AT A GLANCE

1CUNY Media Conference Addresses “Attack Mentality”at The Graduate Center

New York Timesassistant manag-ing editor MichaelOreskes was thekeynote speakerat a studentmedia confer-ence attended bymore than 500.See page 9.

2 New Chair in Social JusticeReceives First Occupantat Medgar Evers College

Longtime Medgar Evers Collegeprofessor and internationalhuman rightsadvocate,Andrée-NicolaMcLaughlin,has beennamed to theBetty ShabazzDistinguishedChair inSocial Justice. See page 5.

3 50 City University StudentsServing as Interns in Offices of City Council Members

CCNY B.A.in politicalscience MarieAdam-Ovidehas graduat-ed from aRogowskyInternship toa full-timeposition in

the office of City Councilman DavidI. Weprin. For her story and otherson CUNY interns in the city, Albany,and Washington, see page 3.

4Faculty, Student Researchersfrom College of Staten Islandon Antarctic Expedition

Ship-to-shore transit for a College ofStaten Island researcher at PalmerStation in Antarctica. For more onthis expedition, see pages 6-7.

T he local Canarsee Indians called itPagganck. In 1637, when the Dutchgovernor general Wouter van Twiller

bought it for two axe heads, a string ofbeads, and some iron nails, the name waschanged to Nooten Eylandt. The Britishlater called it Nutten Island, eventuallyreserving it for the “benefit and accommo-dation of His Majesty’s governors.”

Consistent with an announcement onApril 1 by Governor George E. Pataki andMayor Michael R. Bloomberg, historicGovernors Island may also become knownas CUNY Island. The Governor and theMayor informed happy New Yorkers—andeven more enthusiastic New York Citystudents and educators—that PresidentGeorge W. Bush had embraced their pro-posal to turn the 172-acre former militarybase into a major campus within the CityUniversity consortium.

“This is a very big idea,” ChancellorMatthew Goldstein said later at aGovernors Island press conference with theGovernor and the Mayor on April 2. “Wewill need a thoughtful, comprehensive aca-demic plan to help realize its potential.”

According to the State and City exec-utives, the Island—which is a half-milefrom Lower Manhattan and a mere three-minute ferry ride from Brooklyn acrossButtermilk Channel—will be turned overto the City and State for a nominal sum.

New York City Board of Education andCUNY leaders expressed their delight atthe opportunities afforded by the vastarray of capital facilities on GovernorsIsland. Many of these officials, severalCUNY college presidents, and a contin-gent of CUNY students were present atthe press conference, at which theGovernor and Mayor offered a glimpseof a fantasy island for teachers, and espe-cially the teachers of future teachers.

Calling it “a great day for college kids,high school kids, the future of our city,”Pataki told his audience that GovernorsIsland has “the potential to be one of thegreat campuses anywhere in America. Itis an absolutely magnificent facility thathas classroom buildings already intact.”The former military build-ings, he added, “have thepotential to housethousands of students andhundreds of teachers.Mayor Bloomberg and I arecommitted to making thisone of the flagship entitiesof the City University.”

Agreeing with that opti-mism, Bloomberg ventured,“I don’t know of any IvyLeague school that has anicer campus”—a boastunderscored by the Island’srich history as aRevolution-ary War battle-field, its storied Fort Jayand Castle Williams, and itsservice during the Civil War

as a recruitingdepot and prisonfor Confederatecaptives.

Looking to thefuture,Bloombergemphasized howthe new campuswill “give us theability to moveprograms here, tofree up space onCity Universitycampuses in allfive boroughs.”

Noting thatCUNY alreadyhas 12 campuseswith public highschools on them, the Mayor alsoexpressed his hope that a CUNY-Governors Island would nurture evenmore extensive CUNY-Board ofEducation collaboration. “This is do-able,this is something affordable, this is some-thing that absolutely needs to be done. Itaddresses the number one problem wehave in this city, which is that not all ofour kids are getting the good educationeverybody wants.”

Pataki agreed: “By moving someCUNY operations here, we will be ableto free up space on CUNY campusesacross the city, so that we can have thosenew high schools, new middle schools,new elementary schools.” He indicatedthat “all education benefits” from thetransfer of Governors Island.

Chancellor Goldstein made clear atthe conference that planning was alreadyunder way. “We have already started theprocess of thinking of appropriate educa-tors and staff to work with the Governorand the Mayor to develop an academicplan…This is on a very fast track for us,because I want our students and our fac-ulty to get here as quickly as possible.”Calling the Island a “bucolic place tostudy,” Goldstein observed, “We don’thave anything like this in the CUNY

system now.”The Chancellor expressed hope that

Governors Island might see students asearly as this summer. “We have a bigsummer school, and if we can get some ofthese facilities ready, I would muchrather our students come to an idyllic set-ting like this.”

Pataki also expressed his pleasurethat “the buildings have been so wellmaintained, and they are already facili-ties totally appropriate for a campus.”These include a mess hall that couldbecome, Pataki said, “a spectacular dininghall,” a “magnificent gymnasium,” andmilitary quarters that can be convertedto dorm space “at minimal cost.” TheGovernor said he also expected theState’s $1 billion budget for upgradingCUNY capital facilities would figure inthe transformation.

Appreciation was enthusiasticallyexpressed. Thanking President Bush,the Governor promised, “we’re going tomake sure we take this opportunity anddo it right.” Applauding “the vision ofthe education president and the educa-tion governor,” Bloomberg also singledout former New York Senator PatrickMoynihan for his early efforts to trans-fer the Island to public use.

At the press conference, Pataki told ofbeing shown around the island by theMayor on a stealth visit the week before:“Mike asked me, ‘When you see this, whatdo you think of?’ We couldn’t help butagree that this was going to be one of thegreat college campuses in the country.”

Governors Island could become thatrarity, a campus of the “Subway University”without a local stop. Still, there is a majorsubway connection with the island: begin-ning in 1901, it was enlarged with earthexcavated during construction of the 4thAvenue (now Lexington Avenue) subwayline; half the island’s acres are subway andBrooklyn-Battery Tunnel landfill.

For more information on GovernorsIsland and plans for its future, log on tothe CUNY web site: www.cuny.edu.

Future CUNY Facility on Governors IslandJointly Announced by Governor and Mayor

Setting forth for a new academic world: a contingent ofQueens College students on the ferry across ButtermilkChannel to Governors Island.

Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, left, with Mayor Bloomberg,Governor Pataki and several CUNY students at the GovernorsIsland news conference on April 2.

www.cuny.edu • N E W S O F T H E C I T Y U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K • May 2002

2 CUNY MATTERS — May 2002

going down Southto a family reunion.Everybody wasready to help.Baruch really doesprovide a homeyenvironment. Evenif you are from outof town you canconnect with some-one at CUNY.”

Persaud’s experi-ence inspired himso much that hedecided to write abook that wouldhelp other studentsmake the most oftheir college experi-ence. “In about fouror five months Ihad a complete,edited manuscript.”Making It ThroughCollege: YourPassport to theInformation Age appeared earlier thisyear and has already been given outto freshmen at their orientation atBaruch. It’s also been ordered forstudents at Bronx and Borough ofManhattan Community Colleges.

Lest there be any doubt that thebook’s 260 pages and 42 chapters arewritten from a student perspective,Persaud’s preface begins: “America’syouth are adrift in an educational sea ofadult cynicism. We teach them the valueof academic attainment then we cutfunding to basic educational programs.”

Persaud has organized his book insections on Things to Know (among

them “Losing Your Ethnicity” and“Choosing Classes”), Cautions (on suchtopics as “Bigotry and Intolerance, ”“Sexual Harassment,” and “Counseling”),The College Game (“Changing Majorsand Transferring” and “Paying forCollege,” for example), and TakingResponsibility (which tackles such top-ics as “Exams” and “ClassroomEtiquette”). Persaud ends with severalchapters on Keeping Your Sanity.

Making It Through College is not lack-ing in humor. It comes with a “Warning”to “Keep Well in Reach of Children.” Thelast of his acknowledgments is “to Moms,hey thanks for that whole birth thing,

Rajen Persaud is the first to admithe was not a very good student inhigh school. “Intellectual embar-

rassment—that’s like one of the worstthings that can happen to you in life. Youare sitting in class and the teacher asks aquestion, then points to you. And youdon’t know the answer!”

Persaud’s cluelessness in his BryantHigh School classes in Long Island Citymade him a model “D” student. “I faileda ton of classes. . .that’s why I didn’twant to go on to college. I just didn’twant to fail again.”

He then reminisces about interest-ing walks he took with his cousin Ericthrough some of the city’s most blightedneighborhoods in Brooklyn, Queens, andthe Bronx. “This is what happens whenyou don’t have an education,” he toldPersaud. Then Eric suggested he try

coming tohis school,KingsboroughCommunityCollege.“So I signedup, did theliberal artsthing, andtook a tonof remedialcourses.”With his

cousin’s help, Persaud began to dosomething unheard of: “I just paidattention. I just did what I was sup-posed to do in high school: paid atten-tion, went to class, did my homework.”

Then the Guyana native, who cameto the U.S. at the age of eight, decidedto “do” Baruch College, which hefound very user-friendly. “It was like

S ylvia Ranguelova emigrated fromBulgaria with her family in 1997,knowing no English. Two years

later, she scored a perfect 5 on theAmerican History Advanced Placementexam. Thanks to a Peter F. ValloneAcademic Scholarship, initiated by theCity Council, she is now a pre-law stu-dent at Brooklyn College and a memberof its prestigious Honors Academy.

David Fischbein grew up on LongIsland. His father is a physicist, his motherholds a master’s degree, and both hisbrothers graduated from Queens College.At Hebrew Academy of the Five Townsand Rockaway, David took A.P. courses,won the Nassau County Mathletes Awardin 2000, and was admitted to the FrenchNational Honors Society in the same year.He is now enrolled in the new CUNYHonors College at Queens College.

Mark Rodriguez, who lives with hisfamily in East Harlem, was a chemistrymajor at Brooklyn Technical High School,

where he was anaward-winningwriter of essays,poetry and fiction,a biology tutor,and a volunteer forFamily Dynamicsand the Children’sDefense Fund. Heis now a CUNYHonors College

student attending City College and plan-ning a career as an epidemiologist.

