Corruption at Laguardia Community College · 21 June 2003
LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, is a scandal waiting to explode. It is a pseudo-educational institution strangled by administrative corruption, lack of academic standards, political cronyism and widespread incompetence at all levels.
LAGUARDIACORRUPTION.COM is dedicated to exposing the ethically bankrupt leadership that has reduced the College to a tragic hoax and disgrace to higher education for the past twenty-odd years. You are invited to see the effect of administrative corruption on education and, in particular, how cronyism, racial-bloc voting and anti-Semitism destroyed the Mathematics Department. We present the evidence; you be the judge. By giving the views of Prof. Martin Millman, as well as providing a voice for other faculty, students and interested parties, we hope to one day achieve the academic integrity envisioned by the school's founders back in 1971. LaGuardia attracts an ethnically diverse and multi-national student body which deserves nothing less.
More specifically, the many examples of corruption cited here may be summarized into the following five main areas of concern. We may call these HOW TO RUIN A COLLEGE IN FIVE EASY STEPS:
1. College P&B (Professional and Budget) Committee members who rig tenure and promotion decisions, often favoring documented incompetents over people of real merit, and who sometimes fire excellent instructors. This unethical practice, over the years, results in a school stocked with bad instructors (who are tenured for life) and inevitably lowers the quality of education. One particularly revolting illustration of this mode of corruption is the FULL PROF. of Mathematics who has no knowledge of Calculus!
2. Racial-bloc voting in departmental elections. Election results are frequently determined by candidates' ethnicity rather than by their competence or qualifications for the job. Furthermore, such unethically elected Chairs will often reward racist voters by supporting them for promotion, whether or not they merit such promotion.
3. Department Chair multi-term dynasties (each term of office is three years in length) with their accompanying CRONYISM. These have resulted in extreme degradation of educational standards through the promotion of incompetents to leadership roles. The 50% failure rate on the CUNY mathematics proficiency exam (after students take a year of remedial math) is but one of many illustrations of the result of this type of corruption. Another incredible example, perhaps unique in higher education, is the formerly fired Mathematics Prof. who returned to become Chair of the department!!
4. TWENTY years of blatant anti-Semitism in the Mathematics Department. During the years 1981-2001, Prof. M. Millman was the only Jewish member of the Department allowed to come up for the tenure decision. Out of 14 Math Faculty granted tenure during 1981-2001, Millman was the only Jew. His record was too outstanding and well-known to be denied tenure. During this period, the Jewish population of the Department dropped from 35% to 9%, despite the fact that roughly half the job applicants are Jewish. The Department currently has two Jewish members out of 26 full-time people. Millman has been at LaGuardia since 1988 as Asst. Prof. and has never been promoted, despite having the best publication record in the department, an outstanding record of College contributions, and excellent peer and student evaluations.
5. An ineffective and dishonest Administration whose President has been severely criticized by the Faculty union chapter and which has, for example, lied to the NY Post by denying the existence of the above problems and labeling Prof. Millman a crank. In reality, the Administration is well-aware that these problems exist but is unable or unwilling to deal with them.
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