Battles raging at CUNY's Medgar Evers College - Anyone involved?

I'm surprised that no one has heard Eddie Ellis on his show on WBAI. It's on on Saturdays 10:30 to noon. On the Count: The Prison & Criminal Justice Report. It claims to be the only radio show on the air produced and hosted entirely my former offenders.

He's always struck me as a very insightful guy. I've heard him talk at length on the situation at MEC. It sounds like a hatchet job from on high.

There have been plans to improve the school for a while, and that includes not just the new science building, but the improvements to the business school. That I think is part of the issue is that the plans included bringing along those portions of the school that were less strong as well as continuing to be a school that catered to the community. Improving the chances for admitting stronger freshmen through the dual program with the high school (which would have meant that they would have a feeder program of true freshmen that would be on target to graduate in less than three years)would have done a lot for the school.

Because of decreased state and city support, tuition increases were going to happen regardless of whether CUNY improved MEC and its other campuses.

....but perhaps the increases wouldn't be as much as they will be now.

Private colleges are becoming out of reach to more and more people, so CUNY may be making a concerted effort to help that segment of the population (aka the middle class) by upgrading its cadre of "mediocre" 4 year schools, such as MEC.

The middle class will be able to pay for CUNY tuition even after the increase, but the low income "community folks" won't be able to.

As government shrinks over the next few years, times are about to get a lot harder the middle class. ...but the poor are gonna be absolutely screwed.

Some states have a steeply tiered tuition system, wherein the "open admission" Community Colleges are much cheaper than those that can grant BAs.

Only the most qualified are able to get into a BA colleges year school as freshman, the rest must do time at a CC to prove their worthiness.

In other words, CUNY may be improving its BA colleges not out of any malice toward the local community, but simply to financially survive. After all, without significant government subsidy, isn't everything subject to the ebbs and flows of the market?

The rhetoric (or "need" if you give it credence) allowed them to create the flagship CUNY's: CCNY, Brooklyn college, Baruch, Hunter.

Isn't hard to imagine that professors wanting the "glory and stature" of teaching at a public college that is "as rigorous and good as a private college" exaggerate the fiscal issue in order to feel as good as their former classmates [you know, the ones who did slightly better in grad school and now teach on the leafy private college campuses].

Afterall, don't we all simply tell the job interviewer what they want to hear?

Surely some of them said "I'm committed to all NYC's adult students", when really they wanted to say "I want teach motivated, independent learners who are grad school bound".

Their peers at SUNY do this too, of course.

Homeowner - I agree, the denial of ongoing support to the qualified, motivated kids at the feeder school doesn't seem to make sense even in this framework. I can't figure out why you wouldn't want a group of 18 y/o local kids to up your success stats. Did the kids going to MEC Prep actually go to MEC? ....if they all actually ended up going elsewhere (i.e. Brooklyn College), then "abandoning" them it would make practical sense.

...sucks for the kids though.

Did the kids going to MEC Prep actually go to MEC? ....if they all actually ended up going elsewhere (i.e. Brooklyn College), then "abandoning" them it would make practical sense.

Let me preface this by saying that all of my MEC Prep knowledge comes from discussions with a friend who was an administrator for the non-college bound group at MECP. The sense I got from discussions several years ago was that the portion of kids who were eligible for the dual program was small in the context of the overall school, but that they 1)were focused on graduation from high school with the associates degree at 18 and 2) that the thought always was that as kids continued to see their 4 year dreams impacted by cost, many would continue to matriculate at MEC where they already had relationships with faculty and involvement in degree programs. Not sure whether experience ever bore this out, but again, in this climate it seems that it would make sense to continue what has to be a relatively low cost program currently as a way to improve the quality of the student body.

If most of the primary catalogues at ME are for 4 year degrees and a majority (90%) of the students are not starting and finishing at MEC with that goal. The institution's goal may need to be changed. The last thing any graduate needs as he or she goes into the workforce or continuing their education is for people to say "oh you went to that school that has a 10% graduation rate and has a huge ex prisoner student body". Nobody wants to live near,attend or teach at a school that has a rep as a halfway house or group rehab setting for excons..just a bad goal.4 year schools are not the place to teach people to read and write

You keep saying that the students don't have intentions to complete a 4 year program, but I think that the reality is that they don't have the intention to complete a 4 year program in four years. This doesn't mean that this portion of the population is not prepared for school, doesn't take it seriously, or is in any other way lacking in ability, it just means that they are in need of another model. This is not a college full of 18-24 yr olds fresh out of high school and away from home for the first time. Its a school that educates working adults, people trying to educate themselves later on in life, and in many cases, people who are trying to earn a degree while also raising families. Those people should have access to higher education as well without needing to live in a post-high school ivory tower bubble. As for the ex-prisoner part, if someone decides at 27 or 28 that they want to become an adult, get a job, perhaps pursue a carrer why should they not be allowed to do so? I'd rather a former corner kid turn his hustling skills towards a carrer in marketing or finance rather than he continue to recruit 12-15 year olds in the ponzi scheme that is corner drug sales.

