Rejuvenating UDC

The new president's plan is visionary -- but where will the money come from?

LEADERS OF the University of the District of Columbia have unveiled a series of startling new ideas for the school. Supporters see them as bold and visionary, critics as risky and half-baked. The truth may well be somewhere in between. What is certain is that the university is so troubled that it cannot continue as it is. This proposal offers perhaps the last chance for needed change, and so it is critical that District and school officials work together to build a public school that has real worth.

The board of trustees at UDC has embraced a plan by President Allen L. Sessoms, who took over last fall, that would split the school into a stand-alone community college and a four-year school offering programs up to the doctoral level. The community college, with emphasis on workforce development and remediation for students ill-prepared by D.C. schools, would be open and affordable to all. There would be standards for admission, ending the practice of open enrollment. As part of the hoped-for transformation, trustees recently approved a major increase in tuition, along with plans to raise private money.

The proposal and the stiff tuition increases prompted student protests and complaints that Mr. Sessoms was moving too quickly. That's ironic, considering the years of inaction and confusion that caused the school's physical plant to crumble; programs to deteriorate; enrollment to decline; and the graduation rate to stand at 16 percent. So we credit Mr. Sessoms for coming up with new ideas and, even more important, acting on them. He's offering buyouts to a faculty that is in desperate need of rejuvenation, eliminating programs that don't work and upgrading the school's low standards. He also is taking real initiative in trying to establish a community college -- something that has long been talked about as a critical need.

Still, there is no question that the initiative faces major hurdles. Foremost is the issue of resources. It will take money to build a quality community college and to transform the four-year program. The worsening economic situation will make it harder for the school to raise private funds and it could even imperil the District's current allocation (about half of UDC's $110 million budget). Some advocates for a community college wonder whether UDC is best equipped for that undertaking. It doesn't help that relations between UDC and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) are decidedly icy, with the mayor making no secret that Mr. Sessoms was not his choice. But Mr. Fenty has made education his top priority; he must realize the importance of the city having a public institution of higher learning and what's at stake if Mr. Sessoms doesn't succeed.