Editorial:UNM shouldn't shun remedial students

A group of students, teachers, regents and community members have sent UNM President Louis Caldera back to the drawing board.

Caldera decided last week to review his proposal to defer the admission of potential students who require remedial coursework, largely because of the aggressive and negative public response and lack of support from UNM regents.

His plan would have required applicants whose standardized test scores fall below UNM standards in writing, English and math to take remedial courses at a community or branch college before being admitted to UNM. This would deter many of New Mexico's poorer high-school graduates, many of whom may have limited access to such courses.

One of the most problematic aspects of the proposed changes for poor New Mexicans is the potential loss of the Lottery Scholarship, the requirements of which demand students attend UNM almost immediately after graduating from high school or earning a GED.

This reconsideration will almost certainly benefit New Mexico's poor and minority citizens, who make up most of the population of this state and were most likely to be affected by the policy. It will also maintain UNM's role as a diverse institution accessible to all New Mexicans.

UNM is a public university, not merely the domain of those who graduated in the top 10 percent of their class and could pay for a Kaplan ACT prep course. Caldera worries that UNM, where less than half of undergraduates earn a degree in six years, will be penalized by legislators unless the graduation rate can be boosted.

While this is a legitimate concern, the best way to boost rates of success at UNM lies not in restricting access to those who would be admitted anyway, but by facilitating the academic careers of those students who need remedial courses.

This might be done with a program that incorporates remedial classes - which currently don't fulfill any curriculum requirements - into a planned curriculum specifically to help students who may not have had access to equal educational opportunities.

Successful improvement of graduation rates depends more on ensuring that UNM's diverse population of students can succeed than on weeding out those a standardized test deems unworthy of the University's time.

Chris Narkun

Opinion editor