- earn about half as much as men in similar FACES AND PROGRAMS BEHIND gree. There was a clear need for such pro- positions ($579 compared to $1,116). grams at CUNY, where by 1993 a total of GSUC’S HIGH NATIONAL RANKINGS Continued on next page CUNY’s Doctoral Consortium Scholars Reunite regorian chant is very big these College, an ethnomusicologist who ranges days, its haunting, ethereal sim- in his research from the popular music of G plicity being for many new India to the highly various musical cultures for Symposium devotées the ideal antidote for fin de siècle of the Caribbean. Atlas himself has just fretfulness. Explosive CD sales have made published a comparative essay on the La ourteen years after graduating summa chant the undisputed crossover phenom- Bohèmes of Leoncavallo and Puccini. Fcum laude from Queens College and enon of the 1990s in the classical recording The Program’s composition faculty in- heading off to Oxford, Rhodes Scholarship industry. Less well known: the fact that cludes John Corigliano (Lehman), David Del n hand, Raymond Paretzky recently re- CUNY is a major force in research on Tredici (City), and Thea Musgrave (Queens). turned to CUNY. Flanked by a stellar panel Gregorian chant, largely due to the pres- Among teachers of performance are pianist of other CUNY winners of major fellow- ence of Distinguished Professor Leo Treitler Abbey Simon at Hunter and renowned jazz ships—the Mellon, Ford, NSF, Fulbright, in the doctoral Music Program at City bassist Ron Carter at City, to name just two. and Truman—Paretzky, CUNY’s first Rhodes Martine Amerson, left, City College history major, University’s Graduate School and University “We draw on the entire CUNY system,” Atlas Scholar and now an international trade at- and Joanna Redding, Hunter College Italian Studies Center (GSUC). points out, “and so we have at least one torney in Washington, led a discussion on major, right, were coached by Chancellor W. Ann Treitler has established a towering pres- leading specialist in every area.” May 13 that opened the third CUNY Schol- Reynolds at the third Scholars Symposium. ence in the field with his studies of early This spectrum of intradisciplinary offer- ars Symposium. The Symposium is the cen- chant notation. His exploration of how ings and faculty depth typifies the CUNY terpiece of a University-wide initiative to time off from studies at Columbia and Yale, chant may have been transmitted orally doctoral programs and results from a con- dentify and prepare CUNY’s top students where they are completing doctoral work, before written manuscripts became com- sortium that is unique among the country’s or the rigors of high-stakes fellowship to share their experiences and support as- monplace has opened up a new field of mu- institutions of higher learning. The foun- competition. piring CUNY undergraduates. sical historiography. Though medieval mu- dation for this consortium lies in its distin- Two of the six panelists were student After a lively session, students were sic is Treitler’s domain, he has also shaped guished core faculty, which is comprised of participants in the 1994 Symposium who joined by Chancellor Reynolds and eight the entire field of American musicology. slightly more than 100 GSUC-based ap- went on to win major awards. Leota Lone CUNY faculty who are involved in honors Praised as “a giant in the field” and “an pointments. But a very large majority of Dog just graduated from Hunter College in programs in small group discussions focus- intellectual ambassador between music and GSUC’s 1,500-strong doctoral faculty— art history and women’s studies and will ing on various aspects of the process of the other humanities” by his colleagues, about 93%—also teach at CUNY’s senior assume a 1996 Ford Foundation applying for national graduate awards. In Treitler is one of the reasons the faculty of and community colleges. Predoctoral Minority Fellowship to pursue mock-interview sessions, the Chancellor the CUNY Doctoral Program in Music is, study on New York City’s Native American interviewed several high-ranking students. according to the National Research Council, his consortium has produced impres- history. Rosemarie Roberts, who graduated The students also heard from those who among the very best in the nation. Tsive results. Last September, the Na- summa cum laude in 1995 from Hunter in serve on the selection committees: Will- But there are 50 other reasons, most of tional Research Council ranked the Gradu- psychology, has garnered no fewer than iam Holland for the Rhodes, Prof. Abraham them drawn from across the CUNY cam- ate School’s doctoral Music Program fourth three awards: the Ford Pre-doctoral, NSF, Ascher for the Mellon, Dr. Ray Raymond for puses. Among them is Queens College’s nationally among 65 colleges and universi- and American Psychiatric Association fel- the Marshall, and Chris Coons for the Harry Carl Schachter, according to the Program’s ties surveyed. But Music was hardly alone owships. S. Truman Scholarships. Executive Officer, Allan Atlas, “the planet’s One-third of CUNY’s rated doctoral pro- Two Andrew W. Mellon scholars—Carlyle –Virginia Slaughter, Director, reigning exponent of Schenkerian musical grams were in the top 20 in their fields na- Thompson and Patrice Paul Rankine—took Scholarship Enhancement Program analysis,” and Peter Manuel of John Jay tionwide for scholarly excellence. Continued on page 3

1 Welfare, continued from previous page helped her enroll in the pre-med program at A PASSIONATE ADVOCATE AND TEACHER For welfare recipients raising a family NYCTC. Another cousin wants to study so- alone, a college degree can make the differ- cial work and I helped her enroll in a pro- ence between financial security and continu- gram too.” REMEMBERING DEAN BURNS ng poverty. Only women with a bachelors earn enough ($19,404 a year) to raise them ince 1988 CUNY has established a range well above the Federal poverty threshold for Sof programs designed to help welfare By Kristin Booth Glen a family of three, which in 1993 was recipients acquire skills that prepare them Dean of the CUNY Law School at Queens College $11,890. A recent 10-state study of the Job for employment. These programs also help Opportunities and Basic Training Program women on welfare overcome such difficulties s everyone in the CUNY community JOBS) by Jan Hage and Irene Lurie, aptly as balancing family responsibilities and is by now sadly aware, University itled, “From the Rose Garden to Reality,” course work; returning to college after what, AProfessor Haywood Burns, a dedi- onfirms that, without significant education for some, has been a long break; and manag- cated lawyer and beloved educator, lost his and training, single mothers will continue to ing on a restricted budget. life in a tragic accident this April in emain at or below the poverty line. The Howard Samuels Center recently Capetown, South Africa. Since 1988, I have conducted a series of evaluated five of these programs. COPE, Typical of Haywood’s passionate advocacy tudies of women receiving Aid to Families REACH, and Family College were specifically for civil and international rights, racial jus- with Dependent Children (AFDC). A survey designed for welfare recipients, while SEEK tice, and gender equality, he and another of of AFDC college graduates in New York State and College Discovery were initiated in the our Law School colleagues, Professor ound that 88% of respondents had been 1960s as part of the University’s effort to Shanara Gilbert, were attending a confer- employed since graduation; 45% were earn- expand access to higher education to disad- ence sponsored by the International Asso- ng more than $20,000 a year. More than vantaged citizens. Each program offers a ciation of Democratic Lawyers. Shanara, half had continued their studies, with 22% in mix of financial assistance, counseling, and who also died in the accident, was the graduate school. Replication of the study in academic support. founder and co-director of the Law School’s ive other states produced similar findings. Our research found that when character- Defender Clinic. She had recently been In interviews, these women drew a stark istics such as age, gender, and threshold granted tenure. omparison between work experience before academic skills are held constant, welfare Haywood Burns, former CUNY Law Dean and after earning their degrees. An infor- recipients progress toward their degrees as aywood’s accomplishments in the mant named Eleanor barely subsisted on quickly—sometimes more quickly—than Hlarger world are legion, but he had a the National Lawyers Guild, and sat on the menial jobs at minimum wage,” but since other students. The most effective programs special place in his heart for CUNY students. boards of many progressive organizations. uly 1991 she has worked as a registered were those that combined high expectations He gladly and proudly gave much of himself nurse, earning more than $31,000 yearly. and strict performance standards with inten- and his extraordinary talents to them. A is protean professional accomplish It’s given me more sense of personal accom- sive, individual support services. REACH, recognized authority on constitutional and Hments aside, Haywood, whom I first plishment,” she says. Before college, for example, features a comprehensive orien- criminal law, Haywood taught at several law met more than 30 years ago, will always be Charlene worked in a nursing home for tation and basic-skills immersion course, schools before becoming the founding Chair remembered for his boundless warmth and $4.25 an hour. Now she is a primary school followed by in-depth counseling for students. of the City College Urban Legal Studies Pro- generosity. The day after his death, at an eacher making more than $24,000 a year. Welfare recipients who attend college are gram in 1977. An excellent teacher, he impromptu memorial service in the Law obliged by the City’s Human Resources Ad- viewed his responsibilities as extending far School auditorium, hundreds gathered to he advantages of college are not only ministration to complete their associate de- beyond the classroom, mentoring thousands remember and celebrate his life. Student Tfinancial, nor are they limited solely to gree within three years or six semesters. of students, particularly African Americans, after student spoke about what a powerful he student. Many of the women we met They receive Training Related Expenses and fostering their entry into the legal com- teacher he was, how open and helpful he eported an overall improvement in the (TREs) for car fare, day care, and lunch only munity. always was, and how grateful they were to quality of their lives and were eloquent in for this period. This means they must take In 1987 he was selected to serve as the have known him. Many at the gathering ontrasting the feelings of degradation, in- more credits each semester than the average second Dean of CUNY Law School, the first spoke about how down-to-earth Haywood ecurity, and helplessness they experienced CUNY student. Despite the burdens of family African-American law dean in New York. was, what great fun, and especially how while on welfare with the confidence and and often very tight budgets, students in During his tenure, Haywood led CUNY Law much he loved to dance. ndependence they felt after graduation. REACH and COPE have managed to meet School to full ABA accreditation. A colleague, Angela Joseph, recalled It is like being in a whole other world,” these strict requirements. Beyond the campus, Haywood served as that when her son Stanley was three and aid one of the women we met. “I guess it assistant counsel to the NAACP Legal De- visiting the Law School for the has mainly shown what is possible for our he future of these students is now in fense and Education first time, Haywood welcomed ives. We can be in control. We do not have Tjeopardy. All current policy proposals at Fund and as general him to his office and took from o be at the mercy of our circumstances. It the national and state level for changing counsel to Martin Luther his desk a blue toy shoe that has empowered us.” “welfare as we know it” are moving in oppo- King, Jr.’s Poor People’s “walked” when it was wound Another woman spoke in more detail sition to our research findings. Campaign. He waged up and played with it and about the ways her life changed: “Before, I Already in New York City, new rules from and won many battles in Stanley on the floor. The boy’s was very impulsive. Now, I sit back, assess a the Office of Employment Services of the the courtroom, including response was, “Professor, you ituation, then handle it rationally...My life HRA stipulate that public assistance recipi- the defense of Angela can’t wear that because your has expanded. I am more confident. I seek ents enrolling in associate degree programs Davis and representation feet’s too big!” Haywood ex- out friends...I edit a newspaper for my work- after May 1996 must complete their degrees of prison inmates follow- ploded in laughter. The shoe place and do a lot of reading on blindness within two years. They must complete the ing the 1971Attica motif continued in the near- and psychology. I also participate in profes- scheduled credit load each semester in order prison uprising. In later apocryphal story of the Dean’s ional activities and do volunteer work with to continue receiving TREs, and those who years he monitored trials 50th birthday present to him- ome of my blind clients...And I’m involved in fall behind will be forced out of school. HRA in Northern Ireland and self—a pair of genuine 1950s he Community Police Action Group.” requirements for Home Relief recipients have the first election in blue suede shoes! Investing in the education of parents is also made it harder for them to stay in South Africa; he also Professor Shanara Gilbert One memory surfaced again also an investment in the next generation. school by removing the exemption for college advised on the drafting and again: Haywood and his Children of educated parents are more likely attendance. It appears that thousands of of South Africa’s interim constitution. He beloved wife and partner, Jennifer Dohrn, o take education seriously and aspire to go students on Home Relief who wished to enter helped to found and served as the first di- outdancing everyone at the great party cel- o college. And parental level of education is CUNY may have been deterred in the 1995- rector of the Conference of Black Lawyers, ebrating his 1994 retirement from the a strong predictor of future earnings. Data 96 academic year, and many more who were was the first African-American president of deanship. The memory is enormously im- already affirm that the children of CUNY previously enrolled may not have been able portant to us who feel his loss so deeply open admissions students of the 1970s and to continue. and painfully, because it palpably affirms 1980s are more likely to attend college. Limiting the number of welfare recipients how much he loved life, how much he made One of the women we interviewed de- who can attend college and requiring those of his own, and the joy he took in being cribed how her whole family had been af- who do to complete their degrees more hast- by welfare benefits the public will no longer with us and those he loved. ected by her campus experience: “One sis- ily than other students is short-sighted. have to fund, by taxes on our graduates’ Our best and most lasting tribute will be er went to [New York City Technical College] These draconian rules ignore the advantage higher earnings, and by the long-term ben- not only to carry on his work, but to affirm or secretarial sciences, partly because of of long-term human capital development. efits of financially secure, upwardly mobile insistently—as Haywood did so gracefully— my experience. One of my cousins wants to Minimal investment in education today would families. We will pay dearly in the future for the importance, the sanctity of each and be a nurse and go to medical school. I be more than compensated for in the future: what we fail to fund today. every human life.

