Maureen Lane

Integration for the year 2006

As the New York Sun reported, "City University of New York officials say they are determined to increase enrollment of black males by 25% over the next three years, shining attention on the plight of one of higher education's most marginalized groups." We all benefit when marginalized groups are connected to higher education. A colleague notes that access to college is built on the quality of education that comes before and to make meaningful change, we should address the reasons for the low percentage of black males in college.

On October 26, 2005, the NY Sun ran another piece, "City's Schools Are Among America's Most Segregated" by Deborah Kolben. The article centered on a new book by Jonathan Kozol, "The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America." Kozol notes in the article "Schools he visited in the Bronx are still as deeply segregated as they were three decades ago" and quotes a study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University that New York is the most segregated state in the country for black students.

Jay Greene, the head of the education reform department at the University of Arkansas is quoted in the article as saying "New York has the lowest graduation rate in the country for black students... The system has clearly upheld a racially exclusionary policy.... Whether you get there by omission or commission, the impact is the same and nobody is doing much to remedy that."

Recruitment and retention for CUNY is great but we can't make access to college for black men real if we don't address the quality of the education offered to minority students in all stages of learning-- from Pat the Bunny to Physics 101.

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Posted at 6:55 AM, Nov 18, 2005 in Education
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