Corey Francis, lugging his portfolio to class Thursday, spread his arms in what passes for a quad at the University of the District of Columbia.
“We are UDC. The students are UDC,” he says. “What this administration is doing is endangering UDC.”
No doubt UDC President Allen Sessoms and board Chairman James Dyke would disagree. They figure they are saving the only public university in the nation’s capital.
Pushed by Sessoms, who is new to the job, the UDC board this week approved a resolution to double tuition. D.C. students at the four-year school would have to fork over $7,000 a year, rather than the current $3,500; out-of-city students would pay $14,000.
For what?
“They’re asking us to pay a huge increase with nothing to show,” says Francis, a 29-year-old junior in fine arts. “The clocks don’t work, there are potholes in the courtyards, the doors don’t open automatically for disabled students.
“It would be best if they would fix some of the problems,” he says. “Then maybe we could talk about raising tuition.”
I would go further. How about hiring better faculty? How about starting a decent athletic program? Why not install decent technology systems?
Why not change the names of the buildings from numbers to people or places?
UDC has had problems from its start in 1977. Three separate teachers colleges, each with its own identity and faculty, were merged into one and chartered as UDC. In the process, the schools lost their focus of producing great teachers, which they had done for nearly a century. And trying to be all things to all students, UDC became known for squabbling faculty and graduates who couldn’t spell.
When the Federal Control Board cut its funding nearly in half a decade ago, it lost any luster.
“University for Disadvantaged Youth” is what Marion Barry once called UDC. He should know. Barry ignored the university’s decline during his three decades in public office — 16 as mayor.
But I digress.
Sessoms, who comes with a welcome impatience as well as his Yale degree, aims to raise standards within the university and raise $30 million from outside sources. He’s already met with White House officials, congressmen and foundations to bring in cash, beyond the $100 million a year the college gets from the city.
But his timing on raising tuition is way off.
“In these hard economic times, when bailouts are being doled out across America, why would you raise costs for these students?” an adjunct professor asks.
UDC administrators and trustees tell me the university will remain essentially free; they promise financial aid to all needy students. Students tell me the financial aid system doesn’t function.
The best way for UDC to function and perhaps become a stellar public university would be if Mayor Adrian Fenty sees it as part of his crusade to fix the city’s public school system. UDC does sit atop the system.
Fenty could help raise cash. He could also coach track.
E-mail Harry Jaffe at [email protected].
