The University task force recommendations raise serious concerns about Minnesota’s future. The proposed changes would greatly restrict public access to the University, part of an effort to become “one of the top three public research universities in the world.”
The architects of the plan seem to have forgotten what the “M” in “U of M” is really about. Minnesota has a distinct history and reputation for maintaining our commitment to public life. Getting rid of General College, and more importantly the students it admits, is a purposeful attempt to emulate the University of California-Berkeley and other ostensibly public institutions who have greatly restricted access for the sake of achieving “excellence.”
I am very fond of the University of California-Berkeley. I earned my doctorate there. But it is not a model we should emulate. Every year, the University of California-Berkeley becomes more privatized, elitist and intellectually impoverished as it shores up its position in the U.S. News and World Report rankings. In just the last year, the number of black students admitted dropped 29 percent, from 298 students in 2003 to 211 for fall 2004. American Indian admissions dropped 22 percent, from 51 in 2003 to 40, and the number of Hispanic students admitted fell 7 percent as well. That is just one example of how the race for rankings has impoverished the University of California-Berkeley as a college and a community. As Bill Simmons, a University of California-Berkeley professor, warned years ago, “A private light is a dimmer light.” And it is not the Minnesota way.
Minnesota values public education. Test scores are one measure of academic potential. They are also a measure of wealth. Statistically, the ACT and SAT are closely correlated with household income. The wealthier a child’s family, the more likely he or she is to achieve the test scores that drive U.S. News and World Report college rankings. If that is our sole measure of academic worth, we are not moving into the future, but rather back into a precivil rights past in which higher education was a privilege for the elite few.
General College has continued to increase the graduation rates of deserving students. Most of our students did not have access to the same educational resources as students from more privileged backgrounds. Since taking on that mission just more than a decade ago, we have already achieved graduation rates almost on par with the College of Liberal Arts, an achievement that amazes colleagues around the country who have struggled with the same issues. As a result, General College has become a model for other programs. In getting rid of us, the administration is not only affecting generations of Minnesota families and students, but also striking a blow against educational access around the nation. Minnesota should be a leader, not a follower. We’re better than that.
Still, we can do better and will. We are doing better every year, despite administrative models that limit our students’ ability to transfer on a timely basis into degree-granting colleges and a budget model that works against the integration of General College students into the University of Minnesota as a whole. We applaud the University of Minnesota administration’s efforts to extend our services throughout the University of Minnesota. However, you don’t do that by getting rid of the unit with the best track record of success in helping low-income students achieve their academic goals. Let’s be honest, they are getting rid of General College to get rid of General College students and the populations they represent.
General College has shown success and proven students who do not fit a restrictive admissions model can prosper. Those students teach us in the process. They teach us what it is like to be raised in a Somali refugee camp, yet go on to earn a degree at one of the greatest universities in the world. They show you don’t have to go to Edina High School in Edina, Minn., or the Breck School in Minneapolis to make it. They teach us to write, sing and think in new ways. They make us better … smarter. They are a source of potential and part of what makes us a truly excellent university.
Want to be one of the greatest universities in the world? Let’s adopt the Minnesota model. We have much work to do if we are going to clean up our lakes, improve our public schools and invent beneficial technologies. We can only achieve that kind of excellence if the University of Minnesota continues to enroll a broad variety of Minnesotans, students with a stake our state’s future.
Mark Pedelty is a University of Minnesota professor. Please send comments to [email protected].