2 GSUC, continued from page 1 author Henry Roth, the Irish in New York, The rankings are contained in a 730- and the welfare state—the last in memory A Climactic Black vices as tone, language, and setting to pro- page report titled Research-Doctorate Pro- of eminent sociologist and Queens profes- duce work that lacks political content. He grams in the United States: Continuity and sor Michael Harrington. Directed by Renaissance? stressed the importance of answering po- Change, considered the most authoritative Morris Dickstein (Queens), the Humanities litical questions through the writer’s art. ranking of doctoral programs in the United Center carries on a tradition of public intel- By Ke’vin A. Browne Black writers, Baraka continued, must in- Medgar Evers College States. The NRC made use of databases lectual life established at The City Univer- creasingly take up their time “organizing and self-descriptions as well as peer sity by Hunter Emeritus Professors Alfred alternative institutions, organizations, ince 1986, Medgar Evers College has rankings for more than 3,600 academic Kazin and the late Irving Howe, among oth- structures, networks, alliances, and collec- been the site of four National Black programs at 274 institutions. ers. It will sponsor the first memorial Irv- S tives” which will reveal “ever more produc- Writers (NBW) conferences, which have Within New York State, CUNY ranked ing Howe lecture next fall. tive answers” to political questions. attracted such celebrated authors and irst in music; second in linguistics and Among the internationally known re- On the panel with Baraka was acclaimed scholars as Maya Angelou, Henry Louis chemical engineering; third in anthropol- searchers who joined the Graduate Center mystery novelist Walter Mosley, known for Gates Jr., Derek Walcott, Arnold ogy, art history, philosophy, history, and in the 1990s are Distinguished Professors his Easy Rawlins series and the unique per- Rampersad, John Edgar Wideman, and Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian literatures; Edouard Glissant, a poet, playwright and spective on the African-American experi- and fourth in English and French. When Alice Walker. These conferences, usually ence that is offered in his novels A Red leading scholar of francophone literature; compared with all public Association of attracting an audience of 2,000, have pro- Death, White Butterfly and Black Betty. Colin Palmer, an expert on African-Ameri- American Universities-member institutions vided a forum for discussions of black lit- Mosley—a City College graduate—spoke can, Caribbean, and Latin-American his- erature on the regional, national, and inter- about the tribulations he endured in seek- n the country, CUNY comes in 15th overall. tory; intellectual historian John P. Diggins; national levels. ing to publish his first works. He encour- The Graduate School’s faculty is, in and Hartry Field, a preeminent philosopher On March 21, the fourth NBW conference, aged the audience to find tenacity and President Frances Degen Horowitz’s words, of mathematics. Other recent appoint- “A Renaissance to End All Renaissances?,” strength within themselves—valuable a “valuable reminder of CUNY’s collective ments include Michelle Fine, a social psy- opened with a focus on black literature in traits, he advised, that are necessary to the strength, reflecting excellence throughout chologist specializing in schools and gen- the ’90s. Among the 40 panelists and survival of a writer. the CUNY system.” The result is an ad- der; sociologist and education expert Julia speakers who participated were Thulani The conference continued the next day at vanced-research realm consisting of ex- Wrigley; and language acquisition specialist Davis, Brent Staples, Ishmael Reed, Stanley NYU’s Tischman Auditorium, where Paule traordinarily diverse disciplines, centers Colette Daiute. and institutes, students and teachers, only Crouch, Houston Baker, and Maryse Condé. Marshall, author of Brown Girl and Brown- Keynote speaker for the standing-room-only a small number of which can be surveyed in Supporting the Teaching Mission stones and professor of English at New opening session in the College Auditorium York University, gave an address that fo- the following overview. The work of such scholars is directly Last year Burton Pike, Distinguished was Amiri Baraka, a major writer on the cused on “education through emulation.” linked to the School’s teaching mission. The spirit of black literature and “blackness.” Professor of Comparative Literature, joined research strengths of GSUC provide both Marshall spoke of finding her authorial Sophie Wilkins to translate Robert Musil’s Some younger audience members who did “self” by reading the work of African slave graduate and undergraduate CUNY students not know Baraka were surprised to hear a modernist classic, The Man Without Quali- with opportunities to study or collaborate and writer Oloudah Equiano. She said that booming voice coming from a slender man ties, to much acclaim. George Steiner, with leaders in their chosen fields. GSUC it was through her emulation of Equiano with greying hair and spectacles that rested writing in The New Yorker, ventured that also gives them the chance to do hands-on that her own characters find themselves. on the tip of his nose. the translation “may well turn out to be the research and provides funds for graduate On the third and last day of the confer- However, they would come to know the best Musil available to an English-language students through research assistantships. ence, capacity audiences enjoyed a series name, meet the man, and remember his readership.” The work was nominated for Nancy Lopez, a doctoral student in sociology of informative and entertaining panels on a words: “We artists, calling ourselves revo- the 1996 PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club and a teacher and researcher as well, is a wide variety of topics, from “Choosing Ex- lutionary or people’s artists, must strive to translation prize. In the natural sciences, case in point. In addition to serving as a ile: Black Writers from the Harlem Renais- be as necessary to the people’s intellectual Dr. Marie Filbin of the Biology Ph.D. Pro- research assistant at the Center for Urban sance to the Black Arts Movement” and and cultural development as food is to their gram, working in her labs at Hunter Col- Research, she is a Graduate Teaching Fellow “Politically Correct in a Politically Incorrect physical development. We must create ege, has been exploring why damaged cen- at LaGuardia, an adjunct lecturer at Baruch, World” to “Black Literature: The Politics of works that are educational, inspirational as tral nervous system cells fail to regenerate. and, with support from the Center, has been Publishing” and “Presuming the Universal- well as fundamental to the continued dy- Her research team’s work has moved sev- studying dropout patterns among Dominican ity of the Black Experience.” Terry namic of a revolutionary people struggling eral steps closer to developing treatments youth in Manhattan high schools. McMillan and Ishmael Reed also read ex- for socialism.” or central nervous system injuries. Even with current budget constraints, cerpts from forthcoming works. Baraka spoke also of realizing and Political scientist John Mollenkopf and CUNY has maintained a commitment to The WorldWide Web affords access to achieving the duality that exists in black sociologist Philip Kasinitz are Director and graduate student support. In fact, GSUC these thought-provoking discussions for an literature of the ’90s—its expression of the Deputy Director of the Center for Urban Re- has recently been able to strengthen its international audience. The site remains mind as well as the soul. He cautioned search, one of 23 research centers and insti- support to doctoral students through the open and can be reached at http:// tutes based at writers against merely employing such de- artsnet.heinz.cmu.edu/NBWC. University-funded Graduate Teaching Fel- GSUC. They are lowship (GTF) program. Since 1993-94, all now working CUNY colleges have been included in GTF, together on a which has provided them with nearly 200 later, she was living and working in New million in matching funds. study of immi- doctoral students. York. Laid off from a job, she used the op- Thanks to these programs, minority en- grant group suc- This program, according to Associate portunity to enroll at City College. At rollments at GSUC continue to grow. In the cess that was Provost Pamela Trotman Reid, “is an ex- CCNY she became a CUNY Pipeline Dia- six-year period between the Falls of 1989 unded by the ample of how we continue to seek new mond Fellow and graduated this spring. and 1995, enrollment of African Americans Russell Sage ways to support doctoral students and at Next fall Jones will become a GSUC doc- in CUNY’s doctoral programs rose by 44%, Foundation. the same time reach out and connect our- toral candidate in anthropology and has Latinos by 38%. Almost 20% of Ph.D. stu- Their goal is to selves to the CUNY campuses.” been awarded a four-year President’s Fel- dents from the United States now come from determine which Campus outreach is part of the Graduate lowship in the MAGNET program. minority groups, and minority students earn mmigrant School’s efforts to open up the highest lev- Last year CUNY received the Council of doctorates here at a rate that is more than groups tend to els of academic training to all who are Graduate Schools/Peterson’s Award for In- double the national average. thrive most sig- novation in the Recruitment and Retention Every year, new doctoral alumni move on Robert Craif, a MAGNET qualified, regardless of ethnic background nificantly in or economic means. CUNY Pipeline— of Minority Graduate Students for programs to important leadership positions. Sharon today’s economy, Dissertation Year Fellow in Chemistry, in the lab at along with Project ASCEND, Bridges to the administered by GSUC’s Office of Educa- Sutton, a 1984 graduate of the Environmen- why they thrive, City College with faculty Doctorate in Biomedical Research, and tional Opportunity and Diversity Programs. tal Psychology Program, became the first and the extent to mentor John Lombardi. other special programs—works to recruit MAGNET is the largest and most sweeping African-American woman to attain the rank which intra-eth- CUNY undergraduates for graduate study. of those efforts. It includes fellowships for of professor of architecture. She stresses nic group networks, ethnic enclaves, educa- CUNY Pipeline assists minority students entering, dissertation-level, and post-doc- how CUNY’s effects are passed on from gen- tional attainments, and race play a role in who want to pursue careers in college toral fellows; opportunities for faculty and eration to generation. “Now I can do doctora upward mobility. teaching. One such student is Alice peer mentoring; and monthly roundtables education well,” she says by phone from her Centers and institutes at the GSUC spon- Baldwin Jones, who escaped an arranged with guest speakers. University of Michigan office, “because I had sor interdisciplinary research that ranges marriage at the age of 13 and, further defy- The Humana Foundation, the philan- a great education.” rom hearing aids to the European Union. ing her father, entered high school in her thropic arm of one of the nation’s largest The Graduate School and University Cen- One of the newest and most active of these native Belize. She later obtained a two- health care providers, funds Humana Fel- ter continues to embody, as renowned critic s the Center for the Humanities, which year scholarship to study natural sciences lows in the MAGNET program. Humana and faculty member Louis Menand wrote las sponsored recent conferences on pragma- in London, but still had not completed her followed up on its initial million-dollar year in The New York Times, “one of the tism, the American painter Edward Hopper, undergraduate education when, many years grant for this program by offering a second great success stories in public education.”

