President’s Monthly Message
May 2024
Dear College Community,
Since joining York in January, I have maintained relentless focus on enrollment, facilities, finances and accreditation/assessment. The only priority item I have not yet broached is the area of experiential learning I hope to do so in the coming weeks. With that said, the past month has been both sobering and celebratory.
Many civil rights movements have been started on college campuses, from earth day, to the first Lavender Graduation at the University of Michigan, college students at the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro and many more. And once again college students are using their voices. I cannot speak for what happened at City College or any of our other campuses, what I can speak on is York College which sits in the most vibrantly diverse borough in the city. Know that the safety of our college community will always be our first and foremost priority. Equally important is ensuring an environment that respects diversity in all its forms. As part of this commitment, we are currently conducting a search for a permanent Chief Diversity Officer who will not only investigate and address forms of discrimination, but be a strategic partner with all the members of the college community in advancing our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts.
Since my last report in April, we celebrated our Administrative Professionals for Administrative Professional Day and Celebrated Faculty and Staff at our years of service celebration. This past month, I was excited to invite a number of community-based organizations to campus. I although I lived in Queens for a few years, many moons ago, being at York now, I have come to know and understand a Queens differently. Thanks to Dr. Parmet, and others, I have a better understanding of the role the community has played in the establishment of this college in Jamaica, Queens. Being here for the past 18 weeks, I quickly discovered that Queens, along with neighboring Brooklyn and Long Island neighborhoods are rich with community-based organizations that serve and support pre college youth. So, what started as an idea, became a reality with the launch of the York Opportunity Network to introduce CBOs to York, our academic programs, student support services, campus life and current students who shared how their futures are taking flight at York. Thank you to an incredible team for bringing the idea to life with the inaugural Network members at the table: Blaque Community Cares; Child Center NY; United Way Long Island; Queens CB 12;South Jamaica Houses; Greater Jamaica Corp; Cypress Hills Development Corp; Life Camp; New York Junior Tennis & Learning; Urban Upbound; NAACP - Jamaica Branch; Global Kids; YMCA - Jamaica Branch; and the Caribbean Center of New York. Another YON session is scheduled for early August.
In May we also had a very spirited Strategic Planning Check- in meeting facilitated by Anna Pond. I am always grateful to be in new spaces so I can hear the perspectives of new voices. I anticipate that a recap of the meeting will be shared with the college community in the fall. As you know strategic planning is a foundational aspect of our work and MSCHE accreditation. I found the meeting to be illuminating; because given the challenges the college has had with accreditation in Spring/ Summer of 2019, and the recent notice of concern regarding graduation rates, there is still much misunderstanding of the importance of assessment and its role in the work we each do—faculty, students, and staff. The response rate from full time faculty and staff and the SGA on the Strategic Plan Check-in Survey was 15%; and site which hosts the weekly registration reports and require login to view, only had 45 active users the week prior to May’s senate meeting. As you know we started sharing via our secure portal weekly registration reports to the campus that compare current registration of student cohorts ( freshmen, continuing, graduate students, seek, asap, transfer—and soon high school students) to the same time last year. And most recently, in addition to routine data reports, AVP Hoeffner began sharing registration reports to academic departments so that drill down on enrollment by programs/ majors. I ask that we increase our engagement in college-wide and unit-specific assessment efforts as well as review data and reports that are shared.
Enrollment continues to be a key priority. Currently, we are making strides in some areas, and struggling in others. Know that even as summer rolls in, we will to focus on marketing, advertising and outreach and advocate for resources to advance these efforts.
While our overall headcount as of June 5, 2024 demonstrates an increase over last year (June 5, 2023) continuing student enrollment continues to be a challenge.
Enrollment to Date (select cohorts) Refer
Cohort | As of 6/5/2024 | 6/5/2023 |
Freshman | 237 | 57 |
Transfer | 149 | 91 |
Undergrad Continuing | 1,803 | 1,977 |
Undergrad Readmit | 104 | 40 |
Graduate | 107 | 143 |
TOTAL (does not include all cohorts) | 2,423 | 2,333 |
While this isn’t the case everywhere, at York, advisement is shared between faculty and staff—with much of the continuing student enrollment managed by faculty. I was told by a faculty member that they do outreach, but students don’t respond, so they give up. Colleagues, none of us have the luxury of giving up. I understand completely, faculty shoulder significant responsibilities. This summer we will continue to monitor enrollment trends and our efforts with a goal of bringing data to table along with other information so that we identify a model that best supports our mission and priorities.
Enrollment is everyone’s responsibility. Last month I met with members of the SGA and they asked me what can they do to support college priorities, such as enrollment. And my response to them is register for classes, tell your constituents—other students to register for classes. Filling classes early is key to ensuring that we have classes that are viable because as we all know, classes will not run with low enrollment. In May, I continued to conduct visits to incoming freshmen, took a tour of Far Rockaway and met with representatives from the Rockaway Development & revitalization Corporation (RDRC) who are eager to partnership with the college on a number of initiatives. I am hoping that we will have even broader participation initiatives such as Early Alert and increase student usage of tutor.com which will help in our efforts to support and therefore retain students.
Without student enrollment and students in our classrooms we have no college and no purpose. And we also know that enrollment also affects our financial bottom line as well. Last month, we received a second note of concern from Middle States, we should not be surprised given the fiscal challenges we face in the city. Note that All CUNY institutions except for Baruch, BMCC, Guttman, Hostos, and Kingsborough received the MSCHE “Notice of Concern” related to financial health. More information will be forthcoming; but in the interim know that financial recovery and stability remains a critical priority as well. We have a $1.8 million savings target for the coming fiscal year. We have begun the current year-end close and are working to meet the mandated FY24 university target, year-end deficit of $6.7 million. In the fall, and per governance, additional caucusing will be done with the Resources Committee as well as the Personnel & Budget Committee.
It's hard to believe that 4 years ago, we were in the midst of the COVID Pandemic and protests over the murder of George Floyd. There were over 15,000 deaths city wide, with the Queens having the second largest death rate after Brooklyn. Commencement ceremonies were cancelled and the future was unknown. Perhaps it is for this reason why Commencement season was even more special this year.
The Nursing Pinning Ceremony, Social Work celebration, Lavender Graduation and our YESPY’s were among the many events where I enjoyed celebrating our soon to be graduates culminating with the ultimate celebration of our 1041 graduates and indirectly the 1128 full and part time faculty staff who made their success possible. Dr. Jelani Cobb, son of Southeast Queens and current Dean of the School of Journalism at Columbia University delivered the Commencement Address and received the Presidential Medal of Honor; and Om Shrestha a nursing major enjoyed the honor of being the Valedictorian of the York Class of 2024. Om shared that when was told he would be the Valedictorian, he had no idea what that was because in his home country of Nepal, no such honor existed. He actually had to look it up. He now knows what it means, and our newly minted graduates knows what it feels like to accomplish yet another goal.
Special thanks to the Commencement Committee, and faculty and staff volunteers who made the day even more special. A gallery of commencement pictures will be shared with the college community.
Thank you for all you have done to advance the college and our students over the past academic year. I wish you all an enjoyable Summer! May you find time to rest, rejuvenate, reconnect with family and friends and get ready to be re-energized for a great year ahead!
-Schrader