ABSTRACT
Abstract Between 1969 and 1976 the City University of New York (CUNY)
experienced two monumental policy transformations. These transformations were a result
of changes in the political economy of New York City and State leading class struggles to
erupt between and among groups. This article highlights two of these struggles: first, what
came to be known as the “open admissions” policy, one of five demands made by students
and their supporters in 1969-1970 at City College, and second, the imposition of tuition
for undergraduate students in 1975-1976, a neoliberal condition set by business and
political elites designed to privatize and commodify CUNY. In contrast to existing policy
studies and sociology of education approaches to the study of CUNY, which are approaches
limited by their ideologically liberal focus on outcomes that lead to “racial disparity” and
inequality of individual achievement, an alternative class analysis is proposed that entails
the concrete historical, political, economic, and ideological context of these struggles and
their causes. The examination of both policies reveals an ideological struggle between
meritocracy, as grounded in the individualist ideal of the American Dream and equality
and democracy, as grounded in calls for inclusion, access, solidarity, and empowerment.
The resulting class analysis offers a critical context for understanding the current
transformation of higher education beyond CUNY.
