Reorganization endangers non-credit ESL

 

By Marco Siler-Gonzales
The Guardsman

A controversial move by City College administrators to re-organize the ESL department faces continued skepticism from faculty and students who say the move will undermine educational goals for thousands of students.

At the special trustee board meeting on Jan. 22, Chancellor Arthur Tyler rationalized the need to reduce the number of ESL department chairs from 61 to 53 and to split credit and non-credit into separate departments. Chancellor Tyler said the move would not only induce a more manageable supervision, but it would lend more voice for unique student learning requirements.

“We’re concerned about the student’s goals. About 60 percent of our credit students have non-credit backgrounds.,” ESL Department Chair Greg Keech said. “We haven’t heard any real reason for the split — what we’ve heard is a management reason. That’s not student centered.”

Department cutbacks, according to Keech, contradicts the student population between credit and non-credit. “Last year we served 20,000 non-credit students and 2,600 credit. So if this goes through there’s still going to be 20,000 students in one department. What does that accomplish?”

Keech said the success of non-credit students, specifically Latinos and Pacific Islanders, has not been measured. “In non-credit, students progress at their own rate. What they’re trying to do is acquire the language, in order for them to do whatever they want. They can decide what their goals are, we don’t need to decide that for them.”

The intangible success of non-credit ESL students, according to some faculty,  provides serious doubt that their interests will be adhered to in the restructuring.

Dr Steve Mayer’s of the literature department said the success of non-credit ESL students is harder to track, making it less feasible for the state to fund. “There’s not really anyone tracking what were the goals of non-credit students, and how they fulfilled them or not. Student success comes in many forms, like language and job skills, not just degrees.”

The apparent disregard for non-credit student success also concerns Professor David Palaita, a spokesperson for the Pacific Islander community at City College. “We’re not paying attention to the working-class students. When you re-organize, were restricting access for these students. What does that say to students when they see their department’s put into a box?”

The administration’s elusive reasoning for ESL reorganization has led faculty and students fearful for the future of their disciplines.

“Anytime you restructure, someone’s about to lose out, but what’s not clear is who,” Palaita said. “The less information people know, the less upheaval people will create. I think that’s the approach here.”

This top down decision to split the credit and non-credit ESL departments have led faculty to consider a harsher reality.

“People don’t support non-credit because they don’t understand the funding formula,” Keech said. ”Another thing people don’t understand is that it’s open entry open exit. People see non-credit as non-academic.”

Due to the unrecognized success of non-credit ESL students, faculty fear student’s ambitions and objectives (other than a degree) will ultimately become marginalized within the restructuring, and even become obsolete.