10% graduation rate?

Is there possibly a remote correlation between this and an economy which lacks financial resources and remunerative jobs? As the economy declines there are fewer scholarships and support from non profit institutions. I would venture to guess this has impacted in some way to that unfortunate 10% rate. Moreover, I would also venture to guess that if the economy improved, schools like ME would have at its disposal considerably more resources to assist needy students. This would likely impact that graduation rate in a positive way.

R.I.F. (reading is fundamental) still applies. Had the new administration at MEC bothered to read the governance plan for MEC approved by CUNY, they would not be involved in the middle of a lawsuit in State Supreme Court, or have more union grievances right now that all of the other CUNY schools combined. Please read the following article and maybe you will understand. Some of the comments on this blog is mind boggling. This is what happens to institutions with gentrification....

And, no doubt, Medgar Evers must be tossing and turning in his grave at Arlington National Cemetery this very moment. For how terrible is it that a college named in his honor is in the midst of the ugliest chapter of its long history, a history born of the sweat, and the blood, of the Civil Rights Movement?

The problem, to put it mildly, are the president and the provost of Medgar Evers College, two Black men who, by virtue of one baffling action after another, demonstrate no respect for the mission of a school built in the heart of Black Brooklyn, and who ostensibly have little to no respect for faculty and staff, nor the community that surrounds that institution. That their behavior and mindset are akin to the Southern White segregationists of the Civil Rights era who went out of their way to block, literally and symbolically, the doors of their schools rather than allow Black students in, must be something the president and provost have conveniently forgotten. That the leadership of the City University of New York, which governs all 23 of the four- and two-year schools in its system, has allowed this now very public spectacle to fester and rot begs this question: Who really cares about the mission and future of Medgar Evers College?

I mean, seriously, would this blog and the protests and pending lawsuits be necessary if we were discussing, say, John Jay College, Lehman College, or Medgar’s borough cousin, Brooklyn College?

No—

However, we are talking about Medgar Evers College, though not technically an historically Black college in fact, but certainly so in its creation, sense of purpose, and the overwhelming numbers in terms of faculty, staff, and students. Indeed, for those who do not know, Medgar Evers College is a four-year commuter school of 7000 students nestled in what we call Central Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not only the largest of New York City’s five boroughs (with 2.5-3 million residents we would be America’s 4th most populated “city”), but Brooklyn also contains the biggest Black population in our nation (nearly 1 million people of African descent from across America, and the globe).

And the original mission of Medgar Evers College, as stated currently on its website at http://www.mec.cuny.edu/presidents_office/mec_mission.asp, was “a result of collaborative efforts by community leaders, elected officials, the Chancellor, and the Board of Trustees of The City University of New York. The College, named for the late civil rights leader, Medgar Wiley Evers (1925-1963), was established in 1969 and named in 1970, with a mandate to meet the educational and social needs of the Central Brooklyn community. The College is committed to the fulfillment of this mandate.”

Obviously someone didn’t mention this bit of history and purpose to President William Pollard or Provost Howard Johnson. Or perhaps the duo has simply not bothered to read the website during their tenure. Because in my 20 years of living in Brooklyn, and an extensive association with that school—as a community and political leader; as a writer and artist; as someone who has given numerous lectures there, and participated in more panels, conferences, and seminars than I can count, there; and as an ally and supporter with my own critiques of Medgar Evers College—never could I have imagined, when these two took over the leadership in August of 2009, such a swift and abrupt deterioration of the way the school is administered.

