CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

On September 3, 1968, the “Presidential Search Committee” comprised of five City University of New York (CUNY) officials and five appointed representatives of the Bedford-Stuyvesant community, met to discuss a new CUNY college planned for Central Brooklyn. In this meeting, the Presidential Search Committee discussed issues of concern to Bedford-Stuyvesant constituents, including the development of a curriculum that represented the community’s priorities, and possibilities for the college, originally announced by CUNY as a two-year degree-granting institution, to open as a four-year degree granting “senior” college. At this meeting, the Presidential Search Committee also outlined criteria for selecting a president for the new college, an issue that would soon escalate into a major controversy.