Three different students—threevery different backgrounds. What theyhave in common is that they areamong the very brightest and mostpromising young people you will findanywhere in the world—and they arestudying at CUNY.

Three years ago, we began the phase-in of strengthened admissions standardsand the elimination of remedial instruc-tion at our senior colleges. Some criticsvoiced concerns that such higher stan-dards would drive away potential appli-cants, including minority students.

Others expressed the view that greaterexpectations would enhance CUNY’sattractiveness to prospective students.

The available data shows that thedoors to educational opportunity contin-ue to be open to all New Yorkers.CUNY is attracting more students thanat any time in its history. Enrollmentincreased last fall by 6% in the freshmenclass and nearly 7% in transfer students.This spring, freshman enrollment at oursenior colleges surged by more than23%. Amid these increases, the ethniccomposition of our student body hasremained essentially the same, embrac-ing almost 200 nationalities and 160 dif-ferent languages.

The University’s higher academicstandards are paying extraordinary divi-dends. We are attracting high achieverslike Sylvia, David and Mark fromaround the world and in our own backyard. Through programs such as ourHonors College and the more broadlyavailable Vallone Scholarships (therehave been more than 18,000 to date),CUNY is recruiting and keeping our

best and brightest young people righthere as New York City rebuilds. As nego-tiations begin on the city budget, MayorBloomberg and the City Council shouldrestore the $7 million needed to fund theVallone Scholarships.

Last year, the new CUNY HonorsCollege enrolled its inaugural class ofmore than 200 academically talented stu-dents at five of our senior colleges. Theyare receiving full scholarships and anarray of academic perquisites. Smallwonder that we have received 2,500applications (1,000 more than last year)to become next year's Honors freshmen.

Our campuses proudly stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the City in the after-math of 9/11. Now, as we rebuild for aneven brighter future, CUNY is dedicatingitself anew to safeguarding our singlemost precious resource: the bright, talent-ed students from all walks of life whowill comprise the next generation of NewYorkers, students like David, Mark andSylvia. They should not have to leaveNew York City to receive the benefits ofa top-quality higher education.

The following is adapted from an op-edarticle by Chancellor Matthew Goldstein.

babe!” The sub-head for a chapteron Time Management reads, “Timeflies when you are wasting it.” Onthe very last page, to inspire eventhe most laggard of potential collegestudents, Persaud’s high school tran-script is arrayed in full gory detail. The humor is no accident. Since gradu-ating in 1992 with a B.A. in PoliticalScience, Persaud has earned some of hiskeep in stand-up comedy (it also paidoff some of his Baruch tuition). Thoughnow involved in the writing, producing,and directing of films, he is still planningto hit the books again—law books.

Persaud’s stylish, desktop-publishedbook makes clear his entrepreneurialknack (it has its own website:www.makingitthroughcollege.com).On the back cover Persaud defines theword universally despised at CUNY—attrition—with a shrewd acrostic thatexplains why he turned author:

Absence ofThoroughTimelyRealisticInformationToInspire Or Nurture

Speaking generally about Making It,Persaud says he hopes readers “will getout of it the fact that they can be and doanything they want. It may sound trite,but it’s just that simple. . .CUNY is ahuge, huge collective of colleges that cantake you anywhere you want to go. By allmeans, come to CUNY, do your thing.”Then the author shrewdly adds, “and getmy book to help you out!”

Author RajenPersaud inmid-routine atCaroline's, theNew York com-edy club.

Turning “D”s into Degrees: A CUNY Student Tells How

The City University Attracts Talent from Near and Far

FROM THECHANCELLOR’S DESK

arrived from Cincinnati at age 17 to studyjewelry design. Restless after earning herFashion Institute degree in that field,Christine moved on to Baruch College,where she is a junior majoring in Financeand Investment. She has clearly landed inthe right office.

Weprin has also just gained asecond Rogowsky intern, one of the pio-neers from BMCC, Damion Noel. Damion,who arrived from Trinidad just eightmonths ago, is a Business Management stu-dent on the Chambers Street campus. Hisprospective area of interest is finance: he,too, has clearly landed in the right office.

Just completing an internship withWeprin is yet another Rogowsky intern,Hemraj Singh, a native of Guyana who isgraduating this June in Political Sciencefrom York College. Singh, who plans towork after graduation and then hit the lawbooks, earlier interned with Queens StateAssemblyman Michael Cohen.

Falbe and Noel are among the approx-imately 50 CUNY students working forCity Councilmen this spring. In addi-tion, the Internship Program placedCUNY students with each of the fiveBorough Presidents, as well as theoffice of Betsy Gotbaum, New YorkCity’s new Public Advocate.

CUNY MATTERS — May 2002 3

The City University and CUNY’sProfessional Staff Congressannounced in a joint statement

on March 8 that they reached a con-tract settlement, pending approval bythe CUNY Board of Trustees and rati-fication by the PSC membership.

Details of the settlement will bereleased after preliminary approvals aresecured and final costing of the proposedcontract are calculated by New York Cityand New York State officials.

The contract includes a totaleconomic package equivalent to a 9%

A fter coming to the United Statesfrom Haiti in 1986, at the age of14, Marie Adam-Ovide attended

Tilden High School in Brooklyn and thenheaded for City College with the hopeof studying architecture. But after spend-ing several years out of school caring forher cancer-stricken mother, she returnedto campus with interests that had shiftedto politics.

While working toward her CCNYB.A. in Political Science, Marie heardabout the CUNY Internship Programand applied. Little did she realize thiswould lead her, in a few short years, to afull-time position in one of the mostimportant offices of the New York CityCouncil. She now manages the calendarof newly elected City Councilman DavidI. Weprin, chair of the Council’s FinanceCommittee, which has become all-important as the Bloomberg administra-tion and City legislators face the chal-lenge of the 9/11 aftermath and thesimultaneous economic downturn.

Marie’s Fall 2000 internship was withWeprin in his position as leader in a north-east Queens district that encompassedparts of Hollis, Queens Village, and FreshMeadows. There, she says, “I learned allabout its community boards and policeprecincts, and became familiar with thepeople in the constituency.” After theinternship, Marie worked with Weprin’spredecessor in City Council District 23,Sheldon Leffler, then in subsequentmonths as a volunteer on Weprin’s owncampaign for the office.

On the jubilant evening of Weprin’selection, he popped the question: wouldMarie like to join his staff full-time. AsWeprin explains, “I was so impressed withMarie’s energy during the internship, andthen, afterward, when she went above andbeyond the call of duty and volunteeredto work on the campaign. She never said‘no’ and was really performing so many ofthe functions of a legislative assistant.”

Having become hooked on “knowingwhat’s going on in government from theinside,” Marie accepted the offer withdelight, and now she is honing her diplo-matic skills as Weprin’s chief scheduler.

Asked if she might be tempted intopublic service herself, Marie. “Oh, yes!But not any time soon.” Referring to hertwo-year-old, Patrick, she explains, “Myson wouldn’t have a mother! I have seenhow much time running for and holdingelective office demands—all the func-

A Diaspora of CUNY Students into Halls of Power

College intern, in the district office ofDemocratic Representative NydiaVelazquez, then tells of a current intern,Rasheida Smith, also from York College.Smith must have made a very goodimpression on new District 27Councilman Leroy G. Comrie, because inmid- internship he offered—and sheaccepted—a full-time position in hisQueens office (Smith will continue herYork course work).

In 2001, three Washington internsremained in their assigned offices as full-time employees. Two others were offeredfull-time positions but decided to returnto New York to complete their studies.

For the Rogowsky Internships, thehighest compliment is the governmentofficial, legislator, or executive who comesback for more. Councilman Weprin hasfallen eagerly into this category. “It’s agreat program, and I’d love to see itexpanded,” he says. “What with limitedfull-time staff capacity, my office at 250Broadway simply could not functionwithout them, and my new responsibili-ties as Chair of the Finance Committeemake their presence even more valuable.”

Now helping to keep Weprin’sBroadway office functioning is ChristineFalbe, a confirmed lover of the city who

increase, compounded over 27 months,for the period August 1, 2000 throughOctober 31, 2002. It also includes salaryincreases for all titles, advances inprofessionalism and pay for part-timefaculty, other enhancements of termsand conditions of employment, andopportunities for research and profes-sional development for faculty and staff.

“This landmark agreement is a majorstep forward in fulfilling the University’sgoal, outlined in our Master Plan, ofsecuring a place among the top publicresearch universities in the nation,” said

Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. “In recognizing the imperatives of

realizing this goal—chief among themthe need to attract and sustain thefinest faculty and staff—the agreementis testimony to the spirit of cooperationin which we have worked,” Goldsteinalso said. “I want to thank ViceChancellor Brenda Malone and hernegotiating team for their dedication,and for the hard work that brought usto a successful conclusion.”

PSC President Barbara Bowen char-acterized the agreement as “a break-

through contract for the PSC. Our goalcoming into the negotiating was to usecollective bargaining to rebuild CUNYas a nationally pre-eminent institution…We have succeeded despite a very diffi-cult economic climate.”

“There are great things here forour members, our students, and theUniversity itself—not only were weable to secure significant salaryincreases, but we also addressed his-toric inequities in salaries and madestructural changes that will strengthenthe University,” Bowen added.

CUNY, PSC Announce Agreement on a New Contract

City Council Finance Committee Chair David Weprin, seated, conferring with intern DamionNoel, left, former intern Marie Adam-Ovide, and intern Hemraj Singh in his Queens districtoffice. Photo, Rob Klein.

tions and long hours. That leaves verylittle time for family life.” For 34 years,since 1968, the CUNY InternshipProgram has been ushering students likeMarie Adam-Ovide into the halls of pow-er throughout the five boroughs, at CityHall, up in Albany, and on Capitol Hill.

The name was officially changed lastyear to the Edward T. Rogowsky Intern-ship Program in Government and PublicAffairs, in honor of its late, greatlyadmired director from 1995 to 2001. Oneof Rogowsky’s former Brooklyn Collegeinterns, Anthony Alexis, was so inspired bythe experience that he actually ran forCity Council himself last fall in Brooklyn’sDistrict 41. Though he lost in the primary,Alexis’ campaign proved so impressivethat the eventual winner, Tracy Boyland,hired him as her full-time chief of staff.