3 RECORD-BREAKING FEDERAL GRANT TO JOHN JAY RECENT NATIONAL B.A. SURVEY NYC Drug War Enlists CUNY Bucks General Education Trends

CUNY Ethnographers By Dr. Anne Martin, University Dean for Academic Planning and Programs By Dr. Richard Curtis ecently, the Princeton-based the 50 top-ranked colleges had dropped Professor of Anthropology, John Jay College asserts that culture is able to correct, National Association of Scholars from 55% in 1914 to 33% in 1993. At modify, or alter biology, and the field of drug R (NAS) issued a report titled The CUNY’s 10 B.A.-granting colleges, the story he last epidemic of heroin use in studies furnishes many examples of how this Dissolution of General Education: 1914- is quite different. The average amount of New York City, between 1964 and occurs. To this end, Dr. Hamid and I have 1993. Offering an evaluation of changes in general education required for CUNY B.A. T 1972, produced more than 250,000 reported hitherto on many variations among general education requirements for the degrees in 1994 was 44.3% of total credits njecting drug users. Heroin use remained drug users and their experiences and have bachelor of arts degree since the early part to graduate, 10 percentage points higher elatively stable throughout the late 1970s sought to demonstrate how this variety is of this century, the report took its data than the NAS average. In fact, the average and ’80s, and the numbers of users declined, determined by historical, ecological, social, from 50 catalogues of what U.S. News and CUNY figure was closer to those reported especially in the late 1980s as AIDS moved political, and economic factors. World Report deemed to be “America’s best by NAS for 1939 (48%) and 1964 (46%). rom gay to injecting drug-user circles. In Dr. Hamid began his street-wise research colleges” in “pivotal” years in the nation’s he NAS considers that the higher the he early 1990s, however, several indicators in the city in 1977 among Rastafari mari- history: 1914 (the eve of World War I), Tproportion of core or “mandatory” began to point to an upturn in use. Those juana distributors. By the early 1980s, as 1939 (eve of World War II) and 1964 (the courses, the higher the standards of gen- actors included more cases of heroin-re- smokable cocaine, or “crack,” exploded on “cusp of the massive cultural change asso- eral education. Their study found that the ated hospitalization, drug treatment admis- the scene, he was among the first research- ciated with the 1960s”). The fourth date average proportion of mandatory courses ions, arrests, and drug seizures. ers to report first-hand on changes in pat- chosen for analysis was 1993. required in the B.A. degree at the 50 insti- Urban anthropologists, like me and my terns of use and distribution. His research The report’s title reveals what NAS re- tutions surveyed was 7% in 1993. The ohn Jay College colleague Dr. Ansley showed that crack principally affected mi- searchers discovered. However, a review CUNY average for 1994 was twice that, at Hamid, have also noticed an increase in the nority neighborhoods in New York City, but, of the 1994 catalogues of 10 CUNY senior 14.3%. Eight of the CUNY schools had use and distribution of heroin, but our street- unlike most other drug researchers, who colleges offering the B. A. degree produces mandatory requirements higher than the evel observations suggest that it is expand- have tended to focus on the pharmacological some interesting comparisons. 1993 average of the schools surveyed by ng into neighborhoods and among popula- action of the drug or its detrimental psycho- The NAS study found that the average NAS. Brooklyn College was the leader, ions which have had little prior experience social outcomes, Dr. Hamid came to view percentage of the graduation requirement with 27% of its general education require- with heroin. In this early stage of what many drug users and distributors as one of the composed of general education courses at ments composed of mandatory courses. believe are the beginnings of another heroin many laboring populations in the American Students should master a body of knowl- epidemic, the new users tend to be white labor hierarchy—one whose distinctive edge and intellectual skills for their per- ather than minority, and their involvement earning and disposing of income became a sonal cultivation and in order to discharge with heroin has been largely restricted to significant part of a community’s economy. NIDA-sponsored research projects on AIDS their obligations as citizens, according to rendy nightclubs, bars, and extemporane- Dr. Hamid’s most significant contribution and injecting drug use. The most recent was NAS. These include fundamentals of his- ous, word-of-mouth parties called “raves.” was to show that drug use in America goes carried out near the site of a street-level drug tory and civilization; natural sciences and In April, Dr. Hamid and I were notified by through developmental cycles. There are supermarket in Bushwick. Several hundred math; at least one foreign language; litera- he National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) periods of convergence, for example, when a injectors and smokers were observed and ture; philosophy; and art. NAS also be- hat John Jay College had been awarded single distributor offers several drugs, and interviewed in settings like crack houses, lieves students must be able “to use the $3.2 million, the largest grant in the buyers tend to be polydrug users. These abandoned buildings, “shooting galleries,” English language as their medium of per- College’s history, to study “Heroin in the 21st periods usually precede and follow those in parks, and street corners. This study showed sonal communication.” Century.” The study will track the develop- which one drug gains ascendancy. Periods not only the routes by which the AIDS virus The presence of requirements for study mental cycle of heroin in the City over the of convergence occurred before and after the was being transmitted, but also suggested in these disciplines is seen by NAS as an next five years, using ethnographic methods heroin-injection epidemic of 1964-72 and how social policies—especially the “war on indicator of the quality of a general educa- and techniques that we and our research the cocaine-smoking epidemic of 1981-91. drugs”—sometimes in fact contributed to the tion requirement. The NAS survey re- eam have been refining over the past 20 spread of AIDS rather than its containment. ported that 64% of the 50 most prestigious ears of study on the streets of New York. e have come to believe that a typical schools required foreign language study in One of our main ethnographic tools is the Wdevelopmental cycle of drug use un- olleagues and friends who hear me de- 1993, a steep decline from a high of 98% in participant observation,” where researchers folds through six stages: onset, incubation, Cscribe my research “habitat” think my 1914. At CUNY, allowing for exemptions mmerse themselves in the lives of those widespread diffusion, peak, decline, and sta- work is incredibly dangerous and cringe at arising from the College Preparatory Initia- hey study in order to construct an insider’s bilization. Various social policies, law en- the thought of working in such volatile ven- tive (CPI), 100% of the colleges had a for- world view. Accordingly, this study will send forcement strategies, and rates of incarcera- ues. While it is true that considerable vio- eign language requirement in 1994. In esearchers into settings where heroin is tion are seen to usher the cycle from one lence comes with this territory, neither Dr. 1914, the percentage of colleges surveyed being sold and consumed. We will examine stage to another. But, more importantly, Hamid nor I has ever been the victim of vio- by NAS that required study of literature was he lifestyles, rituals, routines, and beliefs of tensions in the social and economic organi- lence—or even threatened with it—in nearly 57%. By 1993, this figure had dropped new segments of the population who are be- zations of users and dealers—as well as two decades of such research. sharply to 14%. Here, too, CUNY com- oming involved with the drug. We antici- changing conditions of employment, hous- Indeed, our experience has been that the pared favorably: Literature was a general pate that this fieldwork will give policy-mak- ing, fertility, and relations between genders people whose lives we study grow quite pro- education requirement at 100% of the col- ers, treatment professionals, and criminal and generations—can affect the develop- tective of us and often take care to ensure leges in 1994. ustice experts a better understanding of the mental cycle in any given neighborhood. that we remain sheltered from the dangers of NAS found that in 1993 only 10% of the urrent rise in heroin use. Working closely with Dr. Hamid for more the street. As a result, we feel quite comfort- top 50 required a philosophy course, com- Our methods differ greatly from most drug than 15 years, I have conducted ethno- able working in “dangerous” areas at all pared with 40% at CUNY in 1994. By tudies. The overwhelming proportion of graphic evaluation of the New York City Po- times of the day or night. The only trouble 1993, the percentage of NAS-surveyed unds devoted to drug research has tradition- lice Department’s Tactical Narcotics Team we ever experience is being stopped by po- schools requiring rhetoric courses—includ- ally been allocated to clinicians, who focus (TNT) and found that its effectiveness was lice officers, who are surprised to find re- ing “speech” but not written composition or almost exclusively on pharmacology and who confined to the most low-level, curbside searchers working the streets of Brownsville, similar freshman English courses—had have produced such constructs as the drug markets, while more discreet markets Bushwick, or Harlem after midnight. dropped from 33% in 1914 to zero in 1993. amotivational syndrome,” “cannabis psycho- (e.g., those located indoors or trafficking in To track the expansion of heroin use over In contrast, 50% of CUNY colleges still re- is,” “tolerance and escalation,” and “instant large amounts) were barely affected. In ad- the next five years, our research team will tained a rhetoric/speech requirement in addiction.” They have also produced the dition to conducting daily observations of describe and document shifts in the popula- 1994. heories that “drugs destroy the instincts of street-level markets in Brooklyn’s Flatbush tion of users and dealers and the changes in parenthood” and “drugs take away what is and Crown Heights neighborhoods, we inter- venues where heroin is found. We anticipate he NAS found that structured general necessary to be human from children prena- viewed several hundred drug distributors that heroin will begin to move out of the club Teducation programs “have given way to ally exposed to them.” The widely held as- and users about changes in the drug scene scene, first becoming more popular in white, a system of almost unconstrained student umptions that drugs are becoming worse or and what they perceived about the impact of working-class neighborhoods and then filter- choice.” General education curricula more potent and their users more depraved police interventions. ing back into those minority neighborhoods “have ceased to be vehicles for conveying are another legacy of these studies. In the early 1990s, I contributed ethno- where it was the dominant drug throughout the substance of our history, institutions, By contrast, the anthropological approach graphic fieldwork and insight into several the 1970s and ’80s. Continued on page 12

4 Academic Program Planning— Three Years Later By Richard M. Freeland on each of the mandates contained in the York City Technical College, A.A.S. pro- tified through APP deliberations. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Board’s policy. grams in Computer-Aided Manufacturing In addition, beginning with the 1994-95 Technology, Lithographic Offset Technology, budget request, the University has sought hree years have passed since the Campus-level Planning Activities Medical Laboratory Technology, and Secre- supplementary support from the state for Board of Trustees adopted the Reso- Strategic planning by the colleges has tarial Science have been closed. The City “Strengthening Academic Programs.” Over lution on Academic Program Plan- T been the single most important vehicle for College closed its School of Nursing and its the three-year period, combining rede- ning. Much has happened since June 1993, implementing the goals of the APP Resolu- Departments of Health and Physical Educa- ployed University resources and special when the Trustees initiated the APP pro- tion. Some colleges had initiated planning tion, Theater and Dance, Classical Lan- state support, approximately $30 million cess in order to protect the availability and activities even before the Board acted; oth- guages and Hebrew, and Special Programs. has been targeted within the budgets of excellence of CUNY’s academic programs at ers organized planning processes in direct As these campus-based planning activities CUNY’s colleges to fund academic priorities a time of severe budgetary constraints. response to the Board’s charge. Over the have occurred, the University administra- emerging from campus-based planning. Most importantly, our budgetary circum- past three years, every CUNY college has tion has worked with the colleges to ensure These funds have been used for a number stances have deteriorated far beyond any- been engaged in an effort to examine its that unique programs are not lost to the of purposes, including hiring new faculty, thing that could have been imagined three central purposes, define programmatic system and to arrange inter-collegiate faculty development, instructional equip- years ago, making it progressively more priorities, and direct resources to the transfers of resources so that offerings can ment, library acquisitions, instructional difficult for us to sustain our offerings at an maximum extent possible to sustain top- be consolidated at new locations. facilities, academic advising, articulation, appropriate level of quality. In this con- priority programs at a high level of aca- The pattern of programmatic and depart- and collaboration. text, it is useful to take stock of what has demic excellence. For the first two years mental reductions, though difficult, has nev- The primary emphasis, clearly, has been been accomplished through the APP of APP, this work was carried out chiefly ertheless helped the colleges to protect on faculty hiring, which, given precipitous policy—and to explore what further devel- through governance-based planning com- high-priority programs, including new ini- losses in full-time faculty since the mid- opment of this policy may be needed as we mittees, according to the Trustees’ clear tiatives, and in some cases, to redeploy re- 1980s, has been the University’s top budget continue struggling to meet difficult finan- intention in mandating APP. sources in support of them. During the priority. We firmly believe that the future cial challenges. The Board’s decision in the spring of past three years, despite declining overall quality and range of academic programs The APP Resolution sought to strengthen 1995 to declare fiscal exigency at the se- budgets, 129 programs were significantly depend upon the appointment of a new gen programs by making the best use of avail- nior colleges significantly modified the strengthened or initiated and approved by eration of freshly trained young scholars. able resources and by developing collabora- context of Academic Program Planning. the Board, including a new School of Public APP budget allocations have supported 178 tion among the colleges to take full advan- Board policy governing the financial emer- Affairs at Baruch College and a baccalaure- faculty positions since 1993, aiding col- tage of the entire system’s capabilities. gency required colleges to create retrench- ate degree in environmental science at leges in strengthening core liberal arts dis- Specifically, the policy: ment committees charged with recom- Medgar Evers College. ciplines and building high-demand areas. •called upon each college to under- mending personnel reductions. These Although initial implementation of APP For example, City College hired new fac- take long-range planning with regard to committees quickly became the primary focused on degree programs, campus plan- ulty in the fields of philosophy, American academic programs and assigned Univer- vehicles for crafting collegiate budget ning has expanded to include general edu- history, Spanish, economics, sociology, and sity staff to work with the colleges to plans. In most cases, however, the delib- cation as well as academic support pro- political science. John Jay used its specia assure system-wide coordination; erations of retrenchment committees were grams and services. Like degree programs, allocations to make appointments in law, •charged the Chancellor to coordi- guided by judgments about programmatic these areas were also affected by planning police science and criminology, and public nate processes for resource allocation at and departmental priorities that emerged for budget cuts in Spring 1995. The result management. At the same time, Queens the University level with college-based from the APP process. was a synergy of college actions with College received funds for new lines in academic planning activities so that Inevitably, the need to husband re- emerging Board policy in the areas of business, journalism, Japanese, and Ko- funds could be targeted to areas of stu- sources for high-priority programs has remediation, English as a Second Lan- rean. Baruch College hired several profes- dent need; forced colleges to curtail support for less guage, and Special Programs. sors for its new School of Public Affairs. •mandated professional review of significant programs. This necessity has Despite the retrenchments and all academic programs on a regular ba- been greatly increased since the advent of Coordinating Academic unreplaced retirements that occurred in sis to assure academic quality; fiscal exigency. All told, over the past 1995-96, a number of colleges were able to •pointed toward greater integration Planning and Budgeting three years campuses have closed or con- make new appointments in critical areas, of the University through intercollegiate APP policy mandated coordination of solidated 128 academic programs and sig- and the colleges were highly successful in programs, University-wide collaboration planning at the system level so that alloca- nificantly scaled back numerous others. protecting junior faculty recently hired in within disciplines and professional tions by the University would reflect the these areas. In both cases, APP emphasis Along with these programmatic changes instituted on the campuses. Be- fields, and improved articulation be- changes, colleges have restructured aca- on maintaining clear programmatic priori- tween community and senior colleges; ginning with the 1993-94 budget cycle, and ties and avoiding across-the-board ap- demic departments, schools and units to continuing in 1994-95 and 1995-96, the •directed the initiation of system- achieve cost efficiencies. These changes proaches to budget reduction played an wide planning in doctoral education and University has set aside funds from the important role. have affected both modest programs and adopted budget to be distributed to the col- special studies of ESL, remedial educa- major campus units. For example, at New As APP proceeds into its fourth year, the tion, and undergraduate degree require- leges specifically to support priorities iden- colleges are taking steps to institutionalize ments, while authorizing the Chancellor the links between academic and resource to undertake system-wide studies of ad- planning. The colleges are preparing ditional fields as needed. Northeastern Presidency for multi-year plans within the context of their individual missions. Budget allocations to he APP policy required actions at both Vice Chancellor Freeland the colleges will be linked in future years to Tthe college and University levels. At progress toward the objectives specified in the colleges, presidents and chief academic On May 24 Vice Chancellor Richard Freeland was named the multi-year plans. College facilities officers were asked to work with gover- President of Northeastern University in Boston. CUNY’s master plans and enrollment projections, o nance bodies to implement the Board’s Board of Trustees Chairman James P. Murphy and Chan- course, provide further bases for APP con- charges. At the University level, I worked cellor W. Ann Reynolds greeted the news in a joint state- sultations. with an Advisory Committee drawn from the ment: “Dr. Freeland has served CUNY with the utmost dis- Council of Presidents, the Academic Coun- tinction at a time of great change at the nation’s largest Academic Program Review cil, the University Faculty Senate, and the public urban university. His appointment to a prominent APP mandates the periodic professional University Student Senate to plan appropri- college presidency comes as no surprise to those of us at review of all CUNY degree programs and ate initiatives. Through a continuing em- CUNY who have had the great pleasure of working with him...We offer our heart- academic departments. Guidelines for phasis on interaction between campus-level felt best wishes to Richard Freeland as he assumes the helm of another fine insti- these reviews were drafted in consultation and system-level activities, we have made tution in the Northeast, and we look forward to a continuing relationship with our with the Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Com- steady progress during the past three years esteemed colleague.” mittee during the Fall of 1993, considered Continued on page 1

