City University of New York



The City University of New York (CUNY; ) is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, the doctorate-granting Graduate School and University Center, the City University of New York School of Law, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, and the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. More than 260,000 degree-credit students and 273,000 continuing and professional education students are enrolled at campuses located in all five New York City boroughs.

CUNY students hail from 205 countries. The black, white and Hispanic undergraduate populations each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asian undergraduates make up more than 15 percent. Nearly 60 percent are female, and 29 percent are 25 or older. CUNY graduates include 12 Nobel laureates, a U.S. Secretary of State, a Supreme Court Justice, several mayors, members of Congress, state legislators, scientists and artists.

CUNY is the third-largest university system in the United States, in terms of enrollment, behind the State University of New York (SUNY), and the California State University system. CUNY and SUNY are separate and independent university systems, although both are public institutions that 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 by Townsend Harris. 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 of New York, the oldest institution among the CUNY colleges. Hunter College – so-named in 1914, originally Female Normal and High School and later the Normal College – had existed since 1870, and later expanded into the Bronx in the early 20th century with what became Hebert Lehman College, but CCNY and Hunter resisted merging.

In 1926, in response to the growth in population of the city, the New York State legislature created the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York to integrate, coordinate and expand the institutions of higher education in the city. Through this agency, the state legislature asserted considerable control over the city's higher education. During the period the Board existed, John Jay College (1925), Brooklyn College (1930) and Queens College (1937) were created, along with a number of 2-year community colleges.

In 1961, Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed the bill that formally created the City University of New York to integrate these institutions, and a new graduate school, together into a coordinate system of higher education for the city, and by 1979, the Board of Higher Education had become the Board of Trustees of the CUNY. Eventually, the system grew to include seven senior colleges, four hybrid schools, six community colleges, as well as graduate schools and professional programs.

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 Yale University, discriminated against Jews. The City College of New York has had a reputation of being "the Harvard of the proletariat."

Over its history, CUNY and its colleges, especially CCNY, have been involved in various political movements. It was known as a hotbed of socialistic support in the earlier 20th century. CUNY also lent some support to various conferences, such as the Socialist Scholars Conference.

CUNY's tradition of diversity continues today, with much of its student body new immigrants to New York City, representing 172 countries.

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.

In 1969, a group of black and Puerto Rican students occupied City College demanding the integration of CUNY, which at the time had an overwhelmingly white student body. The occupation spread to other CUNY campuses, forcing the Board of Trustees to implement 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 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 and CUNY faced declines in enrollment through the 1980s and into the 1990s.

The end of open admissions
CUNY's prestige also 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 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 not directly admitted to the senior colleges because they do not meet academic admissions standards can choose 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. The graduates of the community college programs then earn admission to the 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." The final two trustees are ex-officio members. One is the chair of the university's student senate, and the other is non-voting and 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 some 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 of individual colleges rather than a unified university 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.

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
 * (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 (formed by the merger of Hunter and City Colleges' Queens campuses)
 * (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

 * (1957) Bronx Community College
 * (1958) Queensborough Community College
 * (1963) Borough of Manhattan Community College
 * (1963) Kingsborough Community College
 * (1968) LaGuardia Community College
 * (1970) Hostos Community College

Graduate and professional schools

 * (1961) CUNY Graduate Center
 * (1973) Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education
 * (1983) CUNY School of Law
 * (2005) William E. Macaulay Honors College
 * (2006) CUNY Graduate School of Journalism
 * (2006) CUNY School of Professional Studies
 * (2008) CUNY School of Public Health

Programs
Programs hold an institutional level below that of a college within the CUNY system.

CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies
The CUNY Baccalaureate for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies, also commonly known as the CUNY Baccalaureate Program or simply CUNY BA was founded in 1971. It is an individualized, University-wide degree where highly motivated, academically superior students work one-on-one with faculty mentors to design their own fields of study. The Program exists to give students an opportunity to pursue a course of study that may not exist within the current framework of CUNY. Part of the eligibility criteria includes demonstrating a desire and plan to pursue an area of concentration (like a major) that transcends the traditional college offerings. Students have created areas of concentration ranging from "20th Century American Literature" and "Adaptive Physical Education for Vulnerable Populations," to "World Politics and Social Change" and "Zoological Photography." Students must enroll in one of the CUNY colleges in order to participate; they then have access to courses and opportunities throughout the University. Additional admissions criteria include having completed at least 15 college credits with a 2.50 GPA or higher. The average GPA for admission is typically about 3.25, which means that a large portion of students enter with GPAs of 3.8 and higher. Given the rigorous admission process it is not surprising that CUNY BA boasts a 70% graduation rate within an average of 2.2 years and that 60% graduate with academic honors.

William E. Macaulay Honors College
The brainchild of CUNY chancellor Matthew Goldstein, CUNY Honors College was to be an independent institution within the university. However, support for existing honors programs at CUNY colleges and institutional opposition resulted in it being downgraded to a program. Now known as The Macaulay Honors College University Scholars Program, it graduated its first class in 2005, attracting students with a mean high school GPA of 3.5 and SAT scores of 1365 for the Class of 2009.

