City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works The Advocate Archives and Special Collections 9-1991 The Graduate Student Advocate, September 1991, Vol. 3, No. 1 How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_advocate/39 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Graduate Student Volume 3 City University of New York SEPTEMBER 1991 Number 1 , Graduate School Administration Meet the President: Threatens Status of Over 1600 Students An interview with Frances Degen Horowitz. • Thomas Smith • Many Graduate School students re­ land, and Executive Director of Student cently received unsigned letters from Services Matthew Schoengood, all in­ Senior Registrar Robert Goldstein. sist that "extenuating circumstances" I These letters informed students that would be taken into account with the Advocate: Can you tell ui; more about your­ went to another college for a year before I they had failed to fulfill the minimum advent of sprtng semester. These cir­ self, about your New York memories and went there. Getting to Antioch was like a requirements for satisfactory progress cumstances might include family obli­ your academic interests in college? You breath of fresh air. toward completion of their degrees. gations, work, etc.... Each official in­ were, for example, a philosophy major. According to Bob Nelson of the Office sisted that the letters were not in­ President Horowitz: W(;ll, I grew up in the A: Was it unusual to go to a place like of Student Services, a total of 1619 let­ tended to "intimidate" .anyone though Bronx. If you have ever read Doctorow's Antioch at the time? ters were sent 9ut, out of a total of 3956 Floyd Moreland admitted that the let­ World's Fair he writes about Eastbourne H: \Vell, Iknewonlyoneotherperson. By cases reviewed. In order to meet mini­ ters have caused some "panic" among Ave., the street I grew up on. And in fact I that time my parents had moved to Long mum standards for satisfactory prog­ students. Morela □d apologized "if the attended P.S. 70, which is the school he Beach, Long Island, and that is maybe why ress students must: letters were read that way." These let­ went to.' I even think we were there at the I never thought of CUNY, as I was no ters were intended to ''foster a stronger same time because I remember some of the longer a resident of the city. • Maintain a 3.0 GPA relationship between faculty and stu­ things which he recounts. I consider grow- ;But my mother's dream, when I was grow­ • Take their first doctoral exam before dents, to foster better mentoring by ing up in the Bronx to have been a very ing up, was that I would go to Hunter Col­ they complete 45 credits of course meeting with their EO's," one adminis­ personally rich experience. It was partly lege. In fact, my husband ended up teach­ work. trator responded. At the least, these because my extended family lived in vari- ing at Hunter. Hunter College was, in my • Not have more than two incompletes letters give ''the students six months to ous parts of the Bronx. I intend to write mother's youth, the absolute epitome of a outstanding. get their act together," said Goldstein. more about that. For a child growing up perfect college. I think she always wanted • Complete their degrees within eight Yet, Floyd Moreland ominqusly pro­ here it was a whole world. While reading to go there. Anyway. Antioch was a very years if they begin work here without a nounced that "At the end of the Fall World's Fair I compared his perception of special experience. It was a place of a lot of master's degree; seven years with a semester the computer will generate the exact same block with my own memo- ideas, and while I would never claim to master's. another series of reports. If the stu- ries. I think part of the difference in our have been part of the radical. fringe. l · · .,.t;,an'i!.W earned a otabou\ as ctrum o{ ).deas, ou\r ~...... ----------,c=,=--------~EKl~w.iaw;ieQl8These letters further informed students of progress, fine. If not, they've got female. He seemed to have m~u~cfh~m!'!:o~l':;:e-"'l~,~n~r 'i:1ef-iarn~a~iju~~~~~~-IMIJ---.