5 “Lincoln Center is to the performing Distinguished Alumni arts what the City University is to higher education. I’m proud to be part of these world-class institutions Broadcast CUNY Message Doctor, lawyer, singer, dancer, engi- r the 31 uring this past Spring, several of CUNY’s most prominent alumni have been been en- neer, entrepreneur: City University is s I have Dthusiastically participating in the filming of public service announcements designed the place to get your start.” in the to communicate the support of successful graduates for the current generation of CUNY —Nathan Leventhal, Queens y, I have students. Thus far, eight 30-second spots have been produced by CUNY-TV, and several College Class of 1963, President y day ben- more are in prospect. The announcements were filmed at various appropriate locations of Lincoln Center and Former New d from the around New York City and edited at the CUNY-TV studios, which are located at the Gradu- York City Deputy Mayor ation I got ate School. Time Warner Cable of New York City is distributing the PSAs to more than a he City University." dozen cable networks, including CNN, which will air them. Excerpts from some of the General Colin Powell, former eloquent statements made by these distinguished alumni are presented here. hairman of the Joint Chiefs of aff, City College Class of 1958

“I’ve played many major roles in my life. The City Uni- “We are here at our alma mater, versity prepares thousands for their role in life. Leon New York City Technical College to Lederman, a City College grad, is one of 11 CUNY say 'thank you' for the excellent alumni awarded the Nobel Prize. And Gillian Reynolds, education that became the founda- a Hunter College undergrad, just became the third Afri- tion of our careers... CUNY, we can-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in Physics from couldn’t have done it without you.” M.I.T. CUNY prepares thousands for their role in life.” —Co-owner Michael Romano —Judd Hirsch, City College Class of 1960, television, Broadway, and film star of the Union Square Café and “By day—for more than 16 years— Executive Chef Patrick Clark of I’ve been a New York State Supreme Tavern on the Green, Classes of Court Justice. At night I write novels. 1972, 1974 I hope you enjoyed Carlito’s Way, Q “I’m happy for this and A, and After Hours. Thanks to chance to thank my education at The City University, CUNY for the op- I’ve been able to do both.” portunities my —Edwin Torres, City College “What do I have in education gave me. Class of 1955 common with Judd As CEO of one of Hirsch, Ruby Dee, New York City’s and Jimmy Smits? largest employers, We all received a I depend on The quality education at City University’s “Times were hard when I received a college edu CUNY. A City Uni- senior and community colleges for the cation and a law degree during the later years o versity degree is the trained work force we at Brooklyn Union the depression. Times are hard now, but in dif- foundation for your require. Thanks for being there.” ferent ways. Students are older; many are the future.” —Robert Catell, City College Class sole support of themselves and their families. The City University pro- —Regina Resnik, Hunter College Class of 1958, Chief Executive Officer of vides the same opportunity today for those who want it. Eighteen col- of 1942, reigning mezzo soprano at the Brooklyn Union leges—more important than ever!” Metropolitan Opera for 40 years —Stanley H. Lowell, City College Class of 1939, attorney

the Caribbean and New York and to con- Chair of the White House Initiative for Educa- thoughts on these topics. The current HISPANIC CONFERENCE struct a vision for its future. tional Excellence of Hispanic Americans; Dr. downsizing trends in public higher education Caribbean Education Torres’ keynote words were borne out by Narcisa Polonio, former President of Harcum in the United States and abroad, and the dif- the consensus that seemed to prevail by College; and Dr. Sandi Cooper, Chair of ficulty of making optimistic predictions for April 26, after five days of panels, CUNY’s University Faculty Senate. City’s Vice the immediate future, loomed at the center By Silvio Torres-Saillant roundtables, and working-lunch meetings: President for Student Affairs Thomas Mo- of these discussions. Director, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute Higher education is undergoing drastic rales stressed the inseparability of student Back at Hostos, CUNY Trustee Gladys transformation as a result of global trends services and academic issues for minority Carrión and Lehman College Pres. Ricardo hanges with “striking similarities” toward “a new relationship with the state students. Statements by several students Fernández joined Hostos Pres. Isaura are currently being experienced by and in the incorporation of market logic.” brought out the tensions that often emanate Santiago Santiago for important closing-day C“higher education systems in very But, though the trends are global, Dr. Torres from discrepancies between the professional sessions, which looked closely at the global dissimilar contexts” throughout the Carib- contended that they “are promoted, resisted, interests of faculty and the needs of students policy context for higher education and pro- bean world, according to Dr. Carlos Alberto and negotiated differently in each national attending a public university. vided an historical overview of higher educa- Torres, Professor of Education and head of context, and even in each higher education tion in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, he Latin American Center at UCLA. He institution.” res. Vernon Lattin initiated two days of Puerto Rico, and New York over the last highlighted these changes at a ground-break- The conference moved to City College for Pdialogue at Brooklyn College on issues three decades. ng, week-long international conference in its second day, to Brooklyn College for the of social justice and the development of April on Public Policy and Higher Education: third and fourth days, and back to Hostos for higher education in relation to class, gender, he ambitious conference closed with a Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, a wrap-up. Three delegations of scholars, race, religion, ethnicity, and age. This was Ttelevised forum on public policy and and New York City that opened at Hostos educators, and university administrators followed by an examination of higher educa- higher education in the 21st century, to be Community College’s Repertory Theater. from the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and tion functions, emerging contradictions, and broadcast by BronxNet. Moderated by Daily The conference, sponsored by the Center Puerto Rico shared their knowledge with tensions in the realization of societal goals. News columnist Juan González, the forum or Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College U.S. counterparts—mostly faculty, adminis- CUNY Vice Chancellor Elsa Nuñez; Dr. included Dr. Juan Fernández, former Presi- and the Dominican Studies Institute at City trators, and education specialists from New Margarita Benítez, former President of the dent of the University of Puerto Rico’s Río College; the Department of Public Adminis- York and the Northeast. University of Puerto Rico’s Cayey campus; Dr. Piedras campus; Dr. Claudio Prieto, Deputy ration at Rutgers University-Newark; and a At City College, Pres. Yolanda T. Moses Donald Smith, Baruch College Associate Pro- Assistant Secretary for Higher Education at network of Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto ushered in a day of reflection on the chal- vost; CUNY Professor Emeritus Frank the U.S. Department of Education; Baruch Rican universities, brought together nearly lenges and opportunities facing Caribbean Bonilla; and Dr. Virginia Sánchez-Korrol, College Pres. Matthew Goldstein; New York 60 educators and scholars to assess the post-secondary institutions, with contribu- Chair of Brooklyn College’s Puerto Rican State Assemblyman Edward Sullivan; and hallenges facing public higher education in tions from Dr. María Santiago Mercado, Studies Department, also contributed New York City Councilman Guillermo Continued on page 10

