City University of New York

The City University of New York (CUNY; acronym pronounced "kyoo-nee"), is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of: 11 senior colleges, 6 community colleges, a graduate school, a law school and the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. More than 450,000 degree-credit, adult, continuing and professional education students are enrolled at campuses located in all five New York City boroughs.

CUNY is the third-largest university system, in terms of enrollment, in the United States, behind the State University of New York (SUNY) and California State University systems. CUNY and SUNY are separate and independent university systems, although both are public institutions which receive funding from New York State. CUNY however is additionally funded by the City of New York.

History

CUNY's history dates back to the formation of the Free Academy in 1847. The school was fashioned as "a Free Academy for the purpose of extending the benefits of education gratuitously to persons who have been pupils in the common schools of the …city and county of New York." The Free Academy later became The City College, the first CUNY college. From this grew a system of seven senior colleges, four hybrid schools, six community colleges, as well as graduate schools and professional programs. CUNY was established in 1961 as the umbrella institution of the municipal colleges of New York City.

CUNY has historically served a diverse student body, especially those excluded from or unable to afford private universities. CUNY offered a high quality, tuition-free education to the poor, the working class and the immigrants of New York City until 1975, when the City's fiscal crisis forced the imposition of tuition. Many Jewish academics and intellectuals studied and taught at CUNY in the post-World War I era when Ivy League universities, such as Columbia University, discriminated against Jews. CUNY's has a record of graduating the highest number of Nobel Laureates of any public university in the world. The City College of New York had a reputation of being "the Harvard of the proletariat."

CUNY's tradition of diversity continues today, with much of its student body, which represent 145 countries, comprised of new immigrants to New York City.

Open admissions and remedial education

Demand in the United States for higher education rapidly grew each decade after World War II into the 1970s. The increased demand for limited college slots had the effect in New York City of increasing the competitiveness of the city's system of higher education. By the end of the 1960s, admission to CUNY's flagship City College had become highly competitive. However, City College's student demographics were growing less and less reflective of New York City's "proletariat." During the 1950s, hundreds of thousands of whites had left the city, replaced by an equal number of African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Yet few of the children of these new residents got into City College or into CUNY's other four-year colleges. Because of their lower high school grades, they weren't qualified.

This exclusion became increasingly politically untenable, and toward the end of the 1960s CUNY’s Board of Trustees, influenced by the civil rights movement, implemented a ground-breaking new admissions policy. The doors to CUNY were opened wide to all those demanding entrance, assuring all high school graduates, despite possible inadequacies of preparation, entrance to the University. This policy was known as "open admissions." Remedial education, to supplement the training of under-prepared students, became a significant part of CUNY's offerings.

The effect was instantaneous and dramatic. Whereas 20,000 freshmen had matriculated in one CUNY institution or another in 1969, more than 35,000 showed up for registration in the fall of 1970. Forty percent of these newcomers to the senior colleges were open-admissions students. The proportion of black and Hispanic students in the entering class nearly tripled.

Facing a fiscal crisis in 1975, the City imposed tuition on CUNY in that year. Middle-class white students who had flocked to CUNY because it offered a cost-free alternative to the state university or a private college no longer had a reason to prefer it. Their enrollment at CUNY dropped precipitously. Middle-class minority students likewise faced changed incentives and increased opportunities to go elsewhere. Very poor minority students, on the other hand, were eligible to have their CUNY tuition paid for by the state.

CUNY faced declines in enrollment through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

The end of open admissions

CUNY's prestige declined in the 1970s and 1980s. Under a new chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, and facing pressure from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani , CUNY ended its open admissions policy to the University's four-year colleges in 1999. Critics had cautioned that the policy change could lead to a drop in enrollment of minority students at CUNY's four-year institutions.

CUNY officials reported that enrollment at its senior colleges increased 10.5% from 1999 to 2002, however. Mean SAT scores of admitted freshmen admitted also rose. CUNY reported that the number of African-American students at its senior colleges had increased in the same time period, while changes in the proportions of other ethnic groups were "minimal." The University reported that two-thirds of its entering class were minority students.

CUNY students who are barred from admission to the senior colleges because they did not meet academic admissions standards can chose to enroll in an associate degree program at one of CUNY’s community colleges, take part in "immersion" programs offered in the summer and winter months, find public or private tutoring, or participate in the one-semester "Prelude to Success" program taught by community college faculty at senior colleges.

Structure

The City University is governed by the Board of Trustees composed of 17 members, ten of whom are appointed by the Governor of New York "with the advice and consent of the senate," and five by the Mayor of New York City "with the advice and consent of the senate." One trustee is the chair of the university's student senate, and finally, one trustee, without a vote, is the chair of the university's faculty senate. Both the mayoral and gubernatorial appointments to the CUNY Board are required to include at least one resident of each of New York City's five boroughs. Trustees serve seven-year terms, which are renewable for another seven years. College presidents report directly to the Board.

The Chancellor is voted upon by the Board of Trustees, and is the "chief educational and administrative officer" of the City University.