According to the present director,Anthony J. Maniscalco, in a typical yearabout 300 CUNY students, mostly juniorsand seniors, become interns. They mayserve in district attorney offices, withadvocacy groups like the Association ofCommunity Organizations for ReformNow (ACORN) and the New York PublicInterest Research Group (NYPIRG), in theoffices of local and state government offi-cials, or those of Congressmen like GaryAckerman, Major Owens, and Vito Fossella.

Every summer 12 Rogowsky internshead down to Washington for a two-month tour of duty, and this year,Maniscalco says, “there is a bannernumber of 26 spring interns serving in theState Legislature in Albany.” He is alsopleased that Rogowsky interns will soonbe emanating from CUNY’s communitycollege campuses. Borough of ManhattanCommunity College became the first tocome onboard in Fall 2001, and effortsare under way to bring the other com-munity colleges into the fold.

All interns enroll in a three-to-six-creditweekly seminar course in Political Scienceor Public Affairs on their home campus,while agreeing to work 10 to 15 hours aweek in their assigned office. More than athird of these students exercise the optionto register for a second internship in asucceeding semester. For Rogowskyinterns, the highest praise is the offer ofa full-time job, and Maniscalco says withpleasure that examples of this happysegue “occur all over the place.”

He notes, for example, the full-timehire of Jennifer Hom, a former York

Pulitzer Prize to Louis Menand

The GraduateCenter’s recently

appointed DistinguishedProfessor of EnglishLouis Menand has justcrossed disciplines tostellar effect, winningthe 2002 Pulitzer Prizein history for TheMetaphysical Club:A Story of Ideas in America. This study,widely acclaimed when it appeared in2001, examines the lives and work of fourmajor American thinkers, William James,Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Charles SandersPierce, and a late-comer, Thomas Dewey.

The club referred to in the title was aconversational salon formed in 1872 byyoung intellectuals in Cambridge, Massa-chusetts. Though it lasted only a brief time,Menand establishes it as being crucial tothe later development of that quintessen-tially American philosophy, pragmatism.

4 CUNY MATTERS — May 2002

T here are “tremendous opportu-nities to operate our campusesin a more efficient way,” CUNY

Chancellor Matthew Goldstein recent-ly advised the Board of Trustees.

He praised the efforts in the fall of2001 of the Fiscal Affairs Committeeof the CUNY Council of Presidents,chaired by College of Staten IslandPresident Marlene Springer, in can-vassing for ways to improve in thisarea: “We have received wonderfulideas from the presidents for ways ofusing Web-based technology on ourcampuses, managing energy and pro-curement more efficiently, and manag-ing the central administration moreefficiently.”A formal set of proposalswas endorsed by the Board of TrusteesCommittee on Financial Affairs,chaired by Trustee Joseph Lhota.

Goldstein noted in particular, in hisreport to the Board of Trustees at itsJanuary 28 meeting, the importanceof delivering technological resourcesas cost-effectively as possible. “It is aterrible tragedy that on some of ourcampuses students are not gettingaccess to the basic technology theywill need to compete” in the currenteconomy. “Unless we can give cam-puses dollars to support more of thebackbone of computing, more opportuni-ties to hire lab technicians for computinglabs, we are not going to see these cam-puses move forward.”

With the first, brainstorming stage wellunderway, Goldstein promised a secondstage in the process of implementing effi-ciencies, to be generated and supervised byExecutive Vice Chancellor for AcademicAffairs Louise Mirrer and Senior ViceChancellor and Chief Operating OfficerAllan Dobrin. The proposals were present-ed to the Board of Trustees at its February25 meeting, following a public hearingwell-attended by students, faculty, staff,and alumni. They were unanimously

approved under the rubric, “Proposals toenhance administrative efficiency, generatecost savings, and provide additional rev-enue in support of the University’s coreacademic mission.”

Among the measures contemplated isthe integration of college administrativeservices, particularly where geographicallyappropriate. Senior Vice ChancellorDobrin, for example, has been workingwith such neighboring campuses asBronx and Hostos Community Collegesand Lehman College in the Bronx, andQueens College and the CUNY LawSchool in Queens, to identify areas ofreplication. Ways to streamline opera-tions of the Central Office are alsobeing explored.

Telecommunications costs are beinganalyzed to recoup overpayments, devel-op a University-wide standard for cell-phone use, and establish more cost-effec-tive local and long-distance options,including a Voice Over Internet Protocol(VOIP). Also planned is a CUNY-widemail services protocol aimed at reducing“snail mail” in favor of e-mail.

Web-based technology is beingexplored to develop a new portal to allowfor CUNY-wide functioning by Web inseveral major areas: application, registra-tion, academic advising, and publicationof catalogs and bulletins.

A new University-wide energy manage-ment program is being planned to allowdecentralization of energy budgets directlyto the individual campuses and to identify

Executive Leadership Program Inaugurated

and exploit cost-reducing new tech-nologies. Another major focus ofstreamlining efforts will be theUniversity’s procurement practices andcontract protocols, notably in suchareas as advertising, travel, and infor-mation systems.

At the February meeting a unanimousBoard of Trustees approved three reso-lutions intended to generate incomefor the core academic mission onCUNY campuses. It established a $75-per semester technology fee for full-time students ($37.50 for part-time).The funds will be retained by eachcollege to improve computer services.The fee can be waived in cases ofhardship. This move is expected toraise $22.5 million yearly.

The Board also rescinded the“last semester free” program that hadbeen in place since 1992. (Studentswho entered under the program andgraduate by January 2004 will stillqualify for the benefit.) By 2004, thischange will generate $9 million morein income.

The Board also voted to increaseenrollment in winter intersession andsummer session enrollments, with the

additional tuition income being retainedby the colleges and redeployed toimprove academic programs.

In a memorandum to all the college presi-dents in early March, the Chancellorcalled these actions “critically importantto the University,” and he cited the “fulland swift implementation” of thesechanges as a “top priority.”

Underlining the importance of adviceand feedback as the Technology Fee isestablished, Goldstein asked each presi-dent to constitute an advisory committee.“This committee should include a mini-mum of two students and two facultymembers, nominated by the appropriategoverning body” on each campus.

Chancellor Goldstein Initiates New Efficiencies,Greater Student Access to Learning Technology

On March 7 the first “class” of the CUNY ExecutiveLeadership Program commenced its 10-week-longseminar. A total of 15 outstanding administrators

from 12 of the campuses and six from the Central Officeare participating in this initiative designed to nurture talent-ed and motivated leaders within the University’s own ranks.

One impetus for the Executive Leadership Program(ELP) is concern about the significant turnover anticipatedin leadership positions at CUNY in the relatively near term.The first wave of baby boomers is now in their mid-50s, andmany of them in high-level positions are eligible for retire-ment. ELP will create an expectation of continuing learningfor executives and will foster excellence in administrationand customer service.

Targeted for nomination and selection to take part inthe program were senior CUNY managers and key profes-sionals who are already regarded as highly effective.

Nominations for the program—typically one from eachcampus—are made by the college president. Nomineesmust be serving at least at the rank of assistant vice presi-dent or its equivalent. Among the titles represented in thefirst 21 ELP participants are a Dean for Finance andAdministration, a Dean for Student Life, a Director ofFinancial Aid, a Dean of Humanities & Social Sciences,and a Manager of LAN & Communications.

Participation in the once-a-week sessions is in addi-tion to current college responsibilities. A “reality-based”program requirement will be the design of a projectdealing with institutional assessment and emphasizingthe measurement of institutional outcomes. Among theskill/competency areas ELP covers are ethical administra-tion in the public service, communication, the manage-ment of change, systems management, institutionalassessment, professional networking, and leadership.

CUNY trustees, leaders, and college presidents visited Albany on March 11-12. Seen here, from left, arePresident Edison O. Jackson of Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn Assemblywoman Annette Robinson,Chancellor Matthew Goldstein, and Brooklyn State Senator (and Medgar Evers graduate) Carl Andrews.Photo, Colleen Brescia.

First Betty ShabazzChair Appointed at

Medgar Evers College

President Edison O. Jacksonannounced that the inaugural

holder of the Dr. Betty ShabazzDistinguished Chair in Social Justiceat Medgar Evers College will be Dr.Andrée-Nicola McLaughlin.

Those charged with filling the chair—which commemorates the widow of

Malcolm X (MalikShabazz) and long-time Medgar EversDirector of PublicRelations—did nothave to look far fora prominent occu-pant. ProfessorMcLaughlin, ascholar of world

studies, has been on the MEC facultysince 1974, and for two decades she hastaught, lectured, written, and traveledworldwide as an advocate for humanrights, indigenous rights, educationalequity, and other social justice goals.

As founding coordinator of the 15-year-old International Cross-Cultural BlackWomen’s Studies Institute, based at theCollege, McLaughlin has organized and con-vened eight world conferences on a varietyof social justice issues. For many years MECstudents have earned college credit for studyabroad and student exchanges in collabora-tion with the Institute.

This spring McLaughlin is launching aseries of “Shabazz Conversations” on socialjustice issues at the Schomburg Center forResearch in Black Culture. Among herfirst guests will be Grammy-winning writerand CCNY alum Walter Mosley, syndicat-ed columnist Dr. Julianne Malveaux, andCornell University scholar James Turner.

A native of White Plains, New York,McLaughlin earned her B.A. at Cornell,and her M.A. and Ph.D. at the Universityof Massachusetts.

CUNY MATTERS — May 2002 5

City Tech Scholarship For All Four Seasons

After graduating from New York CityTechnical College in 1953, Paul

Kovi went on to become one of thecity’s legendary restaurateurs, presidingover the power-lunchers and diners atthe Four Seasons. Now Kovi, who diedin 1998, is being honored by a scholar-ship in Hospitality Management in hisname at the College. Kicking off theendowment for the scholarship with apledge of $100,000 was Kovi’s long-timecolleague and co-owner at the FourSeasons, Tom Margittai.

In March the first holder of the PaulKovi Scholarship, East Flatbush residentNerrisa Charles,was announced.Charles’s advisor,Professor JuliaJordan, noted onthe occasion theaptness of theaward: “While theycame from verydifferent worlds,Paul Kovi andNerrisa Charles shared something veryfundamental: both were immigrantswho came here to pursue their dreams.”