6 in Siberia making a contract with Russian they knocked me down and kicked WORLD WAR III: VULGARITY VS. SUBTLETY partners. At the last moment, the Russian me...broke two of my ribs. partner refused to sign the agreement. The MM: Why were you attacked? businessman then quoted a 19th-century YY: It was the Cold War. Some people Yevgeny Yevtushenko Russian poet who said, “You cannot mea- created the false legend that we Russian sure Russia with a common yardstick; Rus- writers and musicians who came here were sia has its own character. One can only sent by our government. I was never sent Speaks Out on Culture believe in Russia.” The Russians looked at by the government, and from time to time I him astonished and asked, “How did you was in fact stopped by the government. We know this?” He re- were not given privileges—we were fighting evgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko, plied, “I took a course for privileges. We were pioneers. Poets of YDistinguished Professor of Germanic, in Russian poetry my generation were breaking the rusty iron Slavic, and East European Languages at with Yevtushenko.” curtain with our young hands. Queens College, has been a major force in The Russians signed MM: Do you think this “fight for privi- world literary and cultural history for more the contract! leges” is unique to Russian poets? Ameri- than four decades. The Russian-born People like my can poets, for instance, do not have this writer is the author of 46 collections of po- former students form reputation. etry, four novels, three books of literary and wonderful bridges to YY: I remember many American poets political essays, and two books of photogra- the future. In the who were fighting against the War in Viet- phy. His poetry has been translated into 21st century, we will nam—Allen Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti... more than 70 languages. have great partner- MM: But how many students could In 1993 the first volume of Silver and ships between the quote these poets? Do they have the broad Steel, Yevtushenko’s monumental anthology United States of impact on the American imagination that of 20th-century Russian poetry, appeared— America and Russia. you note Russian poetry has on the Russian the product of more than 20 years’ labor. Right now in Russia imagination? He has just completed his first play, "If All it’s a bit chaotic, a YY: Unfortunately, there’s a short Danes Were Jews," featuring the parallel mess, but... memory here. But we are beginning to have stories of a 17th-century Princess of Den- MM: You’re opti- problems with memory, too. Don’t worry! mark who composed poetry while in soli- mistic? We are joining your club of losers of na- tary confinement for 23 years, and a Jewish YY: A revolution- tional memory! girl named after the Princess who saved YY: In a way, it’s painful, because many ary Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci, We now have an expansion of mass cul- her father during the Nazi occupation of the did not emigrate looking just for the good said once, “I am pessimist in my observa- ture in Russia, too. We have the same 1940s. Yevtushenko has also recently life. They escaped to save their lives. In tions, optimist in my actions.” problem like you. We have the problem of completed a poem called “Thirteen” (after Georgia, there was civil war; in Tajikistan MM: What are you teaching this term? the McDonaldization of culture—that’s my Alexander Blok’s “Twelve”) about what he there was conflict, and so on. Some Jew- YY: I teach one course on Pushkin, one word, and I’m very proud of it. Spiritual calls Russia’s “mini-Civil War.” ish people escaped from Moscow because on Russian poetry of this century. Both in McDonaldization. The stupidization of TV. A member of the American Academy of we have now splashes of anti-Semitism, Russian. Next semester I will teach in En- We also have terrible talk shows now, fol- Arts and Letters and the European Acad- some new chauvinist factions. Into this glish. I teach here at Queens, but at the lowing America’s sad example. The fact emy of Arts and Sciences, Yevtushenko has poetry class I enter, and it’s a miracle be- same time I teach in Russia...on television. that I have my poetry show is a miracle. been a dedicated advocate for the rights of cause the Soviet Union doesn’t exist, except I have a show—26 minutes—every Satur- Here is an example of what I am saying. writers in Russia and throughout the world. in my class. It’s a mini-Soviet Union, and it day, based on my anthology of 20th-century Paul Winter, the American musician and An enthusiastic teacher, he taught at Penn- gives me a very tragical feeling. These stu- Russian poets. Last year, I taped 52 composer, recently told me that when he sylvania, Tulsa, and New York Universities dents are innocent, but they are victims of shows. This summer I will tape another was in Russia he went into a record store in before coming to CUNY. politics, all of them. year of shows in Russia. It is quite Moscow. He was immediately recognized My introduction to Prof. Yevtushenko MM: What else is striking about this successful...between 20 and 30 million by the young Russians he met there. He came in his classroom, where he was read- group? viewers. told me he was absolutely overwhelmed by ng Osip Mandelstam, in Russian, to his YY: What I like is these students do not MM: Can you tell me a bit about your their knowledge of contemporary American students of Russian poetry. With Yevtu- want to lose their knowledge of Russian anthology? jazz. But afterwards, when they spoke of shenko’s voice alternating effortlessly from language, history, literature. Young Rus- YY: It includes 875 Russian poets of the literature, he learned that not one of these deep, loudly proclaimed tones to the merest sians are different now than they were some 20th century and represents 23 years of young people had read Dostoyevsky. He whisper, the students were obviously en- years ago before perestroika, before work. When I began it, Russian poetry was was absolutely shocked. tranced by both Mandelstam’s verse and the Gorbachev. Back then, only old people divided between so-called ‘Reds’ and MM: How do we fight against the way it was performed. After class, were trying to save Russian language, Rus- ‘Whites,’ and I united it. There are wonder- McDonaldization of culture? Yevtushenko pulled up a chair for me be- sian education. Young people coming to ful poets, both ‘Red’ and ‘White.’ They were YY: The Russian chauvinists try to cre- side his desk. By the time I was seated, he America in the past didn’t have any hope of calling each other enemies, but now they ate an impression the Americans sent to us had already begun to speak with great en- returning to the Soviet Union, even to visit. want peace on the bookshelves because ergy, warmth, and good humor about his They were considered traitors in Russia. they form a common heritage. work and his passion for teaching. These young people wished to adapt to In 1970, when I began work on the an- —Marybeth McMahon American way of life as soon as possible, to thology, it was very difficult because many “The Soviet Union be Americans 100%, to forget the Russian poems were banned by the KGB. It was doesn’t exist, MM: You have taught at many different language, literature, everything—to forget, very dangerous—very difficult even to de- universities. Have you found CUNY stu- forget, forget, forget! Now it’s a different liver material to Doubleday because cus- except in my class.” dents different from those elsewhere? epoch: Young people now know they can go toms agents would search and confiscate YY: CUNY students are very different back temporarily to visit, for business. manuscripts. But I smuggled out many than the ones I have taught in Philadelphia There are many joint ventures between West manuscripts. this problem. They say there is a so-called and Tulsa. Here it is like a quilt—many and East. Previous Russian anthologies of contem- American anti-cultural invasion. It’s not people, different nationalities, different lan- MM: How has your teaching affected porary poetry were one-sided. No anti- true! It’s not only in America this happens; guages. In my classes, students come from your vision of the future for Russia and the Soviet, anti-Communist poets. Here they it’s in Europe, too. In Europe, it’s the all over Russia. Many of them are already United States? did not publish Communist poets, so there same—on French TV, on Italian TV. I came American citizens or refugees waiting for YY: Four of my former students already were many wonderful Red and White poets back from England: English TV was al- citizenship. Geographically, they represent are vice presidents of different companies who were not being read. ways—is still—much better, but they also all the republics of the former Soviet Union: working with Russia in joint ventures. The MM: You have a special connection have commercialization and primitivization. Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia...All speak Rus- times of colonialists are over! Now you with Queens College, don’t you? It is everywhere this process that we have sian, but each has his own accent. Geor- can’t deal with another country without YY: It’s the first place I gave a public to fight. We Russians not only welcome gian accent is different from Armenian, but knowing the language of that country, the reading in the U.S. and the first place I re- foreign vulgarity. We produce our own I immediately recognize who’s from what culture of that country and, in the Russian ceived an honorary degree in the presence Russian terrible vulgarity! Terrible songs republic...sometimes from what city. case, the poetry of the country. Russian of John Steinbeck and Arthur Miller. At with very cheap words which destroy MM: So it’s especially stimulating inter- poetry is key to Russian soul. that time, I was attacked on stage by Ukrai- people’s taste for good poetry. acting with students from so many different I know a successful American oilman nian nationalists as I received the degree. I I think we have to unite now against this parts of the former Soviet Union? who told me an interesting story. He was was attacked many times. In Minneapolis, And it’s happening. You see how successful Continued on next page

7 OF LETTERS—HUMANE & CENSORED And they’re not just saying let’s ban ers, dancers, film-makers, and painters. books. They’re saying let’s do away with For those of us who work in the arts, it is Isaacs Speaks Freely on Censorship homoerotic art, with art that is deemed hard enough getting up each morning to anti-Christian, with performance art. And face an empty page, blank canvas, or a va- let’s do away with individual grants from cant stage without also having to confront Zion? An expression of support for Hamas? At the end of March, best-selling novelist the National Endowment for the Arts: You the hostility of our elected officials. A diatribe against the Chief Rabbi of Jeru- and screenwriter Susan Isaacs, a Long can’t trust those artists not to go and do Instead of buying that tired old analogy salem? If you cede anyone the right to ban slander, received an honorary Doctor of something crazy. Better yet: Let’s do away of art as business, we should compare it to certain speech, that group will be open to Humane Letters from Queens College. A with the NEA itself.... education. When I was down in Washington highlight of a special Academic Convoca- pressure to silence any expression it per- last spring, speaking to Congress on behalf ceives as dangerous to itself and its allies.... ion for the occasion was a speech by Ms. t’s not all emotional ad hominem or ad of the NEA Literature Program, one Repre- saacs—“Help Me! Bleep Me! America’s feminam attacks, however. Cleverly, sentative asked me: “Do you want your verybody wants to shut up everybody I Passion for Censorship”—from which the part of the offensive against free expres- grandchildren to be bled to death with a else. Let’s outlaw hate speech. Darn: ollowing excerpts were taken. E sion, the onslaught against the arts, is crippling deficit?” He was quite fierce. “Of the Supreme Court ruled that the govern- couched in dollars-and-cents terms: Why course, not,” I told him, “but if you don’t ment cannot punish hate speech—racial ou may be thinking right now: “Come should the government be supporting these support the arts now, your grandchildren’s epithets or burning crosses—simply to pe- on, what about common sense?” We people when we have fighter jets to build, cultural inheritance may be ‘Beavis and nalize the expression of bigotry. So let’s Y all know in our guts when some form school lunches to serve, diseases to cure? Butthead’ reruns. Do you want that?” mandate harsher sentences for crimes “in of expression has gone over the edge. You Good art finds an audience. Good art pays which the defendant’s conduct [is] moti- may want to say about all forms of “bad” for itself. row up, America. You don’t have to peech and “dangerous” art what Supreme vated by hatred, bias, or prejudice.” Art is not commerce, however. If we as Glike it, you just have to tolerate it. Di- Court Justice Potter Stewart said of por- Does this sound like a good idea to you? a nation treat it as if it were, all we will be versity is not two ideas. It’s thousands, nography: namely, that he couldn’t define it It shouldn’t. Because you would be punish- left with are works the public is willing to millions. We’re a nation built on ideas the but knew it when he saw it. Well, maybe he ing the thought, not the criminal act. And pay for. What will happen, then, to the “establishment” considered dangerous: fa- knew it after he saw it, but he did not know once again, who is going to be National dancers, opera singers, puppeteers, poets? natical, threatening, revolutionary ideas. what it was before. Thought Arbiter? In this decade, the 1990s, And to the classicists who preserve the an- For every single person we shut up, we Can we as a society risk having an elite our fellow citizens have already banned in cient plays, to the innovators in synthesized take one more step toward becoming that prejudge our art and ideas? Well, some some places thoughts expressed in The Ad- music and hyperfiction? We, the people, which we have fought against. And that ventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Color deas are bad. Anti-Semitism led to Hitler. need them to help us see life from different wasn’t pretty. Purple, Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse Can’t we ban anti-Semitic speech on the perspectives. More important, we need But what we are guaranteed by our First Five, James and the Giant Peach, and The nternet? What is anti-Semitic? The publi- them to carry on a tradition of culture and Amendment is more than pretty. Free Grapes of Wrath. ation of The Protocols of the Elders of inspire as yet unborn generations of writ- speech is absolutely gorgeous.

