Dear Commons Community,

Manfred Philipp, our colleague at Lehman College and past chair of the University Faculty Senate, has just sent an important message regarding the proposal before the CUNY Board of Trustees to alter the General Education requirements across CUNY (see my earlier post).    Below is Manfred’s post which eloquently presents the position of  the CUNY college governing bodies.

Tony

Dear Colleagues,

As of yesterday, faculty governance groups (that is, college senates and faculty councils) at all but one of CUNY's senior colleges have passed resolutions opposing the vote on the Pathways Resolution at the June Board of Trustees meeting.   

In many cases, these campus votes came after members of the chancellery came to the colleges to advocate for Pathways. There are no college senate resolutions (either in the senior or community colleges) that have favored the Pathways Resolution.

This level of concern on a CUNY board resolution has not been seen in decades, if ever. It is reassuring to see that outside groups, including the New York Association of Scholars, support the efforts of the college senates. In a letter to the New York Times, former Board Chair Herman Badillo recognizes the threat that the Pathways Resolution poses to the quality of education in CUNY.

Please oppose resolution B.1.13, formally entitled a "Resolution on Creating an Efficient Transfer System."

Manfred Philipp