Charles emigrated from Grenada in1996, joining her father in New Yorkbut leaving her mother and sisterbehind. The scholarship will allow thesophomore (both of whose parentsworked in hospitality) to complete herstudies as a full-time student in threeyears. “Now, I will be able to get a jobdoing what I love—special events plan-ning—sooner rather than much later,”Charles says.

T his year CCNY’s Rosenberg/Humphrey Program in Public Policy

presents its distinguished PresidentialLecture Series in collaboration with theColin Powell Center for Policy Studies,the Sophie Davis School of BiomedicalEducation, as well as the Black Studies

Student Development,Enrollment Conference

On May 10, the Office of StudentDevelopment and Enrollment

Management, in conjunction with theChief Student Affairs Officers Council, willhost a conference at Baruch College on“The Educational Pyramid in ChangingTimes: Academic Success, StudentDevelopment and Institutional Leadership.”

The conference will address strategiesto assist University faculty, student servicespersonnel, chief student affairs, and chiefacademic affairs officers in identifying newmethods and techniques of nurturing stu-dent success. Two highlights of the con-ference, planned to run from 8:30 A.M. to2:30 P.M., will be a panel of CUNY collegepresidents, to be moderated by MedgarEvers College President Edison O. Jackson,and a keynote presentation by renownedUniversity of Michigan scholar MichaelNettles, an expert on educational accessand assessment.

For additional information, contactthe CUNY Office of Student Develop-ment and Enrollment Management (212-794-5445) or Vincent Banrey, VicePresident for Student Affairs at MedgarEvers College (718-270-6046). The feefor the conference is $20.00 and includesa continental breakfast and lunch. Theevent will be held at the new BaruchCollege vertical campus conference facili-ties on Friday, May 10, 2002, from 8:30A.M. to 2:30 P.M.

MATTERSIN BRIEF

City University Retains New Fundraising Consultant

The City University has retained theCommunity Counselling ServiceCompany (CCS), a professional

fundraising/public relations firm based inManhattan, to assist in undertaking aDevelopment Assessment on every collegecampus. Chancellor Goldstein announcedthe move in a March 27 letter to all collegepresidents, observing that “competingdemands on the University’s limitedresources make it imperative for us to secureexternal monies.”

During early spring, colleges will com-plete surveys prepared by CCS, and itsstaff will then conduct interviews withcampus leaders and chief advancementofficers. The goal will be to evaluate thelevel of individual campus developmentprograms and explore opportunities for increased fundraising efficiency, inno-vation, and growth.

The Chancellor reiterated the high priority of fundraising in his administra-tion when he raised the subject at the January meeting of the Board of Trustees.While expressing his delight at getting “weekly calls from our presidents aboutmajor gifts,” he acknowledged that the concerted focus on raising funds fromalumni and extramural sources “is a relatively new phenomenon” at CUNY.

The Chancellor urged the Board to create a Standing Committee forDevelopment that “would ultimately lead to a campaign for CUNY.” He did nothave to look far for the ideal chair of such a committee. Motioning to the meet-ing’s presider, Vice Chairman of the Board Benno C. Schmidt Jr., Goldsteinrecalled Schmidt’s “extraordinary record” as “probably the best fund-raiser inYale’s history” during his presidential tenure there, and then added, “I can’t thinkof anybody better to lead that effort than you.”

Enthusiastically accepting the challenge, Schmidt acknowledged that, fromhis first days on the Board, he had thought it a “great lost opportunity at thisUniversity in the area of attracting private gifts and eleemosynary contribu-tions. . . .In my previous experience, the responsibility of university trusteeshas included a stewardship of the development effort,” Schmidt stated, “and Ithink there is every reason to believe that CUNY would benefit from movingvery strongly in this direction.”

Promising to move a planning effort “into high gear this spring” aimed atcreating an “oversight and support mechanism” on the Board for University-wide fundraising, Schmidt voiced his conviction that there is “no reason whyCUNY should not be the most successful public university in the U.S. atdrawing private support.”

Department. The speaker at the April25 event will be the Honorable RonaldV. Dellums.

The former Congressman fromCalifornia and chairman of PresidentClinton’s Advisory Council onHIV/AIDS is currently president ofHealthcare International ManagementInc. This African American-owned con-cern provides healthcare products andservices to governmental and privatesector entities in international markets,with a primary focus in Africa.

Dellums’ lecture, 18th in the series,will address U.S. policy towardHIV/AIDS in Africa, which has beenrecognized by Secretary of State Powellas a crucial international health carechallenge. The annual PresidentialLecture has become a major policyevent for the CCNY community. Pastspeakers have included, Arthur M.Schlesinger, Jr., Mayor David Dinkins,John Kenneth Galbraith, Faye Wattleton,and William Julius Wilson. If you are

Former CongressmanDellums to Speakon AIDS at CCNY

The Honorable Ronald V. Dellums seen with2001 Rosenberg/Humphrey Intern NsaghaEfiom during her summer working on CapitolHill for Constituency for Africa.

interested in attending, contactRosenberg/Humphrey at 212-650-6809or coordinator@ccny.cuny.edu.

Major CCNY Grantfor Remote Sensing

Aconsortium of universities led by CityCollege has just received a $7.5 mil-

lion grant from the U.S. Department ofCommerce’s National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration to establisha Center for Remote Sensing Science andTechnology. The funds will supportprograms aimed at atmospheric, environ-mental, and oceanic sciences. Remotesensing is the art of obtaining informationabout atmospheric or environmentalphenomena from optical devices placedon satellite or land-based platforms.

One example of potential remote sens-ing applications offered by the consortium’sdirector, CCNY engineering professor RezaKhanbilvardi, is the study of optical proper-ties of turbidity, algae, and other suspendedinorganic matter in coastal waters. Moregenerally, remote sensing will permit thedevelopment of algorithms for satellitesensors monitoring atmospheric gases,clouds, and aerosols.

Vice Chairman of the CUNY Boardof Trustees, Benno C. Schmidt Jr.will spearhead fundraising efforts.

6 CUNY MATTERS — May 2002

By Kenneth T. Bach and Terry Mares,College of Staten Island

This last December, an intrepid bandof College of Staten Island research-ers headed south for the summer.

Yes, the summer. These scientists andtheir graduate and undergraduate CUNYstudents were headed far, far south—all theway to Antarctica, where the summer sunis a pretty steady customer. Theirmission: to study small, shrimp-like crus-taceans known as krill and the birds thatfeast on them.

Unfamiliar to most Americans, krill areone of the most important planktonic (float-ing or weakly swimming) crustaceans in theSouthern Oceans. They feed upon phyto-plankton (planktonic plant life) and, sincekrill are high in protein, are an importantfood source for almost all larger organismsin Antarctica, such as mussels, fish, seals,baleen whales, penguins, and other birds.

Although Antarctic krill are small, they arealso abundant. And they just might be avaluable potential source of protein forhuman and live-stock consumption. Howwould wide-scale commercial krill harvesting

affect the delicate and protected Antarcticecosystem? That is what the research teamfrom CSI is hoping to predict, with the aidof advanced computer modeling.

The team from CSI was headed bybiology professor Richard Veit, who

was awarded an NSF CAREER Grant forthe project. Veit, a bird ecologist andbiostatistician, also served as primaryresearcher. He knows the territory: this washis eleventh trip to the frozen continent.He was joined by mathematics and physicsprofessor Bala Sundaram and seven CSIstudents. Richard Heil, an ornithologistfrom the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceaccompanied them as they collected data inan attempt to predict how large-scale krillharvesting might affect indigenous sea-birdpopulations of cape petrels and albatross.

They spent a month near Elephant Island,off the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, notonly observing large gatherings of krill, butalso recording in detail the feeding behaviorof birds in the same vicinity.

The expedition was funded through agrant from the National Science FoundationOffice of Polar Programs, which requiredthe trip to combine research and teaching.This provided the perfect opportunity forVeit to engage CSI students in the project.They were required to enroll in a series ofcourses to help them fully understand theprocedures, problems and protocols thatsuch a research project would demand.

At Punta Arenas, Chile, the researchersboarded the NSF research vessel LaurenceM. Gould and headed for Antarctica.Summer there translates as temperaturesthat hover near 30º Fahrenheit, winds thatcan gust up to 75 mph, and 40-foot-plusocean swells vaulting over the ship’s deck.The Gould needed to deliver supplies toresident research scientists at PalmerStation before sailing on to ElephantIsland and commencing around-the-clockdata collection.

The researchers towed an echo-sounderbehind the ship, which was their

window to the underwater world ofAntarctica. This echo-sounder, whichworks similarly to equipment used bydeep-sea fishermen, was used to locateand study large gatherings of krill, calledswarms, which tend to ride along on theeasterly-flowing current through DrakePassage, which separates South Americaand Antarctica.

As the Gould navigated northwardalong six different 25-mile, north-southpaths called transects, details of the krillswarms were recorded, including theirlocation, density and depth. Southwardbound, they recorded data on the water’sconductivity and temperature at varyingdepths. The ship’s location was recordedvia a Global Positioning System (GPS)every 12 seconds.

One swarm they encountered wasapproximately 6miles long and 80meters thick. Krillswarms could involvethousand of tons ofkrill and have a den-sity as high as 10,000organisms per cubicmeter. Why the krillcongregate in swarmsis unknown; specula-tion about this has

focused on temperature, ocean salinity,nutrient deposits, and the behavior ofocean currents.

As they tracked the location of krill, theresearchers also recorded the species andnumber of birds along the transect linesand details of their behavior. They record-ed data on the birds 24 hours a day (twi-light lasts only from 12:30 to 3:00 A.M. atthis time of year). Working in 12-hourshifts, the students stood on the ocean-tossed deck of the ship in wind-chills thatoften dipped below zero degrees Fahrenheit.

To create a valid database, each bird hadto be continuously observed for aminimum of two minutes. The observerstracked the birds, which could fly at nearly40 miles per hour, while team membersrecorded their behavioral data (where theyfly, turning patterns, water dives, sitting onthe water surface, etc.) This informationwas entered into laptop computers and per-sonal digital assistants (PDA’s), building athorough database to more accurately gen-erate a bird distribution and behavior map.

