York (CUNY) epitomizes its famous urban location by being not only a vital symbol of hope and opportunity but also the perpetual target of critics and cynics. As controversial as it is ambitious, CUNY is shaped by local politics as well as national trends. Both its past history and its current plight mark its ongoing struggle to define the nature of public higher education in a democracy. CUNY' s six community colleges play a central role in that quest.
Serving 200,000 students, CUNY is the nation' s largest urban university and its third largest university. It consists of three types of undergraduate institutions: seven colleges granting only bachelor' s degrees, four colleges granting both associate and bachelor' s degrees, and six colleges granting only associate degrees. Within that framework, CUNY' s community colleges have evolved into diverse, dynamic institutions that are the most democratic and multipurpose branches of public higher education in New York City. However, their function as access institutions and their status in the university are in flux today as a war is waged over how democratic CUNY should be.
Like their peer institutions across the country, CUNY' s six community colleges serve three sometimes contradictory purposes: acting as a buffer for senior colleges reluctant to admit nontraditional students, providing a springboard for people seeking a second chance, and offering a safety net for those struggling to overcome educational disadvantages. Proud to be teaching institutions, NEW DIRECTIONS FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGES, no. 107, Fall 1999 Β© Jossey-Bass Publishers 23 I greatly benefited from the constructive criticisms offered by Barbara Astone, Roberta Matthews, Lawrence Rushing, and particularly David Lavin, whose pioneering analyses of open admissions provide the starting point for all studies of CUNY and the basis for much of this chapter.