Faculty Union and CUNY Administrators Clash Over Transfer Plan

By PAOLO CREMIDIS & MICHELLE MARUS

Faculty union activists and CUNY administrators clashed Tuesday at a City Hall hearing over faculty governance and graduation requirements arising from a controversial initiative called Pathways, designed by the administration as an attempt to accelerate and ease the transfer between junior and senior colleges.

A roomful of faculty union activists at a City Council Committee on Higher Education meeting noted their displeasure with Pathways as administrators sung its praises.

The hearing, titled “Can CUNY’s Pathways Program Help Improve Graduation Rates?”  drew polar opposite reactions to the question.

“This initiative is being implemented to ease the transfer process between CUNY campuses,” said CUNY Vice Chancellor  Julia Wigly.

According to CUNY director of admissions Richard Alvarez, over 90 percent of the student body has access to Pathways.

However faculty and some students oppose its implementation, charging that it watered down academic standards and it was implemented with little faculty or student input.

“ Before Pathways I was able to offer a six credit science class with more than two lab hours,” said one professor. “After the implementation of Pathways, lab hours for science courses have been limited.”

Professional Staff Congress president Barbara Bowen testified  “We believe that pathways is an accommodation to underfunding,” said Barbara Bowen, president of the faculty union, Professional Staff Congress. “ Pathways is not politically innocent, it’s about race like everything in America”

Clarifying her comments,  Bowen noted that since open admissions was established at CUNY, funding had gradually gone down.  “Race cannot be separated from the conversation of funding. After all funding started to diminish after open admissions were established at the CUNY.”

The union, which has launched three law suits against the plan, also was urging the City Council not to support Pathways.

Committee chairwoman Inez Barron said that she was a proud graduate of Hunter College. “ I would not want to see the quality of education at CUNY be diminished in the name of graduating more students,” she added.

“ I congratulate CUNY in attempting to fulfill their main objective of giving students the ability to graduate.” said Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams. “However I am concerned about Pathways since there is so much opposition from everyone except CUNY administrators.”