CUNY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE

On October 7, 1968, Joseph Shenker, Acting Dean for Community College Affairs for the City University of New York, submitted a proposal to the Ford Foundation for a $440,000 grant “to Improve the Planning and Implementation of Community College 7.” The proposal included funds for key activities proposed by Bedford-Stuyvesant Coalition on Educational Needs and Services (B-SCENS)'s appointed “Negotiation Team,” representing the community’s demands for the new College. These demands included research to develop flexible admissions policies and degree pathways for educationally underserved Black youth. However, the Negotiation Team’s perception that they had been excluded from initial discussions about the proposal, and fact that the funds would be administered by CUNY, rather than by a community-based organization, fueled tensions between the two groups that would continue to escalate in the coming weeks.