Veit says that a final goal of this projectis to construct mathematical models

to determine how birds may behavedepending on the presence or absence ofkrill in a given location. Another goal iseventually to discover how the birds locatekrill swarms (for example, visual or olfacto-ry cues or the behavior of other birds or

Of Cheerful Neoprene,Tiny Rainbows, DeceptionIsland, & Chatty PenguinsFrom the journal of CSI studentCristina Rhodes:

Suits are sup-posed to saveour lives if theship sinks—thick neo-prene of apretty intenseorange that

makes you cheerful. But it is asobering thought to consider beingin the engulfing infinity of theocean in a little neoprene suit.

— December 3

The waves breaking against the shipkeep forming nice little rainbows,hinting at a note of happiness inspite of the loud threatening humof the wind and waves causingtremors in the hull of the ship.

— December 17

We are heading towards DeceptionIsland. . .At first sight it looks like acircle of mountains with no access,but as you get closer you see a nar-row passage into the heart of theisland (hence the name). . .Therewere Chinstrap and Gentoo pen-guins, quite inquisitive! The islandwas used in the last century forwhaling. . .Large whale vertebraswere here and there, as well as ribs,all bleached. — December 21

There were so many penguins [atBonaparte Point, near PalmerStation] all around us that it didn’tseem real. Their happy chatter wasnoisy yet pleasant. An elephant sealwas basking in the sun.

—December 23

The echosounder is approximately 15 feet long and was towedalong the starboard side of the ship to minimize interference fromprop noise. It was calibrated to the bio-mass density of krill and fedinformation to an onboard laptop computer which graphically dis-played the underwater world and swarms of krill. Net hauls wereused to confirm data collected.

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A View to a Krill: Antarctic Expedition by College

Top row left to right: Cristina Rhodes, Frank Brooks, Richard Heil, Jarrod Santora, JennyGramza, Carol Demartinis. Bottom row left to right: Andre Bernick, Margaret Riggi, Richard Veit, Bala Sundaram.

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The Laurence M. Gould docked at Palmer Station. Cristina Rhodesin foreground.

Top Photo: This rusty trolley, which took 8 people to operate, was a means of island-hopping.Bottom Photo: NSF Research Vessel Gould, with Adelie penguins..

CUNY MATTERS — May 2002 7

mammals) and how the birds behave whenthey detect the prey, as well as how muchkrill needs to be present and how close tothe ocean surface the crustaceans need tobe for the birds to become interested.

Since a substantial portion of the com-puter modeling involves mathematics,Sundaram, who, like Veit, arrived on theCSI campus in 1996, was asked to join theexpedition. His first-hand accounting ofhow the data is collected and what kind ofdata is available helped shape the acquisi-tion models to facilitate data correlationand improve the accuracy of the projec-tion model.

Sundaram also put together a computerpresentation of the research work inAntarctica for his daughter’s grade schoolclass. “Children love penguins,” Sundaramcommented, “so I included some photosand facts for them. But more than just thepenguins, the presentation opened up theworld of science and mathematics and itspossibilities to them, awaking their imagi-nation. I hope they will carry with themthe understanding of how penguins, birds,krill and the entire Antarctic ecosystem areso closely intertwined with mathematics.”

Word of the excitement their presenta-tion created soon spread, and Veit andSundaram were invited to visit other class-rooms. Their dynamic and engaging pre-sentations, replete with living examples ofAntarctic krill and inflatable penguinimages, have served to instill a sense of thelong-lasting and profound effects of inter-disciplinary scientific study.

Back in his CSI office, Sundaram, assist-ed by Ph.D. student Jarrod Santora,

face the monumental task of correlatingthe 20 gigabytes of data they collected atsea. Each database—krill population, birdpopulation and behavior, and water condi-tions—has been compiled using dedicatedsoftware packages.

These individual databases have beencleaned up and are currently being com-piled and synchronized to the same 12second intervals recorded by the GPS sys-tem. “Jarrod is really earning his Ph.D.with this one,” Veit says, “and once thedata is synchronized we can move ontoanalyzing it.”

What do they hope to accomplish byrunning this data in a real-time model? To find an algorithm, or set of rules, todescribe how the birds behave in the pres-ence of large swarms of krill. “We want tobuild a model,” Sundaram explains, “thatwould have these birds flying around on acomputer…looking for krill.”

If krill eventually become a target ofcommercial fishermen, whether to providekrill as a delicacy or as chicken feed, scien-tists will have a computer model to esti-mate the impact that mass harvests of krillmight have on the Antarctic ecosystem.

At present, only a small amount of krillharvesting—approximately 400,000 tonsper year—is taking place because it is anexpensive proposition. Norwegians con-sume krill in the form of a high proteinpaste and the Japanese enjoy them cookedand peeled, much like shrimp.

Currently, there is no supply route ortransportation infrastructure in place tomove harvested krill to destinations world-wide. Veit recalls that the Soviets used tosend factory trawlers, idle during the harshRussian winters, to harvest krill. Althoughit was a large-scale operation with 10 to12 factory-sized trawlers, the Soviets nevermade a profit. Once the former SovietUnion collapsed in the early 1990s, thenew Russian government abandoned theharvests for economic reasons.

However, once the logistical problemshave been sorted out regarding the massharvesting of krill, commercial fishermenmay turn to krill as a new protein sourcein feeding human and livestock popula-tions. The data collected and the modelsdeveloped by the researchers at CSI mayaid in the formulation of international pol-icy as we feed our world and protect thedelicately balanced Antarctic ecosystem.

As for Veit, he plans to head back toAntarctica again at the end of this year toconduct further research. His current NSFgrant, which provides $85,000 per year forfour years, ends in 2004. College of StatenIsland students with a taste for adventureand who don’t mind the heavily layeredlook will once again be able to join him.

Together, they will help to decidewhether the future of planet earth justmight include krill-burgers.

Mathematically Modeling the Antarctic EcosystemProfessors Richard Veit and Bala Sundaramdescribe the science of their project.

Over the past few years, we have applied recent mathematical developments to thedescription of spatio-temporal dynamics to modeling the foraging habits of birds.

One goal of this research is to learn how seabirds respond to changes in the abundanceand distribution of their principle prey, Antarctic krill, Euphausia superba.

Krill abundance distribution is affected by physical oceanographic processes such asshear fronts and current boundaries. Thus, models of krill and its predators involve theinterplay of Eulerian and Lagrangian dynamics. One novel approach we have beenexploring is “agent-based” modeling, in which seabird and krill dynamics are consideredindependently and “local” rules of engagement constructed for their interplay.

The rules themselves can be derived from observational data, for example, by con-trasting bird behavior in the vicinity of krill swarms to that in areas lacking krill. Inturn, the foraging models will make predictions about the dispersion of birds underdiffering levels of krill abundance. Our long-term goal is to forecast the impact onseabirds of changes in krill stocks. Changes in krill stocks now seem inevitable, dueboth to changes in climate and future commercial harvesting.

For several consecutive Decembers, groups of undergraduate and graduate studentswill help to survey the insular shelf north of Elephant Island, recording the abundance,distribution and behavior of seabirds. Krill abundance is recorded using echo-soundersand corroborated by net hauls and visual sampling. Physical oceanographic characteris-tics are recorded at the same time. Assessing the correlation between these voluminoussets of spatio-temporal data takes considerable effort, and we expect the job will takeabout four months. The primary objective will be to quantify the linkage between preyabundance and bird behavior.

Our teaching goals are, first, to introduce urban college students to a spectacular andeconomically important ecosystem. Through their work on an oceanographic researchvessel, students will be exposed to a diverse research topics and methodologies, rangingfrom behavioral ecology to physical oceanography. On this recent trip, for example, anumber of our students assisted a research group from the Woods HoleOceanographic Institute with their experiments on plankton larvae.

Second, back at their campus, students will participate in our development of themodels for analyzing and describing the data. This is facilitated by the requirementthat all students selected for the trips are required to take courses in mathematical andstatistical modeling prior to being selected.

Our December expedition culminates several years of collaboration in research andteaching, notably team-taught courses in Mathematical Biology at the undergraduateand graduate level. One such course will be offered in the Biology Program at theGraduate Center this fall. For more information about these courses, contact us atveit@postbox.csi.cuny.edu (for Veit) or bas@math.csi.cuny.edu (for Sundaram).

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Anchoring the Laurence M. Gould at the Palmer research station.

of Staten Island Scientists

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By Glenn Corbett

W hile it is well knownthat terrorists com-mandeered two pas-

senger planes and flew theminto the twin towers, it is notexactly clear what series ofevents and conditions causedthe towers to collapse. Whatelements (if any) of the design, construction, and main-tenance of the structures played a role in their demise?How did the towers themselves affect the evacuationand firefighting efforts?

In order to put these crucial questions in context, con-sider these facts. First, the twin towers were the first totalcollapse of burning high-rise buildings in U.S. history.Second, this disaster was the biggest structural failure inthe recorded history of the world. With this in mind, youwould think that large amounts of personnel and financialresources would be put in place to study and learn from

this tragedy. Unfortunately, you would be wrong.To date, very little money has been spent on gather-

ing and analyzing data. A study of the collapse is underway, but the finished report will apparently be limited toproviding a compilation of data and a proposal of severaltheories to explain the collapse—hardly a definitive orexhaustive study. Much of the structural steel hasalready been scrapped, effectively destroying it as poten-tially valuable evidence. Without evidence, the theoriesof collapse may remain just that—theories. Preliminarybuilding evacuation research is currently being conduct-ed by a group of volunteers, although they are lookingfor federal funding for a comprehensive study.

What is needed is a fully resourced and coordinatedeffort to study and learn from the World Trade Center

disaster, which killed three times as many firefighters asare lost in the entire United States in a typical year.Areas of study should include an analysis of the struc-tural design, collapse, building evacuation, firefightingefforts, and the search-and-rescue operations.Doubtless, from such a study would emerge significantand valuable proposals for improving building codes andemergency procedures.

Several members of the fire service, academia, andrelatives of victims have called upon the FederalEmergency Management Agency (FEMA) to take thelead role in ensuring that the World Trade Center disas-ter will be thoroughly studied. In this manner, we willenhance the safety of individuals working and living inhigh-rise buildings as well as provide a permanent lega-cy for the many victims of this terrible tragedy.

Glenn Corbett is Professor of Fire Science at John Jay College, a captain in the Waldick, New Jersey, Fire Department, and technical editor for Fire Engineering magazine.

