CSUN Course Work

* Students concerned about remedial courses at Cal State Northridge should demand a massive cutback in their so-called general education requirements. Today those requirements have grown to almost 70 units, and the funds produced by GE freshman-sophomore enrollments now support a dizzying variety of politically oriented special-interest academic departments.

CSUN’s explosive growth in GE requirements has been paralleled by an equally explosive increase in tuition during the last 12 years. Inevitably, then, many well-prepared, non-remedial CSU graduates now begin their college careers at low-cost open-access community colleges.

As far back as 1993, CSU records indicated an enrollment of 50,000 freshmen, 30,000 sophomores, 80,000 juniors and 115,000 seniors--a clear sign that politically oriented special-interest academic departments have protected their GE enrollments by forcing CSU to recruit aggressively from the lowest third of high school graduates--this in direct violation of legislative mandate.

If the Supreme Court upholds the right of students to force a cutback in politically oriented student activities, students who today question the need for remedial programs and politically oriented GE requirements will soon have an opportunity to raise their questions where such questions should be raised--in court!

ROBERT OLIPHANT

Executive Director, Californians for Community College Equity

Cambria