In July 2006 Dr. Ann Kirschner was appointed Dean of William E. Macaulay Honors College after a nationwide search. The standards of the Honors College continued to rise as well, with incoming freshmen having an average of 93.8 and SAT scores of 1381. Graduating high school 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 tuition, a laptop, 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/or study abroad. Unlike honors programs at individual CUNY colleges, Macaulay Honors College students must be accepted into and begin the program as freshmen. They currently study at one of the participating senior CUNY colleges (Queens, Hunter, Staten Island, Lehman, Baruch, Brooklyn, and City), as well as taking part in cross-campus activities and programs. Institutional barriers that would allow cross campus enrollment in academic programs have not yet been eliminated.

In September 2006, The City University of New York received a $30,000,000 gift from philanthropist and City College alumnus, William E. Macaulay, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of First Reserve Corporation. It is the largest single donation in the history of CUNY and has been used to buy a landmark building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan that is to become the permanent home of the Honors College, and will add support to its endowment. As of May 2010, pending official confirmation of the New York State Board of Education, Macaulay Honors College will cease to be a 'program' and enter the CUNY system as joint-degree granting four-year college.

Public safety
CUNY has its own police force whose duties are to protect and serve all students and faculty members, and enforce all state and city laws at all of CUNY's universities. The force has more than 600 officers, making it one of the largest police forces in New York City.

The Public Safety Department came under heavy criticism, from student groups, after several students protesting tuition increases tried to occupy the lobby of the Baruch College. The occupiers were forcibly removed from the area and several were arrested on November 21, 2011.

City University Television (CUNY TV)
CUNY also has a cable TV service, CUNY TV (channel 75 on Time Warner) which airs tapes of freshman level survey telecourses, old and foreign films, and panel discussions in various languages.

City University Film Festival (CUFF)
CUFF is CUNY's official film festival. The festival was founded in 2009 by Hunter College student Daniel Cowen.

Alumni
The City University of New York boasts some very prominent alumni, whose professions range from politics to medicine.

City College

 * Herman Badillo (1951), Civil rights activist and the first Puerto Rican elected to the U.S. Congress
 * Michele Forsten (1976), Co-founder, New York City Lesbian Cancer Support Consortium
 * Abraham Foxman, National director, Anti-Defamation League
 * Felix Frankfurter (1902), U.S. Supreme Court Justice
 * William Hallett Greene (1884)), First black graduate of City College and first black member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps
 * Guillermo Linares (1975), New York City Council member, first Dominican-American City Council member and Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs
 * Lisa Nakamura (1993) (1996), Associate Professor of the Institute of Communication Research and Asian Studies School at the University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana
 * Colin Powell (1958), Former Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State
 * Faith Ringgold (1955), Feminist, writer and artist
 * A. M. Rosenthal (1949), former executive editor of The New York Times who championed the publication of the Pentagon Papers; Pulitzer prize winning journalist expelled from Poland in 1959 for his reporting on the nation’s government and society
 * Jonas Salk (1934), Developed the first polio vaccine
 * Daniel Schorr (1939), Emmy award winning broadcast journalist for CBS-TV and National Public Radio

Baruch College

 * William Newman ('47) – Founder and chairman of New Plan Excel Realty Trust, Inc
 * Lawrence N. Field ('52) – Founder and principal of NSB Associates
 * Fernando Ferrer – New York City mayoral candidate in 2001 and 2005
 * Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, government minister
 * Robin Byrd, host of public access program The Robin Byrd Show. (dropped out)
 * Po Sit ('85) – Partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell
 * Craig A. Stanley – member of New Jersey General Assembly since 1996.
 * Marcia A. Karrow – member of New Jersey General Assembly
 * Dennis Levine – a prominent player in the Wall Street insider trading scandals of the mid-1980s
 * Dolly Lenz – New York City real estate agent
 * Felipe Andres Coronel "Immortal Technique" – Rapper, Political activist, & GM of Viper Records
 * Jennifer Lopez – actress, singer, dancer (dropped out)
 * Tarkan – Turkish language singer
 * Sidney Harman ('39) – Founder and executive chairman of Harman Kardon
 * James Lam ('83) – Author and first CRO (Chief Risk Officer)
 * Abraham Beame ('28) – Mayor of New York City

Hunter College

 * Bella Abzug (1942), Feminist; political activist; U.S. Representative, 1971–1977
 * Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick (1963), First Hispanic woman named to the New York State Court of Appeals
 * Robert R. Davila (1965), President of Gallaudet University and advocate for the rights of the hearing impaired
 * Ruby Dee (1945), Emmy-nominated actress and civil rights activist
 * Martin Garbus (1955), First amendment attorney
 * Florence Howe (1950), founder of women's studies and founder/publisher of the Feminist Press/CUNY
 * Audre Lorde (1959), African-American lesbian poet, essayist, educator and activist
 * Soia Mentschikoff (1934), first woman partner of a major law firm; first woman elected president of the Association of American Law Schools
 * Thomas J. Murphy, Jr. (1973) – Three-term mayor of Pittsburgh, PA, 1994–2006
 * Pauli Murray (1933), first African-American woman named an Episcopal priest; human rights activist; lawyer and co-founder of N.O.W