8 CUNY MATTERS — May 2002

Greeting the more than 500 atten-dees at a Graduate Center confer-ence on “Attack Mentality: A

Student Conference & Survival Guide onJournalism, Media, Internships & Jobs inthe Age of 9/11,” ChancellorMatthew Goldstein remarkedthat the event “forcefullydemonstrated we have a diversestudent body with some of thebrightest future professionalsyou will find anywhere: hun-dreds of student newspaper edi-tors, radio station managers, webpublishers, video producers, andstudents enrolled in journalismand media courses acrossCUNY’s six community and 11senior colleges.” Convincing evi-dence for the proud boast wasimmediately forthcoming, whenthe Chancellor turned to intro-duce the conference’s keynotespeaker, Pulitzer Prize winnerMichael Oreskes of the NewYork Times.

Oreskes—who has risenduring his 20-year career atthe Times from metropolitanreporter to assistant managingeditor and director of electronic news—began his journalistic career as a prodi-gious reporter on the CCNY campus andeditor of the college paper, the Campus.While there Oreskes won a NewspaperFund scholarship, interned at the WallStreet Journal and contributed to theDaily News as the campus “stringer” (hegraduated in 1975).

Recognizing Oreskes’ distinguishedcareer and his loyalty to the University,Gold-stein surprised him and the audi-ence in the Proshanksy Auditorium withthe conferral of the Chancellor’s AlumniAchievement Award in Journalism.

In his address at the March 1 event,Oreskes recalled his days as an undergrad-uate, and reminded the students assem-bled that they share in a unique traditionof access and excellence that has helpeduplift generations of New Yorkers. "Carryit proudly," he advised.

The Oreskes keynote highlighted a

day of panels, discussions and an extreme-ly popular Career and Job Fair organizedby Vice Chancellor for UniversityRelations Jay Hershenson and UniversityDirector for Media Relations Michael

Arena, with strong support from a specialfaculty steering committee. In morningsessions, conferees explored several topicson methods of generating and deliveringinformation.

Correspondents described their expe-riences in a panel on “War Stories: FromCUNY to Covering the Middle East andAfghanistan,” while war stories of a pro-fessional kind were offered by the panelon “Hard Knocks: Lessons from the JobWorld.” The art of interviewing wasaddressed by a panel wittily titled “VelvetGloves, Rubber Mallets and Other UsefulTechniques.”

Other panels considered “Journalismand the Law,” “Big Sports on Campus:How to Cover Your Team,” “WebDesign/Newspaper Design: The Look, the Feel,the Message,” and “Crisis on Campus:How Two Student Journalists Respondedto 9/11.”

University journalism professors mod-erated many panels, and panelists were

among the city’s leading professionals intelevision, radio, print and web media.They included: Joseph Calderone, DailyNews investigations editor; former CNNgeneral counsel Eve Burton; NY1 politicalanalyst and co-host Dominic Carter;News Channel 4 reporter Ti-Hua Chang;New York Times columnist (and CCNY‘66 grad) Clyde Haberman; Lonnie Isabel,Newsday assistant managing editor; ClemRichardson, Daily News columnist;Nelson Wong, Sony New Music Lab sen-ior director; and former New York UPIbureau chief (and current assistant toChancellor Goldstein) Judith Watson.

Burton, nationally recognized for herwork in defense of the First Amendmentand a frequent lecturer at journalismgraduate schools, was struck by the inten-sity—and diversity—of her audience. “Thenewsrooms need you in print and broad-cast,” she said. “One of things missing inmy view is people of all different back-grounds reporting from all different per-spectives. I urge you not to give up onyour desires. Go forward into the main-stream newsrooms in our country.”

The number of student journalists attend-ing represented a nearly five-fold increasefrom the previous media conference. Ofparticular interest to them was a mid-dayJob Fair held in the Graduate CenterConcourse. Representatives from 25organizations, including major newspa-pers, several TV stations and magazines,were there to speak about employmentopportunities.

A lively spe-cial session ofCUNY Forumwas also taped atCUNY-TV.Hosted by BobLiff, journalistsfrom the VillageVoice, theWashington Postand El Diario-LaPrensa debatedhow New York iscoping with theevents ofSeptember 11and fielded ques-tions from stu-

dents and faculty in the audience.Appraising the conference earlier at

the afternoon plenary session, ExecutiveVice Chancellor Louise Mirrer called it “amodel of what can be accomplishedthrough the collaboration of committedpeople pooling their resources and talentsin the service of a common goal.”

Reiterating Chancellor Goldstein’sboast, Mirrer concluded her remarks byunderscoring the distinct advantages ofher audience’s location—in New York andon a CUNY campus. “Having you here inone room reinforces ChancellorGoldstein's ideal of a truly integrated CityUniversity, a force that combinesstrengths to make a whole that is greaterthan the sum of its parts,” she noted.

CUNY, she added, is “a great place tobecome involved in the media, perhapseven to focus on a kind of urban journal-ism…New Yorkers have a gritty sophistica-tion and a special way of seeing the world.And we have that New York edge. Theseare our strengths, and they carry over toour student body, which reflects the city’sethnic diversity, many of them minority,many foreign born, many women.”

The Executive Vice Chancellor con-cluded by urging the organizers of theconference to build upon this success. “Ihope you can use today's event as alaunching pad for further collaborativeactivities. I am pleased to be with youtoday and I'd like to offer the full supportof the Office of Academic Affairs forfuture endeavors.”

Sheila Rule, left, of the New York Times offers career advice at the JobFair. More than 25 media recruiters attended.

R e B U I L D i n g N E W Y O R K

Fire Scientist

Student Media Conference Addresses “Attack Mentality” after 9/11

Michael Oreskes of the New York Times (and CCNYgrad, Class of 1975) delivering his keynote address.

CUNY MATTERS — May 2002 9

It took eight men in white jumpsuitsand respirators five days to clean ourapartment. Cost: $8,500. The bill for

dry cleaning came to $16,500. I live with my wife and two children

just 500 feet from Ground Zero, in the clos-est residential building currently re-certifiedfor occupation. I stood on my balcony andwatched the buildings burn. I was on thestreet when they came down. I was blownout of my house for the following threemonths, but nothing had paralyzed me untilthat dry cleaning came back.

There was every tie and towel andshirt and sheet and belt and bikini weowned, each on its own wire hanger,encased in plastic. I couldn’t do anythingbut look it at all lying in piles on the beds,the couches, the chairs, the floor.Everywhere but in the closets.

My Introduction to Journalism stu-dents at the College of Staten Island werewonderful: no one mentioned I waswearing the same outfit day after day.Instead, they wanted to know if my fami-ly needed a place to stay. When class firstresumed, I asked them to vote and theydecided to continue the semester with the

original syllabus. We had some reading tocatch up on and an article in arrears, butif they were determined to focus on aca-demics, I would try.

Perhaps they understood better than Iwhat an optimal moment it would be tostudy journalism, to grasp the visceral rel-evance of our printed daily bread.

And September 11 did have unforeseenconsequences: It threw our class discus-sions deep into the compact essences ofheadline, “deck” (journalist’s lingo for anexplanatory subheadline), and caption. Itpropelled our explorations into the glitter-ing surfaces of leads, the balanced intrica-cies of transitions, the compressed eleganceof the “nut-graph” (the paragraph thatreveals the essence of a story ). All-too-familiar old concepts like “image” and “con-tent” and “objectivity” suddenly demandedour full attention. We began to revere thetransparent agency of active verbs.

A galvanized student newspapersought to articulate what our lives hadbecome through articles ranging fromthoughtful commentaries about loss tofurious polemics about U.S. foreign policyto a flattering profile of the President ofCSI’s Muslim Student Association.

In the meantime I was gaining a newperspective on the art of the interview—what it feels like to answer rather than ask

all the questions. Every day,more reporters called. First itwas USA Today (we made thecover), then New YorkNewsday (a feature), then theNew York Times (front page,below the fold). TheAssociated Press placed a shotof the family in local papersfrom Florida to Oregon. Wesaid yes to German PublicRadio, yes to the AmsterdamNews, MSNBC, CBS, C-SPAN, NY1.

We said no to InsideEdition, no to CNN, no toABC. It got to be too much,but the calls, like the crowdsthat surged around ourbuilding, kept coming. Atone point I was tempted toagree with Gerson Borrero(editor of El Diario/LaPrensa), who declared at lastmonth’s CUNY MediaConference that he was sickof the whole story. It had made the frontpage too many times. It was dead.

I wish it were so. I wish it was yesterday’snews, but it isn’t. At our most recent co-op board meeting, six months to the dayafter the events the El Diario/La Prensaeditor has grown so tired of hearing about,we were treated to an hour-and-a-halflecture about the impending threat of low-micron lead particulates, pulverized glass,vaporized mercury, and rampant mold.

It isn’t that the City’s Department ofEnvironmental Protection or the Federal

Lens Craft on the Terrible DayAs soon as the Twin Towers were hit, John Montalvo Jr.’s photographer’s instincts kicked in. Hegrabbed his Nikon and began a marathon photo shoot, walking from the Bronx down to GroundZero, sometimes deftly skirting checkpoints. One angry police sergeant caught him and confiscatedfour precious rolls. The powerful results have given the Queensborough Community College major inphotography and fine arts—he’s also taking some City College photography courses—some well-deserved exposure: a spread in the Queens Courier and a show in Jersey City. Seen here are imagescaptured on Montalvo’s 9/11 trek: a policeman with bullhorn near City Hall, two firemen acrossthe street from Ground Zero, and a crane already at work at Ground Zero late in the afternoon.

Frederick Kaufman, professor of Englishand journalism at the College of StatenIsland, describes finding disaster and mediafame in his back yard.

Life Resumes 500 Feet from Ground Zero

Environmental Protection Agency won’ttell us if pollutants have exceeded stan-dards; it turns out there are no residentialstandards for indoor air.

So our household prepares for thenext spate of expulsions. Out go all thecouches, all the shades and drapes andwindow treatments. Every single uphol-stered barstool and ottoman must hit thesidewalk, everything but the floors.Should they go, too?

For those of us who live downtownthe story continues. Only the clotheshave been put in the closet.