Continued from previous page he film Il Postino was in America. It’s a different languages, for instance. How can Pushkin, said he was “omni ecco”...that them have TVs! One of the greatest gifts in great film... very subtle film, and Americans there be multicultural education without Pushkin observed all cultures, took in ev- my life was meeting a cowboy and his fam- iked it. Next term I am going to teach a these things? It’s impossible! erything. Pushkin had never been in ily who traveled 300 miles to meet me. ourse on Russian and European cinema. America is the richest country in the America, but he wrote beautiful things—I They came with all 18 of my books. MM: So it’s not that people do not have world. America pretends to be a world mean very clever things—about America. I have never been in one country so he appetite for good TV programming, leader in the political sense, but you can- He understood the problems ahead in many times and so many places—I have good film, but that it’s not available? not be a world leader and not be a leader America, problems, for example, of racism. been in all the states of the United States...I YY: Absolutely. Some film distributors, in education or in culture. When I talked with President Nixon in have many friends. I’m especially in love ome tycoons of mass media just underesti- MM: What other problems do the U.S. 1972, I was very touched by his curiosity. with Tulsa...wonderful people. mate Americans. They underestimate and Russia share? He asked me, “What do you think an Ameri- I’m a deadly curious man. I’ve been in people’s taste. YY: There is another common defect can President has to say to Russia?” I said 94 countries. I want to see more countries, MM: Education is surely one way of among children in Russia and in America. it would be wonderful to remind the Russian but I always come back [to Russia]. I’m a working against the spiritual and cultural They make a lot of mistakes in their writing audience of when the Russian and Ameri- boomerang. I’m always boomeranging. orruption you speak about, but, as you because they are TV children. They don’t can soldiers were swimming to each other MM: Does it affect your writing not know, we face greater and greater budget read books. If you read books very often, and embracing in the middle of the River having the Russian language around you? uts in education, especially at CUNY. If your visual memory doesn’t permit you to Elbe in 1945. He understood this and be- YY: It doesn’t matter. It’s inside me. ou had the chance to address the New make verbal mistakes, but if you don’t read gan his speech with this. It was an unfor- One of the best Russian books of all, York State legislature on this issue, what and just watch TV, it weakens your lan- gettable moment in our common history. Gogol’s Dead Souls, was written in Rome. would you say? guage. In America students don’t read After the war, America and Russia had And Turgenev wrote in Paris. YY: We have now a declared Third World really great expectations, MM: Do you think your writing survives War raging on the whole planet: a war of but then came the Cold translation into English? Robert Frost said ulgarity against human subtlety. They try “It’s so easy for those who do War. Now, we must not that “sound is the gold in the ore” in poetry. o cut the budget for culture, for education, not read books to cut money transform the Cold War How much of the sound is lost in translation? but a really cultured person understands for libraries.” into Cold Peace. I think, I YY: The main problem in translation is hat without the development of culture, am absolutely sure, that that in the Russian language we change the ou can never solve the economic problems the 21st century will see ends of nouns...We have 24 times more pos- of a country. There are so many economic enough books. They watch TV. My En- the greatest partnership between America sibility for fresh, new rhymes in Russian. problems now because of lack of subtlety— glish is very imperfect, and yet even I hear and Russia—and not at the expense of rela- Here there is much free verse, but most because some people, being primitive, want terrible mistakes by native English speak- tionships with other countries. Americans Russian poets still use rhyme. In English o solve the most complicated, subtle ques- ers. It’s like children who can’t do math and Russians—we are children of great often the rhyming sounds old-fashioned. ions with very primitive methods. The because they rely only on calculators—this spaces. Walt Whitman, he foresaw this This is one of the main problems, but some- irst victim is culture and education, yet makes them weak. Or like doctors, who when he wrote his open letter to Russian times it works beautifully. There are some only educated, cultured people can save a rely on machines to make diagnoses. people. We have much in common. losses, but it jumps—something gets ountry from its economic problems! Sometimes doctors from the village are MM: Is this part of the reason you enjoy through. My “New York Elegy,” for in- We have now a war in Chechnya, I am wiser without the machines. traveling around the States? stance, translated by Updike, is beautiful. ure, partly because no members of our MM: Your poetry has been called YY: I love to travel in America. I dis- MM: In “New York Elegy,” you write government—including Mr. Yeltsin—have Whitmanesque. Have you been particu- cover very faithful readers of my work ev- about loneliness... ead Tolstoy’s book about our old wars in larly influenced by Whitman or any other erywhere. Eighteen of my books have been YY: I don’t like loneliness. I couldn’t be he Caucasus. If they had read this book, American poets? translated into English. Last year, I was Robinson Crusoe without my friend Friday. hey never could begin this war. YY: First of all, you couldn’t find one the only foreign writer invited to Colorado That’s why I like poetry readings and teach- And libraries! It’s so easy for people Russian intellectual who was not brought to a festival of American cowboy poets. It ing. I love students. They give me some- who don’t read books to cut money for li- up on the American great literature. was a beautiful experience. I met wonder- thing, and I give them what I can. The braries. I have been in your local librar- Sometimes, I’m afraid that the average ful people who broke the Hollywood image classroom is like a poetry reading; you give es; they can’t buy enough books. But we Russian knows American literature better of cowboys. I never imagined I would be your energy but it comes back. A good class annot develop true multicultural education than the average American. sitting with these “cowboys” and talking lecture is a common creation. A poetry f there is no money to buy newspapers in Dostoyevsky, in his speech about about Tolstoy and Chekhov. Not many of reading is like that—a common creation.

8 NURTURING “NONE-OF-THE-ABOVE” STUDIES About 500 full-time CUNY faculty are Professional Engineer currently volunteering their services as mentors to CUNY BA/BS students. The aca- Charles C. Kidd SILVER ANNIVERSARY NEAR demic integrity of the Program depends heavily on their responsibility for assuring Takes York College Helm FOR CUNY BA/BS PROGRAM that an area of concentration will prepare a student for master’s-level work in the cho- By Professor Michael C.T. Brookes the specialization must be completed at sen discipline. Mentors also contribute CUNY after admission to the Program. Stu- LaGuardia Community College; and Academic valuable suggestions for curricular n August 19 dents assume a good measure of responsi- Director of the CUNY BA/BS Program since 1990 changes. For example, any student choos- York College will bility for their studies; they are expected to O ing an area of concentration in psychology have a new Presi- identify and recruit their own faculty men- is now required to take statistics and ex- dent—Dr. Charles C. “Without the CUNY BA I doubt that mainstream tors, and seek out the campuses where perimental psychology because mentors Kidd, Sr., formerly college life would have stimulated me to finish.” necessary courses are offered. reported that a transcript lacking those Associate Vice Presi- —Roland Anglin, Ph.D., Program For the past 15 years, the graduation subjects is not academically viable. dent at Florida A&M Officer, The Ford Foundation rate has averaged 72%, and fully half of University and a our students garner academic honors. lthough it operates under the aegis of leader in public “After a number of years working as a professional About half of Program alumni have gone on AGSUC, the Program has its own gov- health and environ- graphic artist and then returning to college to study to graduate work, mostly within CUNY but science, the CUNY BA/BS Program allowed me the erning body, the University Committee on mental science. also at graduate and professional schools lexibility to concentrate on my field of interest.” the CUNY Baccalaureate Program. It is A professional engineer, Kidd received throughout the country. Currently, 29 —Diana Cherbavaz, Ph.D., made up of six professors appointed by the all his advanced degrees—a doctorate in alumni are registered in Ph.D. programs at Postdoctoral Fellow in Biophysics, Faculty Senate, five students appointed by environmental health sciences, a masters the Graduate School. University of California the Student Senate, a member of the Coun- in sanitary and industrial hygiene engineer Many people associate the Program with cil of Presidents, and, ex officio, the Vice ing, and a masters in radiological health just one of its features, the possibility of ecause it offers “bespoke” educa- Chancellor for Academic Affairs and the physics—from the University of Michigan. earning credit for “Prior Experiential tion—tailoring each course of President of the Graduate School. It con- He served for many years as Dean of Learning”—work done and skills acquired B study to an individual student’s aca- venes at least twice a semester, sets all Florida A&M’s College of Engineering Sci- outside the academic arena. Only 15% of demic background, strengths and inter- policy, approves candidates for graduation, ences, Technology and Agriculture, begin- CUNY BA/BS students apply for such credit, ests—the CUNY Baccalaureate Program and pays particular attention to issues of ning in 1977. however. The number of credits a student (CUNY BA/BS) often evokes praise and academic integrity and quality. A prominent expert on radioactive haz- receives (15 maximum) is based on faculty strong feelings of loyalty and gratitude from Our students have amazing stories to ard control and marine resources, Kidd evaluation of a portfolio—documentation of ts 4,500 alumni such as Dr. Anglin and Dr. tell. Among those who particularly stand served for several years in the U.S. Air what the student has learned through those Cherbavaz express. out is James Lewis. When I first met Force supervising hygienic programs and life experiences—prepared to support the Each year the Program enrolls about James, he was a student at LaGuardia has been active in several campus-based request for credit. 700 students and graduates 200, making it Community College taking the first steps waste management programs. The range of life experience revealed in one of the largest alternate-degree pro- toward his dream of becoming a public Kidd and his wife Mary, a civic activist, grams in the country. have been married for 37 years. Their These students are found on “home cam- seven children range from 14 to 35 years. puses” throughout CUNY, though they tend Two striking segues into After formal approval of the appoint- to cluster at Baruch, Brooklyn, Hunter, the grove of academe are ment at the Board of Trustees meeting on John Jay, Medgar Evers, and New York City captured here; CUNY BA/ BS graduate Pamela May 28, Board Chairman James P. Murphy Technical Colleges. Parker-Rosenbaum, left, welcomed Kidd with the statement that he The Program, which began in 1972, of- as Amanda Prynne in Noël will bring to York College “extensive admin- ers no courses itself and awards no Coward's Private Lives istrative experience, an outstanding repu- grades. It is unique among alternate-degree and Ashin Intaka, a tation for scholarly excellence, and a long- programs because, like the Graduate current CUNY BA/BS standing commitment to public education.” School and University Center, it uses a student, taking part in consortial model. Students are not limited religious ceremonies at his Buddhist temple in tality Management Program at City Tech. to a single campus but may design a pro- Brooklyn. The Program benefits from greatly ap- gram drawing on courses at any of the 17 preciated external support. In 1993, a pri- colleges and the Graduate School. Each vate donor established the first CUNY BA/ semester about one-third of them are regis- these portfolios is astonishing. Several school teacher. He had spent decades with BS scholarships through the Thomas W. tered at more than one college or one that students enter the Program through our the MTA and worked as a supervisor in a Smith Academic Fellowship Program. Over s not their designated home campus. connection with the Actors’ Work Program subway car repair depot. Within striking the last three years Mr. Smith has donated Thus, one student was able to concen- sponsored by Actors’ Equity. They draw distance of retirement and eager to begin $350,000 for full- and part-time scholar- trate in Disability Studies by taking courses upon their extensive theatrical experience, anew, he graduated from LaGuardia, trans- ships ($4,000 and $2,000 per year, respec- n psychology, health education, physical plus reviews, videos, and audio tapes to ferred to Brooklyn, and received his B.A. tively), which are renewable until the education, and sociology at Baruch, create their portfolios. One such student Just nine credits shy of a masters, he has awardees complete their degrees. To date, Lehman, and York. Another studied at City, is actress Pamela Parker-Rosenbaum, who taught for the past three years at JHS 198 86 students have benefited from Mr. Smith’s Brooklyn, and Medgar Evers to win a de- will graduate in June. She has been ac- and served as Minister for Education at the exceptional generosity. At the same time, gree in Environmental Chemistry. Students cepted into the Ph.D. Program in Clinical Greater Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. our now nonagenarian alumna Anne have also gone outside CUNY to do intern- Psychology at GSUC, one of 10 successful Nancy Symonds had enjoyed a distin- Friedman (B.A. 1979) established two ships at Mt. Sinai and Bellevue hospitals, applicants from a pool of 325. Alicia guished career as an opera singer—-she $1,000 scholarships in memory of her hus- the Museum of Natural History, and a num- Dorrego, a student who had worked for the sang a glorious National Anthem at her own band; these are awarded to graduates who ber of city and state agencies. United Nations, wrote about her experience commencement-—but returned to school to have been accepted into a doctoral or pro- The Program is not simply an alternative as a member of the Ombudsman Panel for qualify for teaching. She claimed to be in fessional program. And this year alumnus or students already enrolled at CUNY. Be- the UN’s International Development Pro- her 70s, but her youthful energy and looks Mike Willner created a paid internship at the cause of its flexibility and glowing word-of- gram. A current student is writing about belied this. Paul Maniscalco, now Com- software company where he works. He ex- mouth from graduates, 15% to 20% of what he learned by designing and building a manding Officer of EMS Special Operations pects it will be available on an annual basis. those admitted are transfers who chose summer house in the Berkshires. in the Fire Department, was in the first co- A committee of CUNY BA/BS alumni has CUNY for its BA/BS Program. It has been A former monk from Burma and head of hort of paramedics who went to LaGuardia begun to make plans for a celebration to very attractive to re-entry adults like Dr. the American Burma Buddhist Association, for an associate degree and completed a mark the Program’s 25th anniversary in the Cherbavaz: Nearly half the students admit- Ashin Intaka, is using his traditional Bud- baccalaureate degree in the Program. spring of 1997. This gathering of alumni, ted since 1981 were 35 or older. dhist education as the basis for his portfo- students, mentors and Program staff, along Degree requirements are demanding, lio, while the former owner and chief de- ther distinguished alumni include New with many whose vision, commitment, and ncluding a 13-course Liberal Arts and Sci- signer of a small couture company, Adele York City Deputy Mayor Rudy Wash- hard work have brought the Program to this ences core and a 2.50 GPA both cumula- O Schoenwandt, is drawing on her business ington; Keith Gilyard, Distinguished Profes- milestone, will applaud its outstanding suc- tively and in area(s) of specialization. experience for her portfolio and taking psy- sor of Humanities at Syracuse University; cess at serving City University students and Moreover, at least 50% of coursework in chology courses at Brooklyn College. and Pat Bartholomew, Chair of the Hospi- their unique academic needs.