Unlike other state college systems, CUNY in its early years did not operate as a central authority to the colleges. The central administration had limited power over the colleges. This is partly because most of the senior colleges (namely Brooklyn, Hunter, Queens, and City) predate CUNY and were thus established by mandate of the New York State Legislature, which has institutionalized the autonomy of the colleges. Veteran college presidents and faculty had typically viewed CUNY as a loose confederation rather than a unified system. Nevertheless, in recent years and at the behest of the Governor and the Mayor, the Board of Trustees and the Chancellor have, through the power of the purse, succeeded in weakening the college presidents and faculty and consolidating executive powers to themselves.

The Honors College

The brainchild of CUNY chancellor Matthew Goldstein, The Honors College University Scholars Program graduated its first class in 2005. Attracting students with a mean high school GPA of 93.5 and SAT scores of 1365 for the Class of 2009.

In July 2006 Dr. Ann Kirschner, a graduate from Princeton University was appointed Dean of the CUNY Honors College after a nationwide search. The standards of the Honors College continued to rise as well, with incoming freshman having an average of 93.8 and SAT scores of 1381. Graduating highschool students with Ivy League caliber academic records have given the Honors College a closer look as a result, and this has had a trickle-down effect in improving the image of CUNY as a whole, which prior to the inception of the HC had been criticized as 'an institution adrift' by the Giuliani administration.

As an incentive to students, University Scholars receive a free Apple iBook laptop, free tuition, a "cultural passport" that offers free or reduced-admission to various cultural institutions and venues in New York City, and a $7500 expense account that may be used for research and study abroad.

From the official website:

Designed to provide an outstanding educational opportunity for academically gifted students, the Honors College offers a challenging undergraduate experience shaped by the combined resources of CUNY and New York City. Special features include full financial support, interdisciplinary seminars focusing on New York City, access to instructional technology, mentors, internships and study abroad. In addition, a Cultural Passport provides access to New York's vast cultural resources. The Honors College operates in consortium with the honors programs at seven CUNY campuses: Baruch College; Brooklyn College; The City College; The College of Staten Island; Hunter College; Lehman College; and Queens College. Accepted applicants, designated University Scholars, enroll in one of these participating colleges to become a student in the CUNY Honors College.

Colleges

CUNY consists of three different types of institutions: senior colleges, which grant bachelor's degrees and occasionally master's and associates degrees; community colleges, which grant associate's degrees; and graduate/professional schools. CUNY's Law School grants Juris Doctor (J.D.) degrees, and Ph.D. degrees are awarded only by the CUNY Graduate Center.

The colleges are listed below, with establishment dates in parentheses.

Senior colleges

(1847) City College
(1870) Hunter College (formerly one of the nation's premiere colleges for women. Men were first admitted in the 1970's)
(1919) Baruch College (as City College’s School of Business and Civic Administration, renamed in 1953 to honor Bernard M. Baruch)
(1930) Brooklyn College
(1937) Queens College
(1946) New York City College of Technology
(1955) College of Staten Island
(1964) John Jay College of Criminal Justice
(1966) York College
(1968) Lehman College (from (1931) Lehman was the Bronx branch of Hunter College, known as Hunter-in-the-Bronx)
(1970) Medgar Evers College

Community colleges

Graduate and professional schools

Other programs

CUNY also has a cable TV service, CUNY-TV (channel 75 on Time-Warner) which has telecourses which show tapes of freshman level survey courses in psychology, phyics, statistics, geography among otters. CUNY-TV also has an extensive schedule of foreign language shows in Spanish, German and French. It also shows many old films and foreign films, especially from Poland under Prof. Jerry Carlson's City College's film studies program. They also cablecast public affairs shows like the Baruch College's forums as well as Prof Munzio's City Talk and former councilwoman Ronnie Eldridge's show. Also Brian Lehrer Live by Brian Lehrer is shown live on Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Michael Stoler's the Stoler Report also airs a lively panel discussion on the state of the Tri-State Real Estate Market. Stoler also does the show Building New York. CUNY-TV's programing rivals the quality of Crosswalks and Cspan.

Accomplishments

• Between 1983 and 1992, CUNY baccalaureate graduates earned more doctorates than graduates of Columbia, New York University the University of Chicago and SUNY at Albany combined.

• CUNY has been rated by Standard and Poors first in the nation in producing bachelor degree alumni who rise to top positions in business.

• CUNY’s Graduate School and University Center has a number of Ph.D. programs ranking among the top in the United States in their respective disciplines.

• Brooklyn College’s Freshman Year Program received the Hesburgh Award in 1998.

• Hunter College is named as one of America's "Best Value" Colleges by Princeton Review.

• Queens College is named as #8 of America's "Best Value" Colleges by Princeton Review in 2006.

• John Jay College of Criminal Justice graduate program has been ranked number one among 3,500 such programs by U. S. News and World Report; CUNY Law School is ranked second in the country for its clinical training program; Hunter School of Social Work is among the top 15 Schools of Social Work in the nation.

• The Economist wrote positively about Chancellor Goldstein's reforms in an article, Rebuilding the American dream machine, dated January 19, 2006.

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