Immediate past president Dr. Edison O. Jackson definitely was no perfect leader, either, but you at least got the sense he genuinely loved the school and the community about the school. Conversely, at a chance encounter with President Pollard the summer of 2010, I came away thinking the man not only did not like Brooklyn (it took everything in me not to suggest he should leave if he despised it, and us Brooklynites, so much), but that Mr. Pollard was eager to do whatever he could to dismantle the inner mechanisms of Medgar Evers College, even the parts that were working just fine. It is one thing, as a leader, to put your own stamp on an enterprise you are now running, as every leader should have her or his vision on how things should be. It is quite another to give the appearance of destroying that enterprise entirely, with reckless abandon, just because you can—

Yet I am not even sure if “incompetent” is the right word to describe what is happening here. But it is abundantly clear to me, when one reviews the backgrounds of President Pollard and Provost Johnson prior to their coming to Medgar Evers College, that whoever thought these two gentlemen deserved to run a major institution for higher learning must not have seen any of the numerous articles critical of their prior escapades.

In Mr. Pollard’s case, we are talking allegations of the gross mismanagement of millions of dollars at his previous job as president of the University of the District of Columbia:

http://image2.examiner.com/a-1072664~UDC_chief_details_waste_of_millions.html

In Mr. Johnson’s case, we are talking allegations of the plagiarizing of an academic plan from Syracuse University, where he formerly worked, and which he gave to his new employer, the University of North Texas:

http://www.dailyorange.com/2.8654/plagiarism-by-administrator-unacceptable-1.1241774

So is it little wonder that since the arrival of Mr. Pollard and Mr. Johnson in August 2009 we have the present mess at Medgar Evers College, including:

1) Some very curious faculty dismissals

2) Threats of shutting down academic centers on the campus

3) Faculty concerns about the administration’s lack of respect for shared governance (in the past month 66 faculty members (89% of those who voted), mostly tenured, cast a vote of “no confidence” in the president and the provost)

4) No strategic plan by the president or the provost, after one year on their jobs, on the future of Medgar Evers College

5) The Provost eliminated the Writing Center and the Center for Teaching and Learning (what college does not have a Writing Center?)

6) The Administration removed Carver Bank ATMs (Carver is the largest Black-owned bank in America) and replaced them with Citibank ATMs

7) The Administration issued an eviction notice for The Center for NuLeadership; and although the proposal for formal approval of the Center under CUNY guidelines was approved before the current administration came into power, the President and Provost have refused to forward the proposal to CUNY

For a full accounting of faculty, staff, and community concerns, please check this excellent blog: http://eisaulen.com/blog///index.php/2011/01/02/interview-is-medgar-evers-college-under-attack-faculty-battle-provost-and-president

And there are many more issues, but the one that sticks out to me is the apparent attack by the Medgar Evers College administration on the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions. As was stated in a recent press release, the Center for NuLeadership “is the first and only public policy, research, training, advocacy and academic center housed in the largest urban university system in the United States, conceived, designed, and developed by formerly incarcerated professionals.”

In other words, these are not just “ex-cons” running wild at Medgar Evers College. These are individuals like Dr. Divine Pryor, formerly incarcerated person, who has turned his life around and become a valuable asset to community and academia. And I can honestly say, in my travels throughout America, to literally hundreds upon hundreds of colleges and universities, community centers and religious institutions, and jails and prisons of every kind, that I have never encountered someone who is as articulate, dynamic, and passionate in identifying ways to stop the school-to-prison pipeline so real for American ghettos as Dr. Pryor.

And if Medgar Evers College was founded with the expressed purpose of meeting “the educational and social needs of the Central Brooklyn community,” then does it not make sense to house a center that deals directly with the record numbers of Black (and Latino) males being shipped off to jail each and every year, in Brooklyn, and all the Brooklyns in America?

Not by the logic of President Pollard and Provost Johnson. Perhaps that is why these two Black males, along with CUNY central administration officials, saw nothing wrong with a December 17, 2010 late-night “raid” of NuLeadership’s offices, and the seizure of computers personally owned by Dr. Pryor and his colleague Kate Kyung Ji Rhee.

Or why the Center for NuLeadership was asked to vacate its offices by December 30th (the center had to go to court to block the eviction, temporarily).

Or why the president and the provost have refused to forward the recommendation by the college’s governing body to establish, officially, the center at Medgar Evers College.

Or why the president and the provost have blocked the Center for NuLeadership’s funds, and refused to approve a $2.4 million grant that would have given first-time non-violent offenders a second chance by sentencing them to college rather than prison.

The great sadness and irony of these two Black male administrators doing this at a college born to better the most underserved parts of Brooklyn is not lost on me. Doubly sad and ironic that we have a president of the United States (Barack Obama) and a Secretary of Education (Arne Duncan) who have consistently called for innovative solutions to prepare and propel the most marginalized populations in America.

