University Won’t Accept Colleges’ English Classes : Education: Student transfers from Moorpark and Oxnard have been rejected by UC Berkeley. Some plan to seek upgraded standards.

Carol Fossett has an A average at Moorpark College, but it’s not enough to get her into UC Berkeley’s business school.

Although college counselors told her two years ago that her credits would transfer, Berkeley officials now say Moorpark’s English classes are inadequate and have turned Fossett away.

And she is not alone. Fossett and several other students who have been rejected by Berkeley plan to ask the Board of Trustees at the community college district meeting Tuesday night to make sure that English classes are beefed up to meet university standards.

Berkeley officials refuse to accept the English classes at Moorpark and Oxnard colleges because students are not expected to write at least 20,000 words and read volumes of books.

The university, however, will accept the English classes at Ventura College, which offers an additional English course for students who want to go to Berkeley.

Said Jackie Churchill, college evaluator at UC Berkeley: “Our requirements are stringent. Many colleges have classes that are acceptable. But many do not.”

Fossett said she was heartbroken to learn that her classes would not transfer. She said she was told by Moorpark College counselors that if she got good grades she would be able to get into Berkeley.

“I worked so hard for this,” said Fossett, who has a 3.92 grade-point average. “I got tears in my eyes when I visited Berkeley, I wanted to go there so bad. But what’s stopped me is this problem.”

Moorpark College officials said Berkeley admissions officials once accepted Moorpark English classes--which require students to write about 12,000 words--with a special note from instructors saying students did extra work to meet the university’s requirements.

But recently there has been a change in policy at the university, and students now are being turned away.

Moorpark College counselor Susan Izumo said officials are trying to put together an English curriculum to meet Berkeley’s requirements.

“Moorpark has worked very hard at transferring as many students as we possibly can,” Izumo said. “It’s not like the students have been ripped off and we don’t care. We are doing something about it.”

She said she knows of five students at Moorpark who had planned to go to Berkeley. Izumo said officials hope to have an acceptable solution to the problem by spring semester.

But by then, Fossett said, it will be too late for her.

“I’m 30 years old,” she said. “I had to quit work to go to school. I can’t stay at Moorpark another year.”

She said she has made plans to attend the University of Minnesota next fall. In the meantime, she has vowed to bring the problem with the English classes to the attention of college administrators and trustees.

“It’s a terrible trap for students,” Fossett said. “Yet there are a lot of students who don’t know about the problem.”

Tom Ruecker, who had hoped to transfer to Berkeley’s business school, said he had no idea about the problems with the English classes until he was told by a counselor at the university.

He said he plans to attend the trustees’ meeting Tuesday night to complain.

“I had my sights set on Berkeley,” Ruecker said. “I love that school. Now I’ll have to try somewhere else.”

Added David Fee, another student who wanted to attend Berkeley: “I’m going to Cal Poly now, but I’m angry.

“I feel ripped off by Moorpark and the elitist attitude at Berkeley,” he said. “Every other school in the state will accept Moorpark classes, except Berkeley.”

Sidney Adler, division director for humanities at Moorpark College, also expressed frustration with the attitude at the UC school.

“To demand the volume of writing they insist upon is putting a great strain on our faculty, who already have to teach packed classes,” Adler said. “There are a lot of outraged feelings among English faculty at a lot of community colleges. I don’t think we’ve been singled out.”

But Michael Breitwiser, an English professor at Berkeley, said officials did not intend to be elitist.

“We require a lot of reading and writing here,” Breitwiser said. “It’s not an elitist thing. It’s purely quantitative.”

Nevertheless, Adler said he is hopeful that Moorpark can work out the differences with Berkeley.

“We’re trying to make accommodations,” he said.