9 OF OSTEOBLASTS, PROTEIN FOLDING, AND RAT TAILS eases and Cornell’s Hospi- tal for Special Surgery. In addition to the work just On the Biomedical Cutting Edge: mentioned, the Center is also involved in the fields of Two Scientists Honored at CCNY biomaterials (implants from pacemakers to hip replace- By Gary Schmidgall ments), medical imaging (magnetic resonance and ultrasound devices), and n old hand and a relative newcomer Weinbaum’s team, which included CCNY bi- biosignal processing and to the City College science faculty ologist Daniel Lemons, has developed a instrumentation (EKGs and Ahave recently won extraordinary novel theory and experiment to describe ECGs). professional honors. heat transfer in a rat’s tail as a model for Professor of Mechanical Engineering such transfer in the human digit. The team t is common knowledge Sheldon Weinbaum, who joined the CCNY is also hoping for a new way to combine op- Iin the biomedical com- faculty in 1967 and became a CUNY Distin- tical Doppler velocimetry and high-resolu- munity,” says Dr. Tasayco, guished Professor in 1986, was the only tion infrared thermometry to measure ther- “that mutations affecting Shown here is the exteriorized tissue preparation of a rat’s cremaster academic bioengineer elected to the Na- mal changes in microvessels. muscle, which surrounds the testes. The section visible here is only only a small part of one of one centimeter wide, and the largest artery-vein pair seen here is tional Academy of Engineering this year, The endothelium in vessels is the princi- our body’s proteins can pro- only 1/10th of a millimeter in diameter. The Weinbaum/Lemons team receiving one of the profession’s highest pal barrier to, and regulator of, material ex- duce a disease. Sickle cell was the first to be able to measure the thermal equilibration in honors. This follows his garnering the change of fluids and chemicals between anemia is one example. It vessels this small. highest award the American Society of Me- blood and body tissue. This process of mi- is produced by a single mu- chanical Engineers (ASME) confers in the crovascular transport—essentially the study tation in the sequence of the hemoglobin also spent much time doing research at the field of bioengineering, the Lissner Award, of the permeability of biomembranes—is a protein from red blood cells. This mutation Pasteur Institute in Paris. An instrument last year. Its citation praised Weinbaum’s third focus of Weinbaum’s research. He and causes a subtle change in its architecture, there, a “stopped-flow” spectrometer, is “seminal contributions in the broad appli- his team have been developing the first which in turn causes the mutant hemoglo- crucial to her research. This apparatus cation of engineering principles three-dimensional models to describe bin to form abnormal filaments.” allows the measurement of mixed solutions to...processes in biology and medicine.” transcapillary exchange. Weinbaum is es- Tasayco’s research is focused on gaining within milliseconds. Maria Luisa Tasayco, an Assistant Pro- pecially proud of a graduate-student member an understanding of how molecular strings Tasayco and her colleagues are currently fessor of Chemistry who arrived at CCNY in of the team, Bing Mei Fu, whose paper on of amino acid residues, which are the build- developing presentations designed to make 1992 after postdoctoral research at Dart- this model won the Whitaker Prize for best ing blocks of proteins, define a protein’s their research accessible to the public and mouth and Princeton, has been awarded a student essay in bioengineering in 1995; she architecture. “In our field,” she says, “we to young students on the very early thresh- four-year, $330,000 grant by the National will receive her doctorate in Mechanical En- call this ‘protein folding,’ and we hope this holds of scientific study. “We want to Science Foundation to pursue research and gineering this fall. will tell us how this ‘folding’ allows a pro- make our work accessible to grandmothers, teaching in protein architecture that could Finally, as any good chef knows, there is tein to recognize itself or other proteins.” as well as their grandchildren.” To this aid in the understanding of several dis- profit to be had even from bones. “Astro- Learning more about the rules of mo- end, Tasayco is collaborating with the New eases, notably Alzheimer’s, cystic fibrosis, nauts in long-term space flight and patients lecular recognition, Tasayco hopes, will York Hall of Science on a traveling exhibit and Creutzfeld-Jacob. Tasayco’s proposal confined to bed for a long time can lose as lead to further insight into Alzheimer’s, cys- that features the mechanisms of protein was among 337 chosen from a field of much as 30% of their bone mass,” tic fibrosis, and Creutzfeld-Jakob disease. folding and the numerous diseases associ- 1,735 in a new NSF program, the Faculty Weinbaum points out. “In contrast, a tennis She is delighted that her NSF support is ated with them. “We want the general pub- Early Career Development Program, which player or pitcher with preferential use of one enabling her to integrate her explorations lic to understand the specific nature of our was designed to encourage scientists to arm will have significantly greater bone with her work as a teacher. “To prepare research,” she explains, “but ultimately, of integrate their research and teaching ef- mass in the fre- the next generation course, we want to prepare the next gen- forts earlier in their academic lives. quently used of biomedical re- eration of biomedical researchers.” To get an idea of Weinbaum’s realm, the arm.” In collabo- searchers, we have focus of which is the CUNY Center for Bio- ration with CUNY Melville Ahoy! incorporated both medical Engineering at CCNY, it is helpful Distinguished Pro- computer and physi- to picture the kitchen at Lutèce or Bouley: fessor Stephen As CUNY•Matters went to cal models in the Every burner is aflame and simmering Cowin, Weinbaum press, the City College team classroom, thus giv- Caribbean education, continued from page 6 some tantalizing research project that has produced a of Yaqi Hang and Professors ing our students a promises major breakthroughs in health new hypothesis David Rumschitzki and feeling for the struc- Linares. With assurance that the public uni- care. As the Center’s director, Weinbaum and theory about tures we are trying Sheldon Weinbaum received versity will survive its present crisis, speak- is deeply involved in four massive research a long sought- to understand.” ers in this session generally argued for cre- initiatives. after answer to a news of their winning the Tasayco’s aca- ative strategizing and building of higher edu- One of the most venerable has been the great mystery 1996 Melville Medal for the demic career has cation alliances. 20-year-long attack on arterial disease, the about bone best original paper in Me- been very much in As became clear during the program’s nation’s number one killer. Weinbaum and growth—what cel- chanical Engineering from keeping with CUNY’s closing, the conference offered a welcome his team have studied the early formation lular-level the American Society of Me- multicultural per- model for the region-oriented study of other of foam cell lesions in arteries and also mechanosensory sonality. A native of pressing academic issues. In the words of produced a model that led to the discovery processes in the chanical Engineering. Their the Pacific Coast Rutgers Prof. María J. Canino, who spear- of the pore through which low-density lipo- body record ex- paper, "A Fiber Matrix Model area near Lima, headed the two years of preparation for the protein (LDL) cholesterol crosses the vas- traordinary strain for the Growth of Macromo- Peru, Tasayco began conference, the event “could not have hap- cular lining. In 1995, Weinbaum, Professor and communicate lecular Leakage Spots in the her studies at that pened at a more auspicious time, given the of Chemical Engineering David this information to Arterial Intima," marked the country’s oldest assault currently being suffered by public Rumschitzki, and graduate student Yaqi osteoblasts, which public university, second time in four years the higher education.” Huang won an ASME Best Paper Award for are the cells that San Marcos; at the The conference garnered considerable their model for predicting the growth of produce new bone coveted Melville has come to age of 20 she won a financial backing from the Ford Foundation; LDL “leakage spots” in arteries. growth. This hy- City College. U.S. scholarship to Hunter College’s CUNY-Caribbean and CUNY- pothesis won for earn her B.S. in University of Puerto Rico (UPR) exchange nother pièce de résistance from the Weinbaum and Chemistry at Cen- programs; Dr. Efraín González Tejera, Presi- ACenter’s nouvelle scientific cuisine is Cowin the 1994 tral Michigan Uni- dent of UPR’s Rio Piedras campus; and the Weinbaum-Jiji bioheat equation. The Research Award from the European Society versity. Later, she taught in Peru and Hostos, Lehman, and Brooklyn Colleges. As transfer of heat between blood and tissue of Biomechanics. worked for seven years at a research insti- the conference’s New York coordinator, and the ability of the body to reject heat The Center for Biomedical Engineering, tute in Venezuela, notably on the anti-co- Camille Rodríguez, from Hunter’s Centro de under conditions of thermal stress are cen- founded in early 1994 through a $750,000 agulant chemical properties of certain Estudios Puertorriqueños, brought enthusi- tral to survival, and the equation has made grant from the Whitaker Foundation, is South American insects. asm and efficiency and enabled us to spon- possible the study of bioheat transfer in headquartered in the CCNY Department of The U.S. beckoned again, however, and sor this successful exploration of a subject microvascular tissue (see picture). A sin- Mechanical Engineering and exists as a con- Tasayco finally earned her doctorate at of concern to thousands of Caribbean stu- gular ingredient here: tail of rat. sortium with NYU’s Hospital for Joint Dis- SUNY/Stony Brook. Since then, she has dents who attend CUNY every year.