10 CUNY MATTERS — May 2002

This first new department inCity College’s School ofEngineering since 1968 and

the first new CCNY engineeringdepartment since 1937 wasapproved in January by the Boardof Trustees. The BiomedicalEngineering Department will offeran undergraduate degree, as wellas the Ph.D. and M.S. programsthat had already been approvedby New York State in 1999 and2000, respectively.

The Trustees’ approval was theculmination of eight years’ effortby CUNY Distinguished Profes-sors Sheldon Weinbaum and StephenCowin, both members of CCNY’sDepartment of Mechanical Engineering.

Funds for the creation of the newdepartment and degree program werelargely obtained from $3.7 million inexternal infrastructure grants receivedsince last fall from the National Institutesof Health (NIH), the Whitaker and SloanFoundations, and the U.S. Departmentof Education. The largest of the grants,a $2.2 million award from NIH forundergraduate minority education in alife science, was one of only two suchawards nationally.

An NIH review of the proposal forthis new department called it “outstandingin every respect. A major strength is thatit builds on a foundation of faculty com-mitment and existing hospital partnershipswith research institutions in the area.”These partnerships, which were firstbegun in 1994, were forged by the NewYork Center for Biomedical Engineering(NYCBE), a CUNY Research Institutethat involves CCNY faculty in the Schoolof Engineering and Science Division andfaculty at seven of the premier health careinstitutions in New York City.

The NIH review also noted that “thefaculty and research mentors are, without

exception, outstandingscientists, with on-goingfunded projects.” CUNYDistinguished ProfessorSheldon Weinbaum ofCCNY’s Department ofMechanical Engineeringsaid that “no other bio-medical engineering pro-gram in the U.S. hasaccess to such a diversegroup of world class medical institutions.”

The undergraduate program will admit itsfirst freshman class this coming fall. Manyof these 25 students will receive full-tuition scholarships provided by the NIHand Whitaker grants and the new CUNYHonors College Program. A unique fea-ture awaiting these new majors will begrant funding of $17,000 per student tosupport hands-on research projects in theresearch laboratories at City College orone of the seven hospital partners ofNYCBE during their junior and senioryears. The $17,000 will include stipendsto avoid the need to work after school andfunds for research supplies and travel.

In addition to the student researchawards, the five-year NIH grant willprovide for 60 full-tuition scholarships for

minority students, seed money for thedevelopment of the instructional laborato-ries, and courses for the new undergradu-ate degree program in biomedical engi-neering, while also greatly enhancing anexisting summer outreach program forinner-city high schools. When the newPh.D. program was reviewed for Stateaccreditation in 1999 by prominent exter-nal evaluators, it was cited "as the singlemost effective program for the educationof minority Ph.D.s in the U.S." in the field.

Weinbaum notes that the grantswill “provide entree for New York Cityhigh school students into a dramatical-ly growing field that many believe willbe the basis of a revolution betweenbiology and engineering in the 21stcentury.” Until relatively recently, he

added, “students from underrepresent-ed groups had been largely excludedfrom careers in this field because mostbiomedical engineering programs wereat costly private universities.”

Plans for the new department include thedevelopment of four new undergraduateinstructional laboratories: a cell, tissue, andmolecular engineering laboratory; a biome-chanics and design laboratory; a data acqui-sition and bio-instrumentation laboratory;and a computer laboratory. An animalresearch laboratory is also planned. TheWhitaker Foundation grant calls for therecruitment of two new faculty and anassociated hire in bioinformatics in theDepartment of Computer Science; theywill join the six core faculty who will foundthe department.

The New York Center forBiomedical Engineering was founded in1994 with a $750,000 Whitaker SpecialOpportunity Award, and its faculty andgraduate students have received manyprestigious honors and awards. Thisincludes an NSF Career Award toBingmei Fu, American Heart AssociationFellowships to Peter Butler and Jie Song,and several Biomedical EngineeringSociety student research awards.

Biomedical Engineering faculty havereceived numerous awards and honors,including two Melville Medals (the high-est award of the American Society ofMechanical Engineers for an originalresearch paper), the Research Award ofthe European Society of Biomechanics,and two additional $1,000,000 WhitakerSpecial Opportunity awards.

A special event in CCNY’s Great Hallon March 22 celebrating the new depart-ment brought together assistant principalsof science and college advisors from morethan 200 New York City high schools. Formore information about the NYCBE, visitwww.ccny.cuny.edu/nycbe.

When Miles and Shirley Fitermanpresented 30 West Broadway toBorough of Manhattan Commu-

nity College in 1993, history was made: itwas the largest capital gift ever given to aUnited States community college. WhenTower 7 came crashing down on it on9/11, the bad news was just as historic.Renovation of Fiterman Hall (as it waslater renamed) was nearing completion,and the building’s 82,550 square feet ofmuch-needed classroom space was aboutto come fully “online.”

Much of Fiterman was already in use,and replacing these classrooms became aninstant necessity. With downtown spaceat a premium and much of the neighbor-ing area in chaos, it was impossible to findappropriate rental classroom space quick-ly. CUNY Vice Chancellor for FacilitiesEmma Macari issued an all-points plea forimmediate assistance from within CUNYand the extended educational community(donations of furniture and equipment

came from as far away as Michigan).Temporary structures were investigat-

ed, and, with the help of ChancellorGoldstein, six trailers first intended forthe Board of Education were insteadspeedily delivered to 199 ChambersStreet, allowing classes to resume thereon October 1.

Within six days of the disaster, CUNYplanners had investigated various sites andother campuses for additional temporarystructures, and City College was identifiedas the strongest possibility because of itslocation in the same borough and theavailability of outdoor space in CCNYparking lots.

Enter the “Trailer Heroes,” commanded byJoanna Pestka, director of CUNY’sDepartment of Design, Construction, andManagement. With many prospectiveusers skeptical that classrooms could bemade ready within the blink of an eye,Pestka pulled together a team of archi-

tects, engineers and contrac-tors, tenaciously bulldozingobstacles when they arose.

The DormitoryAuthority of the State ofNew York (DASNY) wasable to move on the projectimmediately because it hada slate of pre-qualifiedconsultants and contractorson call. Helpern Architectsand Lakhani & JordanEngineers quickly preparedcontract documents accord-ing to the scope of workand obtained expeditiousapproval of the entire project from all therelevant government offices.

Then Tom Zakarian (the DASNYproject manager), TDX Construction, andthe contractors—Beys Construction,Kullman Industries, Lund Fire Products,Siemens, and SJ Electric—swung intoaction to meet the January 27 deadline,the first day of Spring Semester. Thechallenge: pour 800 concrete piers, installtrailers to accommodate 840 students and

faculty, and layout 14,000square feet ofdecking, stairs,and ramps be-tween the trailers.

The contrac-tors cooperatedon a level notoften expe-rienced in theindustry, workinglong hours sevendays a week.They kept theireyes on the goaland met thatdate. As thetrailers were

connected to electric, to water and heat,everyone began to sense that the first dayof classes was really going to be the firstday of classes. It took just six weeks toget the trailers installed—the fastest30,300 square foot installation CUNYhas ever experienced.

Of course, CUNY and BMCCmade sure there was a “topping off”party where the “trailer heroes” werefed, thanked, and applauded.

Judith Berke, a CUNY Project Coordinator based at City College, reports on the constructionof a “blink of the eye” temporary campus for Lower Manhattan students in Morningside Heights.

“Trailer Heroes” of BMCC Build at CCNY

New City College Biomedical Engineering DepartmentGathering toannounce the newCCNY departmenton March 22 are,from left, professorsStephen Cowin,Sheldon Weinbaum,Mohammad Karim,and CCNY PresidentGregory Williams.

At right, CCNY chemicaland biomedical engineering pro-fessor Lane Gilchrist, left, withdoctoral student ParthasarathySampathkumar,conducting anexperiment using a cell culturebioreactor. The apparatus pro-duces a controlled environmentfor the culturing of micro-organ-isms. Photo, Connie Waldinger.

CUNY MATTERS — May 2002 11

19th CENTURY’S SECOND MOST FAMOUS WOMAN

A Life of Laura Bridgman—Disabled Pioneer in Education

Imagine Laura Bridgman, deaf, dumb,and blind. Picture her in 1837, justbefore Samuel Gidley Howe, the

director of the Perkins Institution forthe Blind, found her in a NewHampshire farmhouse and brought herto Boston to be educated. She is sevenyears old, a pretty, delicate, sprightlychild, appealing in looks and manner.Five years have passed since scarletfever raged through her family, killingher two older sisters and leaving herwithout sight, hearing, or speech, andwith only a faint sense of smell or taste.Only touch remains to her now.

At seven, Laura can no longer recallher mother’s face or voice, and if sheever saw the image of herself in a mir-ror, she has forgotten it. Deprived ofstimulating sights, sounds, and odors,she inhabits a world of deadeningmonotony. All conscious memory ofverbal language is gone. She lives inexile not only from sounds andwords, but from the human commu-nity of exchanged smiles andglances, the mirroring of face-to-facecommunion. Her parents pat herhead to show approval and tap herback to reprimand her, but there isno other way to let her know thatshe is a being—a person—to whomothers respond.

Because she had two developmentallynormal years before her devastating ill-ness, Laura has perhaps maintained anawareness of a core self that silentlyexperiences and records the muffledimpact of external events. No doubt sheexperiences her own body as somethingthat feels pain, hunger, thirst, or satisfac-tion and that moves at her bidding.

She can make a few rudimentarysigns to communicate her needs. But cutoff from the sights and sounds of the out-side world, deficient in language, andlacking an image of her own face, she canhave little sense of an active, consciousself, a self that can share in the world ofother people, a self that can tell its owntale. She does not know her name.

Five years later, this pitiful little girl hadbecome the most celebrated child inAmerica. Although today she is virtuallyunknown, the Boston Evening Transcriptof June 14, 1851, ventured that, withthe exception only of Queen Victoria,Laura Bridgman was the most famousfemale in the entire world. The firstdeaf-blind person ever to be educated,she became not only the subject of sci-entific and pedagogical research, but auniversal darling.

Before Laura Bridgman proved other-wise, deaf-blind people had been classi-fied with idiots; according to the influen-tial British jurist William Blackstone,they were “incapable of any understand-ing, as wanting all those senses which

furnish the humanmind with ideas.” Bylearning to read raisedprint, to write intelli-gibly, and to “talk”using the finger alpha-bet, Laura establishedthat even the mostsensorially deprivedperson could gainaccess to languageand, through language,to the world of human culture.