John Jay College

 * Dr. Henry Lee (BS '72) - forensic scientist
 * Kimberly Amato (MA) - actress and writer
 * Petri Hawkins-Byrd (BS '89) - Judge Judy bailiff
 * Miguel Martinez (BS) - former member of the New York City Council representing the 10th District in upper Manhattan's Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill areas until his resignation on 14 July 2009. He pled guilty to three conspiracy charges on July 16.
 * Eva Norvind (MA) - actress and director
 * Imette St. Guillen - a graduate student, murdered in February 2006, studying criminal justice; a scholarship was created in her name
 * Dorothy Uhnak (BA) - writer
 * Jennings Michael Burch - Spent his childhood going through multiple foster homes and wrote the 1984 best selling novel They Cage the Animals at Night which is a memoir of that period of his life.
 * Salvatore J. Cassano (B.S.) - 32nd Fire Commissioner, City of New York

Brooklyn College

 * Bill Baird (1955), reproductive rights activist and co-director of the Pro Choice League
 * Barbara Levy Boxer (1962), anti-war activist, environmentalist, U.S. Representative, 1982–1993, and U.S. Senator
 * Shirley Chisholm (1946), first African- American U.S. Congresswoman, 1968–1982. Candidate for president, 1972
 * Bruce Chizen (B.S. 1978), President & CEO, Adobe Systems
 * Stanley Cohen (B.A. 1943), biochemist and Nobel laureate (Physiology or Medicine, 1986)
 * Alan M. Dershowitz (B.A. 1959), Harvard Law School professor and author
 * Jerry Della Femina (A.A. 1957), Chairman & CEO, Della Femina, Jeary and Partners
 * Benjamin Eisenstadt (B.A. 1954), creator of Sweet'N Low and the founder of Cumberland Packing Corporation
 * Dan DiDio (B.A. 1983), American comic book editor and executive for DC Comics
 * Sandra Feldman (B.A 1960), President, American Federation of Teachers
 * Gata Kamsky (B.A 1999), Chess Grandmaster and former US Champion
 * Don Lemon (B.A. 1996), reporter, CNN
 * Leonard Lopate (B.A. 1967), host of the public radio talk show The Leonard Lopate Show, broadcast on WNYC
 * Frank McCourt (M.A. 1967), Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angela's Ashes and 'Tis
 * Marty Markowitz (B.A. 1970), Former New York State Senator; Brooklyn Borough President (2001– present)
 * Paul Mazursky (B.A. 1951), film director, writer, producer; actor
 * Jerry Moss (B.A. 1957), co-founder of A&M Records
 * Gloria Naylor (B.A. 1981), novelist; Winner National Book Award
 * Harvey Pitt (B.A. 1965), former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
 * Steve Riggio (B.A. 1974), CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc.
 * Steve Schirripa (B.A. 1980), American actor known for his role as Bobby Baccalieri on the HBO TV series The Sopranos
 * Timothy Shortell (1992), anti-Christian activist
 * Jimmy Smits (B.A. 1980), Emmy Award-winning actor; NYPD Blue and L.A. Law
 * Benjamin Ward (B.A. 1960), first black New York City Police Commissioner, 1983–1989
 * Iris Weinshall (B.A. 1975), vice chancellor at the City University of New York and a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation
 * Jack Weinstein (B.A. 1943), Senior Judge, United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Queens College

 * Joy Behar – comedienne and co-host of The View
 * Robert Bertoldi – Class of '76. CFO of Amphion Innovations PLC and co-founder of VennWorks LLC.
 * Frank M. Boccio- Executive Vice President and CAO, New York Life Insurance Company
 * Lawrence Cohen – Consultant and Entrepreneur. Former President and CEO of The Merv Griffin Group of Companies
 * Jerry Colonna – Well-known venture capitalist and entrepreneur coach
 * Joseph Crowley – Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
 * Linda Eagle – Founder and President, The Edcomm Group Banker's Academy (1989–2009).
 * Daniel Goodman – CEO of Goodman Strategies
 * Alan Hevesi – former New York State Comptroller, former New York State Assemblyman, former Queens College professor
 * Nathan Leventhal – Former President of Lincoln Center
 * Allan Loren – Former Chairman & CEO, Dun & Bradstreet Corporation
 * Ruth Madoff – Wife of Bernard L. Madoff
 * Helen Marshall – Queens Borough President
 * Donna Orender – WNBA president
 * Leonard Schutzman – Chief Financial Officer, PepsiCo
 * Jerry Seinfeld – Actor and comedian
 * Charles Wang – founder of Computer Associates, owner of the New York Islanders