-. that they must consult with their Execu­ trouble." freedom than I ever had as a child. had to go to Kansas to understand that. tive Officer at the beginning of this The Advocate asked these admin­ Why did you attend Antioch rather from page 1 semester to arrange a required plan of istrators how they will define a mini­ than CUNY? I ask that because I know that A: How do you feel about returning to New action. If students do not satisfy these mum degree of progress. "This is a Antioch has a reputation as a radical and York? minimum requirements by the spring difficult question, and will have to be alternative place to pursue a degree. / H: It's exciting and it's scary. The city is semester, they will be barred from reg­ taken up on a case-by-case basis, in I knew someone who had gone there very different from when I left it. and in a istration. consultation with the student's EO and and I was really attracted to their work- sad way it's different. But it's still a vi­ Understandably, quite a few stu­ advisor," answered Goldstein. Such study program; I loved to travel, and brant place and there is still enonnous en­ dents were upset. These letters, consultation will be especially impor­ needed that sense of freedom. Actually I continues on p. 6 coupled with rumors to the effect that tant, Goldstein acknowledged, at the the Federal Government q:mducted an dissertation stage, where it is difficult to. DistinguishedPsychologist audit of· the CUNY system over the. show tangible results, and ·where the Sylvia Scribner Dies at 67 summer, has· led some to believe that student frequently changes the "direc­ the Administration was pressured into tion" of her/his topic or text. Editor's note: This obituary is reprinted from the a "crack down" to preserve its funding. Moreland admitted that only "a Gradaate School and University Center newsletter. [According to Ian McGowan of the Stu­ small percentage" of those who re­ dent Leader News Service, Dean Floyd ceived letters faced serious problems. Sylvia Scribner, an internationally re­ Moreland confirmed that the Graduate What most concerned 'Goldstein, nowned cognitive psychologist on the fac­ School Office of Financial Aid wa~ au­ Moreland, and Schoengood was stu­ ulty of the Graduate School and University dited during the summer of 1991.] dents' failure to maintain a 3.0 GPA. Center of the City University of New York, However, Registrar Goldstein, "We make a commitment to the student died of cancer Saturday, July 20, at Lenox Dean of Student Affairs Floyd More- continues on p. 2 Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She was 67 years old. Dr. Scribner gained an international reputation for her research on cultural in­ fluences on learning and development. Her interests inciuded learning and thinking in the workplace, fonnal and infonnal educa­ tion, and the influences of activities such as Thought: A Psychological lntroductio11 schooling, literacy and work on the devel­ (1974), which she co-authored with Mi­ opment of intellectual skills. chael Cole, has become a standard college One of her best known research proj­ textbook in the field of cognitive psychol­ ects examined the psychological skills in­ ogy. volved in literacy activities among the Vai Dr. Scribner was a member of the U.S.' people of western Liberia who invented an Department of Education Delegation on original writing system. Her work was Educational Research ·to the Peoples Re­ detailed in a highly acclaimed book, The public of China. She made presentations Psychology of Literacy (1981), for which arid consulted on projects throughout the she re~ived the Melville J. Herskovits United States and in Berlin, Moscow. Award from the African Studies Associa­ Hel,sinki, and Tokyo, among others. tion in 1981. Another book, Culture and continues on p. 3 Page2 September 1991 Around & About The Center Students Threatened are, however. But Moreland also said fromp.1 that he proposed the appointment of an when they matriculate that we believe independent ombudsperson for all they can do the work," Moreland re­ such appeals, including sexual harass­ marked. 'We let them down if we let ment, early in the summer. He is await­ them complete nearly 60 credit~ witli ing final "technical'' approval from 80th less than a 3.0 average and they have St. Such an ombudsperson "was ap­ to take extra courses to catch up," Sch­ pointed at Columbia University last oengood argued, Such a student month," reported Moreland. "The "might be better off at another school, Graduate Council once appointed a such as Columbia or NYU," argued faculty member for the position; but this Goldstein. "Sometimes students and postition was allowed to lapse." During the month of August the Mina Rees barcode before it can be borrowed, it departments don't match. It's not fair to Goldstein, admitted to The Advo­ Library began barcoding ID cards of would be wise to bring books to the circu­ let them continue if there's no way cate that there was an audit, "a short, Graduate School students and books circu- lation desk at least 20 minutes before you they're going to complete." fast one." He does not remember lating on the CUNY+ system.