And sad and ironic, furthermore, because the City University of New York actually has a system-wide Black male initiative. But how can we seriously discuss any initiatives for Black males and not include in that conversation ideas and best practices to cease the rapid flow of Black (and Latino) men in and out of the criminal justice system?

So as we approach the annual Dr. King holiday in less than two weeks, the president and provost of Medgar Evers College and the City University of New York hierarchy find themselves with a major dilemma, bad publicity, and unnecessary and very preventable beefs, in and out of court, with Medgar Evers faculty and staff, and Brooklyn community members. As one tenured professor at Medgar Evers College said to me in an email, what is happening at the school “should be a national outrage.”

For sure, the mess at Medgar Evers College is a national outrage, and a deeply moral failing, too, especially at a time in our history when America’s inner cities require, need, demand, nonstop and pro-active solutions and remedies, and as many opportunities as possible for our communities, particularly for the young and the poor.

And wasn’t that the point of Medgar Evers College in the first place, to serve the people?

http://thebuzzcincy.com/national/1230amwdbz2/the-mess-at-medgar-evers-college/

MEC seems to have done really poorly on their last BA/BS level accreditation survey.

Needless to say, long time opponents of the leadership hope that the president will be be replaced soon...

http://ourtimepress.com/2013/01/11/how-much-longer-will-president-pollard-lead-medgar-evers-college/

April 24, 2013:

The fight for control, who gets to define the mission of the college, and "how" it should be run continues:

For Immediate Release

Contact:

Evangeline Byars: 917.932.6756

Jamel Nicholas: 718.451.6828

Tomorrow, Medgar Evers College students and community walkout to demand an interim president after forcing former President to resign for mishandling college.

At noon on April 24th the students of Medgar Evers College will hold a walkout to demand an interim president, months after President William Pollard resigned due to lack of campus support over his mishandling of campus funds and leaving the college at the threat of losing it’s accreditation. The Students are also angered over the move by the resigning Chancellor Matthew Goldstein to undo the Governance Plan of Medgar Evers College.

Students are angry that the decision to find a new president is being prolonged and the June deadline is being dragged out so that the chancellor can continue to undo the years of progress that has been attained at Medgar Evers College. The proposed Interim Governance Plan aims to decrease the number of student representatives from 23 to 4. Under the proposed interim governance plan, which is unprecedented, CUNY wants to reduce student representation by 87.5%. “The students are outraged by this move on behalf of the Chancellor, as the chancellor has announced plans to step down at the same time this is all happening, holding himself unaccountable to the decisions that he is making ,that will have long lasting effects on the college community.” said Evangeline Byars, lead student organizer at Concerned Students of Medgar Evers College. Chancellor Goldstein is set to step down as of July 2013. The students of Medgar Evers College, are resisting the actions from the office of the chancellor to try to destroy the governance plan of the civil rights institution.

“This is a blatant attack on the Spirit and legacy of the late great Medgar Wiley Evers and As we approach the 50th anniversary of his death, it’s even more important now to continue the struggle for education that is not only accessible, but provides an education that is representative of the students backgrounds” said Biola Jeje, New York Students Rising.

Medgar Evers College was founded with the help of local community leaders and elected officials of Central Brooklyn. The students of Medgar Evers College see this as an attack by the Chancellor on the only predominantly black institution within the City University of New York.

The students of Medgar Evers College, believe that is clear institutional racism and that the chancellor is trying to undo the results of the 1969 City College Occupation that forced CUNY to integrate.

In that very spirit, student are set to walk out at noon in front of 1650 Bedford Avenue at Crown Street.

A new president has been chosen. Longtime New Yorkers remember him as the former Schools Chancellor, Dr. Rudy Crew.

Here's an article by the NYT, and link to lots of press on this story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/education/new-leader-is-named-for-medgar-evers-college.html

https://www.google.com/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=rudy+crew+medgar+evers+college&oq=rudy+crew+&gs_l=hp.1.2.0l4.2062.3672.0.6394.10.8.0.1.1.0.660.2205.0j3j2j2j0j1.8.0...0.0...1c.1.17.psy-ab.lVxKzQVU6V8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48293060,d.dmg&fp=5ad968f626cd92dd&biw=1366&bih=571

Hopefully he will be able to end the squabbling and set a clear direction.

...expect some high profile firing and hiring at the college before Sept 2013!

....expect Rudy Crew to reference the long struggle, and state "my direction for this college is part of this struggle. I am aware of the struggle. I ask you to fight it with me"

said struggle:

http://www.restorationplaza.org/calendar/couragetheblacknewyork13