Because she had been almost com-pletely isolated from sense data, Laurawas the ideal subject for investigation ofthe nature and origin of language andideas. Scientists of the period imagined

her as a living laboratory for experi-ments into the nature of the humanmind, a psychological blank slate, JohnLocke’s tabula rasa come to life.

But Laura was more than an idealsubject for research and investigation;she was also the perfect Victorian victim-heroine: small, pleasing to look at,innocent, and frail, a paragon of cheerfulsuffering. Scores of articles and poems inreligious tracts and women’s magazinesglorified her as a redemptive angelwhose plight would touch the mosthardened hearts, whose instinctive inno-

cence and purity were exemplary, andwhose rescue from spiritual imprison-ment movingly reenacted the Christiandrama. Born and educated 50 yearsbefore Helen Keller, Laura was thevaliant little victim of her own day.And, like Keller, she was an intellectualphenomenon, a kind of genius.

From the beginning, the world judgedBridgman and Keller as if they werecontestants in a deaf-blind MissAmerica pageant. Laura was the out-dated prototype, inferior in beauty andaccomplishments and deficient in con-geniality; Keller was the almost normalwinner, talented, charming, altruistic,good-looking, even sexy. Laura wasquaint and old-fashioned, a relic of the19th century; Keller was the latestimprovement, a talking, sociable, activedisabled celebrity.

Such comparisons do justice to nei-ther woman. Keller became the successshe was because at her side she hadAnne Sullivan, the selfless, smart, lovingteacher- companion that Laura alwaysthought she wanted. Her teacher’sdevotion made Keller’s life as a belovedpublic figure possible, but also exacteda price. Even if she rebelled inwardly atSullivan’s “merciless” expectation, Kellerhad to appear to embrace them. Exceptin her angry dreams, she suppressed thepain and rage she must at times havefelt. “I demand that the world be good,”she wrote, “and lo, it obeys. I proclaimthe world good, and facts range them-selves to prove my proclamation over-whelmingly true.”

Compared to Keller, Laura led adull, dependent existence. She wasborn too soon to benefit from Braille.Her sharp, inquisitive mind probablydid not develop to its full potential.Although she longed for intimacy, shenever again found it after her earlyteacher-companion Sarah Wight leftthe Perkins Institute in 1850, whenLaura was 21.

Yet Laura achieved a kind of free-dom. Because she felt no compulsion toplease, she could choose her ownfriends and make demands upon them.Malleable only up to a point, she stub-bornly asserted her right to make herdisconcerting “deaf” noises. She was nomore generous, noble, or altruistic thanthe rest of us, and she never pretendedto suffer fools gladly. Defying Howe,she converted to the religion that suitedher. And through all her sorrows anddisappointments, Laura managed toremain her unalterable self: witty, irrita-ble, curious, demanding, and, in herway, brilliant.

To Laura Bridgman

Be thine the task, O! Generous Howe, to guideThe imprisoned guest, through Nature’s ample fields

To draw the curtain of her wealth aside,And show the pleasure that true science yields;

To tread the path by learning seldom trod,That leads “from nature up to nature’s God.”

—W. Holmes, circa 1850

In 1837, the founder of the first American school for theblind, Samuel Howe, heard of a young deaf and blind girlin a New England farming family named LauraBridgman. He resolved, in the tradition of Bernard Shaw’sProfessor Henry Higgins, to rescue her from her life of dep-rivation, and in the process not only commenced the field ofeducation for the multiply disabled but also created amedia sensation.

In her recent book The Imprisoned Guest (Farrar,Straus & Giroux), John Jay College professor of EnglishElisabeth Gitter records the life of Bridgman (1829-1889) and “her troubling, tumultuous relationship withHowe, who rode Laura’s achievements to his own fame.”

Gitter, who has taught at John Jay since 1972 and is the current chair of the CUNY-BA Committee, was initially inspired to learn more about Bridgman from the movingessay Charles Dickens wrote after meeting her on a trip to the U.S. in 1842 (it is in hisAmerican Notes). A stop, on impulse, at Howe’s schoolin Boston led to her discovery of a trove of hithertounexplored documents in its basement illuminatingBridgman’s life, including her letters and journals.Following here is an excerpt from Gitter’s prologueand another comparing Bridgman with Helen Keller,whose fame eventually eclipsed that of her pioneer-ing predecessor.

BOOK TALKOF THE CITY

C an you help us get badly neededrepairs at our child’s school?How do we stop a restaurant

owner in our community from adding asidewalk café? What do I have to do toget my landlord to turn on the heat?What’s with these tour buses idling theirengines in front of my apartment?Where do I get a flu shot? How can Iget rid of my old refrigerator?

Answers to such questions—and manyothers asked of City Council members—were just part of the agenda at a three-dayorientation seminar held by the Center forTransition and Leadership in Governmentat Baruch College’s School of PublicAffairs. The seminar was the result of anintensive two-year “Project on Transitionand Leadership” initiated by the School’sDean, Stan Altman, who recognized thatthe new term-limit law would create a

huge class of freshman on the CityCouncil. Of the 51 districts, 38 were slat-ed to lose an incumbent. Many of theirsuccessors, Altman expected, would nothave any prior legislative experience.

“This is a whole new world for NewYork City government and a truly criti-cal time for New York City,” the Deansaid prior to the seminar. “Faced withdifficult budget choices in the daysahead, the city will be led by individu-als with little or no prior governmentexperience. The Transition Project hasbeen specifically designed to providethe men and women elected to the CityCouncil. . .with the tools and knowl-edge they need to carry out their criti-cal roles governing the city.”

Project planners modeled the semi-nar after the annual briefings for newly-elected members of Congress run by

the John F. Kennedy School ofGovernment in Cambridge, Mass.

At the seminar, new legislatorsheard from former Council membersKenneth Fisher and Thomas Ognibene,as well as several prominent movers-and-shakers like Bill Rudin, presidentof the Association for a Better NewYork, Alair Townsend, publisher ofCrain’s New York Business, andEugene McGrath, chairman and CEOof ConEd.

Journalists offered a session on“Getting Noticed: Pointers from thePress.” Members had good reason topay attention: they will have to runagain in 2003, instead of holding officefor the standard four-year term. Thisshort term is mandated in the CityCharter for alternate census years, sothat New Yorkers do not have to waitfive years after the census for reappor-tioned councilmanic districts.

Alair Townsend, also a former NewYork City Budget Director and DeputyMayor, summed up the success of theproject when she said that, “given theincredible turnover in city government,it was extremely important to have anorientation session that provided anoverview and a fundamental under-standing of how government works.”

In addition to the seminar, theCenter for Transition and Leadershipin Government—led by co-directorsBarbara J. Fife, Director of ExternalAffairs at the School of Public Affairsand a deputy mayor in the Dinkinsadministration, and Baruch political

scientistDouglas Muzzio—also produced a publication titled Council Members’Guide to New York City Government.

This valuable resource informs Councilmembers of the many agencies that willhelp them respond to constituents’requests, and also includes informationabout how to organize a staff and howto follow the intricacies of the budget-making process.

The Guide also lays out provisionsof the City Charter, the rules of theCouncil, relations with the StateLegislature, ethics guidelines, and theCouncil’s investigative and oversightresponsibilities. Among several otherchapters are reviews of land use, publicsafety, housing, and transportation issues.

Helen Sears, a community activist formany years who is now the Councilmember for District 25 in Queens, wasvery grateful for Baruch College’s multi-faceted “heads up.” “The sessions weresuperb. They presented the most inten-sive and comprehensive highly specializedtraining, with top people explaining everyaspect of government,” Sears said. “I con-stantly refer to the guide when dealingwith the challenges and problems of theCouncil’s daily operations.”

Visitors to the Dining Commons at the Graduate Centernow have a choice—not a gustatory choice (there have

always been plenty of those) but a visual one. They can standat the east end, look skyward, and take in the Empire StateBuilding. Or they can stand on the west end of the Commons,look up, and tie their eyes around Frank Stella’s exuberant andmonumental “Dove of Tanna,” created in 1977.

The brilliantly colorful work, in mixed media onaluminum, was recently installed on long-term loan from theWhitney Museum of American Art, which received it in 1990as a gift from the family of Victor W. Ganz in his memory.Though enormous—13' x 19' x 3'—“Dove of Tanna” spreadsits wings comfortably in the monumental space of the

Exotic Bird Alights at The Graduate CenterCommons, and the vast skylight allows access to what everybig bird needs.

Stella, long associated with New York City’s art scene,grew up in Malden, Massachusetts, studied at Princeton,then achieved his first local recognition in the 1960s as partof the color-field and hard-edge movements. Initially, heworked with a monochromatic palette and adhered to rigidshapes and parallel lines. “Dove of Tanna,” part of Stella’sexotic bird series, typifies his later work, which breaks awayfrom two-dimensional painting and employs vibrant colorand sculptural form.

© 2002 Frank Stella /Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

CUNY MATTERSOffice of University RelationsThe city University of New York535 East 80th St.New York, NY 10021

Councilman Bill DiBlasio, left, speaking with Baruch College Professor Douglas Muzzio at alunch-time forum; Councilman Kendall Stewart is at center rear.

ChancellorMatthew Goldstein

Vice Chancellor forUniversity Relations

Jay Hershenson

University Director ofMedia Relations

Michael ArenaEditor: Gary Schmidgall

Managing Editor: Rita RodinPhotographer: André Beckles

Graphic Design: Gotham DesignArticles in this and previous issues are availableat www.cuny.edu/cunymatters. Letters or sugges-tions for future stories may be sent to the Editor atthe address above right or by email toGary.Schmidgall@mail.cuny.edu

Board of TrusteesThe City University of New York

Satish K. BabbarJohn J. CalandraWellington Z. ChenKenneth CookAlfred B. Curtis, Jr.Joseph J. LhotaRandy M. Mastro

John MorningKathleen M. PesileGeorge J. RiosNilda Soto RuizJeffrey Wiesenfeld

Benno C. Schmidt Jr.Vice Chairman

Richard J. Nuñez-LawrenceChairperson, CUNY Student Senate

Bernard SohmerChairperson, CUNY Faculty Senate

Baruch Orients City Council Freshmen