10 A VERTIGINOUS MEMOIR think I have been way too hard on myself, I could get lost in, safe screens to prevent expecting myself not to be affected by Jill’s me from watching my family. Something to suicide, and, at a difficult time in my life, hold in front of my face so that I could not I’ve stopped doing what keeps me sane— see what was happening. I could hold Atlas Reading Saved My Life good, hard, intellectual work, writing that Shrugged up in front of my face to ward off matters to me, swimming, taking walks.” the blows. “Louise is always hiding her Louise DeSalvo, a Professor of English at Hunter keeping to an excruciating schedule). I face in a book”—in my family’s words. True College who explored the mystery of Virginia Woolf’s reassure myself that I’m handling my words. But hiding was necessary. A strat- “madness” in a 1989 biography, will soon publish a sister’s death very well. I hope for a more memoir of her own conflicted emotional life growing egy for survival. up in an Italian-American working-class family in Without books, without talking about It is as simple as this: reading, and writing Hoboken. Its title, Vertigo (Dutton), came easily: books, where would I be now? Without Of about what I have read, have saved my life. both the definition (“dizziness, an endless turning”) At an earlier point in my life, I had imag- and the movie resonated deeply. When Alfred Mice and Men, Crime and Punishment, ined that, one day, I would have my difficult Hitchcock’s thriller came out, DeSalvo saw it 11 History: A Novel, Ghost Dance, Ceremony, imes in one week. Following are excerpts adapted The Bone People, Surviving the Wreck, emotional work behind me, and that I would rom the opening chapter, titled “Fixing Things.” Praisesong for the Widow, Woman Warrior, know, once and for all, the secrets of seren- The English Patient, The North China ity. That my vertiginous self would be con- Lover, Sons and Lovers, All Passion Spent, quered; that my instability would be behind n the winter of 1980, as I am reading Dreaming in Cuban, The Bluest Eye, I me. Now, though, I am beginning to see Virginia Woolf’s early diaries, I start to Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, A Fare- that the act of understanding is a lifelong, I keep a diary, in direct and somewhat well to Arms, Silences would I have cre- ongoing, shape-shifting process. One that sheepish imitation of her lifelong practice, ated a life for myself so different from my is never over; one that I have to enact as which she began at the age of 15. My first mother’s, from my sister’s? Filled with often as I am able; one that I must try to entries are halting, nothing more than lists pain, yes, but not disabled from pain as enact especially when I feel I am unable, of things I’ve done or read, or of things to they were? I don’t think so. when meaning seems too elusive to grasp. do or read for the various writing projects Books were, at first, solid objects to And understanding, for me, means reading, n which I am engaged. hide behind. Hawaii, The Brothers means writing about what I have read. And From the start, though, I list in great Karamazov, Exodus were substantial books now, finally, writing about myself. detail the delicious things I have cooked or that I have eaten. French squash soup, oysters with Gruyère; duck with orange stuffing and Cumberland sauce, crème brûlée for New Year’s Eve. Life, I have al- ways believed, is too short to have even one New York City Tech Journal bad meal. Unlike Woolf, who was taught early that Explores Technology for Cities the events in her life and her thoughts were significant and worth reading, as an Italian- hat academic venue would be the thor Anthony Webster argues that bridges American woman with working-class par- tranquil future. Wmost appropriate birthplace for a must be designed to make an aesthetic ents, my experience was very different. Di- But there are warning signs that all is new scholarly journal that addresses the statement as well as serve a utilitarian ary writing was certainly not encouraged in not well with me. I start to break out in impact of new technologies on urban envi- end. Hart Crane, whose great Brooklyn my family. Writing anything I was doing or enormous hives that cover my whole body. ronments? The easy answer also happens Bridge poem speaks of its “curveship” thinking was dangerous in a household like My eyelids ache. My wrists, breasts, and to be the correct one: New York City Tech- lending “a myth to God,” would certainly mine in which one did not have a right to neck are covered with angry red volcanic nical College, a campus of the nation’s larg- have agreed. privacy and one’s bureau drawers were rou- craters. They are so itchy that I scratch est urban institution of higher learning. The issue also contains studies of how tinely inspected. myself hard and bleed. I don’t understand The Journal of Urban Technology, an im- Singapore deals with its traffic congestion, It was apparently dangerous, too, for why this is happening. I don’t connect it portant new scholarly publication on the the control of urban climates, and Virginia Woolf. I have noticed that the diary with my sister’s suicide. urban planning scene, commenced Arizona’s intriguing QuickCourt system, she kept at 16 had a lock and key, and that I start swallowing antihistamines; they trimesterly publication in the fall of 1992. which provides computer access to legal she also sealed sheets from another diary give me some relief. They make me sleep, Its goal, says Editor Dr. Richard E. Hanley, documents and guidance to citizens not between the pages of a book she had pur- and I need to sleep. But when I awaken I is to allow readers “to understand better represented by attorneys. chased especially for this secretive pur- feel drugged, disoriented, depressed. I’m both cities and technologies so that they Subscriptions to the Journal are $45 pose—Dr. Isaac Watt’s Right Use of Reason. terrified of feeling depressed. Have always can improve the former by wisely using the for individuals, $54 for institutions; they Noticing these things in Woolf’s life helps been terrified of it. To me depression is latter.” He emphasizes, too, that the Jour- may be ordered from the Journal, NYC me understand my adolescent need for pri- like a locked dark room I can’t escape. It nal is intended for a general audience of Technical College, 300 Jay Street, Brook- vacy, and how it was thwarted. Writing in has no windows, no books, no doors, no those whose businesses, occupations, and lyn, NY 11201. my diary, I am discovering, like studying hope, no paintings on the wall, no tele- studies require them to become aware of Woolf’s diary and her life, helps me under- phone, no handknit sweaters, no sex, no the challenges and issues that new tech- stand my life. I think, as I write, that my pasta, no reading, no writing. nologies raise for urban populations. ournal acts as a kind of “fixer,” as in pho- Depression is a place I have visited more Some issues have a unifying “focus.” tography. Like the chemical one uses to than once; I don’t want to visit it again. The Spring 1995 issue, for example, ex- stabilize an image, to make it permanent. Some people are lucky and get out. Others plored comprehensively one of the most But I begin to see, too, that the other mean- don’t. I’ve gotten out. My mother, my sis- urgent urban issues: cleaning and redevel- ngs of “fixer” also apply to what I write. I ter didn’t. I’m afraid I’ll wind up like my oping abandoned, moderately contaminated use my journal, my writing, as a way of sister. Dead, at the end of a rope. Or like land in inner-city neighborhoods. The Fall making things better, of repairing things, my mother. In a hospital, having shock 1995 issue focused on “Information Tech- and of healing myself, and as a way of tak- treatments. So I stop taking antihista- nologies and Inner-City Communities.” ng a “fix” on my life. mines. Try to control the urge to scratch. Among the several articles in this very per- Can’t. The only color I feel comfortable tinent issue to the New York area were “In- wearing, now, is red. A red sweater won’t formation Technologies and America’s Ur- It is a little more than a month after my show the blood. ban Schools” and “Books, Laptops, and sister’s suicide in January 1984. I think I One day, while I’m preparing to enter a Heroin: Technology’s Expanding Role in the am doing well. I am going through the mo- class I teach at Hunter College, I have a Urban Drug Crisis.” tions of living a normal life, pretending her crisis. I describe it the next day in my di- In “open” issues, the Journal ranges death hasn’t made much of an impact on ary: “Yesterday I had an attack of nerves— more widely. The Summer 1995 issue fea- how I am feeling. My diary entries are anxiety. Broke out yet again in monstrous tured a lengthy, lavishly illustrated article illed with prosaic happenings. About my hives and then just before class got light- on “Civic Crossings: The Commissioning, children. About teaching at Hunter College. headed, afraid I was going to pass out. Design, and Public Perception of Urban About trying to find time for my writing. I There’s a wonderful student in my class Bridges” (the Journal cover reproduced write that I wish I could work harder who is a nurse. She helped me compose here shows the pedestrian plaza of the (though I later realize that I have been myself, and soon I could go on teaching. I Bach de Roda Bridge in Barcelona). Au-

11 PP overview, continued from page 5 by the colleges that Spring, and adopted by collaboration is the development by two undertaken and reports issued on assess- In order to integrate GSUC and college he Board in April 1994 for implementation colleges of jointly registered programs ment, the health professions, and lan- planning, President Horowitz and I have n the 1994-95 academic year. These qual- linked by an articulation agreement. This guages other than English. convened an ad hoc committee of presi- ty-control mechanisms are essentially pattern has been parti-cularly effective in The decision to initiate a system-wide dents and provosts that is charged to de- developmental in aim, providing informa- the field of education, where three pairs of review of education for the health profes- velop a system-wide plan for investing in ion to assist colleges in formulating plans CUNY campuses—Queensborough and sions perfectly illustrated the relationship doctoral program development. Its report, o strengthen, restructure, or discontinue Queens, Kingsborough and Brooklyn, and between college-level and system-level scheduled for completion in this spring, will programs as necessary. Bronx and Lehman—have created joint/ planning. After the first round of campus- project a coordinated pattern of faculty hir- Prior to adoption of the Board guide- dual associate/bachelors degree programs level reviews, it became apparent that a ing that will reflect both collegiate and doc- ines, only six colleges had program review that guarantee student transfer between coordinated approach to investing in health toral-program needs. procedures. Some of these were models of community and senior colleges. programs was needed to achieve the best Conclusion professional assessment, notably the well- The Board’s Long-Range Planning Report possible match between student interests, As APP implementation proceeds, the established processes at Queens, Hunter, of June 1995 added an additional level of the labor market, and the financial capaci- University is evolving as an integrated sys- Brooklyn and City Colleges. Since 1993, all planning for system-wide integration by ties of the colleges. The CUNY Health Pro- tem of colleges in which each unit is strong olleges have developed review procedures. calling for a range of steps to facilitate fessions Task Force—composed of more in particular ways and the whole is stron- During 1994-95, 166 reviews were con- cross-registration among CUNY colleges. than 50 faculty and staff drawn from all the ger than the sum of its parts. While much ducted by the colleges in accordance with In particular, the Board called for college CUNY colleges, as well as representatives has been accomplished through APP to pro- he new policy. Overwhelmingly, these re- course schedules to be available on-line, a from the health services industry—was tect and even enhance education at CUNY iews reached positive conclusions about common course numbering system, and an convened in the Spring of 1994 and during three years of sharply constrained ndividual programs and departments. Not academic common calendar with compat- worked, through a series of subcommit- resources, a great deal remains to be done. nfrequently, external reviewers expressed ible registration dates. A working group on tees, over the following year. The final re- Whatever the ultimate resolution of current amazement and high respect for the quality Cross Registration and Coordinated Sched- port of the Task Force, issued in the Spring budget debates, constrained finances will of our offerings in spite of the funding ad- uling was established earlier this year and of 1995, drew attention to major shifts in be a fact of life for us for some time to ersity we have recently faced. These re- recently issued a draft report with recom- the health care industry and, in the context come. In this context it is important that iews have already begun to play a signifi- mendations. of retrenchment planning, provided an im- the goals of Academic Program Planning be ant role in providing information on the Another important form of inter-colle- portant basis for decisions about health pursued ever more vigorously. I firmly be- trengths and needs of individual depart- giate collaboration is the joint appoint- care curricula, including the decisions of lieve that a continued, strong effort to ments and programs. ment, in which a single faculty member several colleges to reduce their offerings in implement the Trustees’ Resolution on Aca- ntercollegiate Collaboration assumes instructional responsibilities at undergraduate nursing education. demic Program Planning is essential to pre- The Board’s APP resolution charges the two or more campuses. Since 1993, CUNY The Task Force on Languages Other serving both access and excellence at this University to take fuller advantage of has provided special funding to support 28 Than English was modeled on the Health University. CUNY’s capabilities as a multi-campus sys- joint appointments, including those at Professions Task Force. The languages, em in three important ways: first, by shar- Baruch and Hunter in political science; like health care, represent an important ng resources and building cooperative pro- Brooklyn and Lehman in francophone area for CUNY-wide planning. Tradition- grams between colleges when it makes studies and ESL; and the GSUC and City, ally taught languages like French and Ger- B.A. survey, continued from page 4 educational sense to do so; second, by fos- Hunter, and Queens Colleges in psychol- man have been growing weaker at most ering system-wide interactions among fac- ogy, anthropology, biology, and sociology. CUNY colleges while demand has been and traditions” through the required study ulty within disciplines and professional Faculty interactions across the Univer- growing in other areas, especially Asian of specific disciplines. Standards have ields; third, by facilitating articulation sity can play an important role in keeping languages. It is clear that no CUNY cam- fallen, as evidenced among other trends by among the colleges, especially between the the disciplines strong while also providing pus will be able to sustain a full array of a shorter academic year, the prevalence of ommunity and senior colleges. Signifi- a forum for addressing issues of common offerings in all the languages sought by remedial courses, and of math and science ant progress has been made in each of concern. The APP resolution encouraged CUNY students. Also clearly, a strong, courses designed for non-majors. The re- hese areas. faculty in the various disciplines to come comprehensive language program can only port concludes that “the prevalent unwill- Inter-collegiate collaboration on aca- together in CUNY-wide councils, and the be sustained though a coordinated plan at ingness to set priorities within general edu- demic programs has taken several forms. University has provided administrative and the system level. The Task Force’s report cation programs, together with a growing Students at one college enrich their work in financial support for such groups. The provides a series of bold and far-reaching disinclination to insist on rigorous stan- a particular field by taking classes at a sec- University Faculty Senate has played a par- recommendations regarding the delivery dards for completing them, suggest that ond college. For example, students in ticularly important role in fostering and and focus of language instruction and undergraduate general education has be- Medgar Evers’ new Environmental Science implementing this initiative. Disciplinary assessment. come substantially devalued as an institu- Program take coursework in chemistry at councils and groups are currently function- A review of doctoral education was initi- tional objective.” Hence, the “dissolution” Brooklyn, or students combine courses ing in English, foreign languages, history, ated by the GSUC through a Strategic Plan- of the report’s title. rom several campuses through the CUNY- mathematics, nursing, teacher education, ning Committee that began work in the At CUNY, on the other hand, general edu- wide Baccalaureate Program (see article, sociology, and music. Spring of 1994 and continued during 1994- cation appears to be far from dissolution. page 9). Another form of collaboration Special Studies, Doctoral Education 95. During this same period, the Gradu- The general education requirements ex- nvolves two paired colleges expanding The June 1993 APP resolution also man- ate School undertook a review of the allo- pected of CUNY students in 1994 are simi- heir offerings in a particular field by taking dated University-wide studies and planning cation system that reimburses the colleges lar to what the 50 “top colleges” surveyed advantage of each other’s courses. Ex- activities. Of the four topics specifically for the support of doctoral programs. The by NAS required of their students in the amples of reciprocal collaboration include identified for review, reports have been is- final reports of both these activities pro- early part of this century, and far surpasses City and Lehman Colleges in the geo-sci- sued in credit requirements for undergradu- vide important frameworks for future deci- these colleges’ 1993 requirements. The ences, John Jay and Hunter in Public ate degrees, ESL, and remedial programs. sions about doctoral development and also NAS report on the demise of general educa- Policy, and Brooklyn and New York City The policy also authorized the Chancellor draw attention to the challenge of planning tion, at least for the New York metropolitan Tech in theater. to initiate CUNY-wide reviews of additional at the GSUC when decisions about faculty area served by City University’s B.A.-grant- A significant mode of inter-collegiate topics as needs arise. Studies have been hiring are made by the colleges. ing campuses, appears to be premature.

The Office of University Relations Letters or suggestions for The City University of New York Jay Hershenson future articles on topics of 535 East 80th Street Vice Chancellor for New York, NY 10021 University Relations general interest to the CUNY community should be Editor: addressed to CUNY Pamela Bayless Matters, 535 East 80th Street, 4th Floor Managing Editor: New York, NY 10021. Gary Schmidgall

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