#MacaulaySOWhite? CUNY Student Organization Exposes Inequities in CUNY’s Honors College
Words by Kazi Maisha
Graphics by Aspasia Celia Tsampas
CUNY is often remarked for its high inclusivity of BIPOC and people of poor socioeconomic standing. In fact, I transferred to CCNY from a private university, so that I could better afford college. With this in mind, the Macaulay Honors Program seems jarringly out of place. In 2018, BIPOC students consisted of 75% of the CUNY population, but our university-wide honors program was 50% white and only 7% black. There has since been a decrease in the number of black students in the Macaulay program, with 6.5% of the incoming freshmen class identifying as black. These statistics imply that Macaulay is a predominantly white institution that continues to propagate systemic racism and educational inequities that leave BIPOC students with less resources.
Noticing this issue, CUNY for Abolition and Safety (an anti-racist, multicultural, and cross-campus student coalition) has taken the respectable task to vouch for a more equitable honors system. Their representatives state that, “Enough is enough. It's time for equity in student success. It's time for Macaulay to reflect our CUNY students, not the upper class, out-of-state elites.”
To promote their campaign, the members of the coalition are in the process of collecting stories from BIPOC students that detail how they were discriminated against within the honors program. Some stories are shared below:
“I was a member of the Macaulay Business Club, the only student from Lehman at that. After a disagreement with one of the VPs...she was white, she told me, "you need to learn how to speak to people who are superior to you." Filled with anger, I did not respond and went straight to student development the same day. Telling my story and showing all the text message exchanges, I was sure that student development would see it as a microaggressive comment. However, when they met with her and the President of the club, they totally disregarded the actual complaint, the microaggressive comment. I quit the club and never looked back. I did not want to join a Macaulay club since it seemed administration was not even on my side.”
Screenshot taken from the @cunyforabolition Instagram page
“Every time I've been to the Macaulay building or attended a Macaulay event, I was struck by how white the administration is. Only the security guards or the janitors are black/of color. Overall, it's an uncomfortable atmosphere for people of color, and this isn't even considering the shamefully low and disproportionate numbers of black students admitted to Macaulay. Macaulay and CUNY Honors programs wonder why their students aren't "involved" in their spaces, but those spaces are not created for students of color. The required Macaulay seminars (and orientation) were also heavily focused in white/European culture, and all four of them were taught by white professors. Most of the professors for the Upper Level classes are also white. I've always felt like an outsider within Macaulay. Finally, while I'm grateful for the benefits I've gained from Macaulay, it is unacceptable that the numbers of black students and students of other ethnicities are not in keeping with the rest of CUNY. Black people and people of color make New York City what it is. We make CUNY what it is. We lead the cultural organizations and clubs, and student movements. The resources that Macaulay offers should not be limited to white students, and to an extent, Asian students. Get rid of this false scarcity. Give all students what they need. This withholding of resources is racism in its most basic, material sense.”
“I have had a seminar professor randomly bring up a discussion about police brutality during office hours simply because I am black. I was there to discuss my research paper that had nothing to do with racial policing.”
“I know for a fact that there are white students admitted to and/or enrolled in Macaulay who say the n word or make racially insensitive ‘jokes.’ Macaulay’s administration was made aware, but these students were not disciplined at all. This made me feel like my valid feelings and concerns were not valued at Macaulay.”
“In my last Macaulay seminar, my professor did a unit on policing during which he expressed how he agreed with the broken windows theory and believed that increased policing was not harmful and was in fact an effective way to handle ‘high crime areas.’ I was the only one of two black students in the class and I felt that his lessons did not capture the harmful nature of policing and the anti-blackness inherent in the broken windows theory. It was my least favorite part of the seminar.”
Currently, over 60 stories have been submitted and formatted into an open letter directed towards the Macaulay administration. The letter includes demands to make the honors program more equitable, including:
Increasing outreach to black and brown NYC high schools by financially supporting the MDI’s Guidance Counselor Project.
Establishing a holistic admissions approach, which includes ceasing acceptance of any form of SAT or ACT tests.
Incorporating anti-racism training into the new student orientations, which should be led by activists of color.
Standardizing the curriculum such that it contains diverse voices, texts, and theories (as well as requiring at least one liberal arts class in pluralism and diversity).
Increasing the hiring of black and indigenous educators and advisors.
Expanding mental health staff (prioritizing black, brown, and culturally competent counselors) and resources exclusively for BIPOC students.
In response to these stories and demands, Dean Mary Pearl, the dean of the Macaulay Honors College, sent out a letter to students on September 11th acknowledging that Macaulay does have a smaller percentage of black and Latinx students compared to other CUNY institutions. What she has offered is the promotion of the Diversity Initiative, which is a student collective where peers volunteer to go out to high schools to recruit applicants. This promotion has been criticized because it relies on the free labor of students instead of pushing the administration to resolve the issue themselves. Dean Pearl has also detailed how students applying to the Class of 2025 will now require a character reference, which asks for a person to write about the applicant’s character and suitability for a diverse community of scholars that places a high value on appreciation and respect for that diversity. While these means may help alleviate the educational inequities within our university-wide honors system, it is imperative to note that the system is far from thoroughly equitable. The plan does not state how to counteract inequities within the current Macaulay classes, including the Classes of 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
