Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein will be online Wednesday, March 5, at 11 a.m. ET to discuss today's column on whether the University of the District of Columbia should be restructured to be more of a community college.

Submit a question or comment now or during the discussion.

About Pearlstein: Steven Pearlstein writes about business and the economy for The Washington Post. His journalism career includes editing roles at The Post and Inc. magazine. He was founding publisher and editor of The Boston Observer, a monthly journal of liberal opinion. He got his start in journalism reporting for two New Hampshire newspapers -- the Concord Monitor and the Foster's Daily Democrat. Pearlstein has also worked as a television news reporter and a congressional staffer.

Read Pearlstein's latest columns.

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Washington, D.C.: Thank you for a good column on a very important topic. But I think it was a bit unfair to single out the faculty for criticism. Lots of folks played a role in getting UDC to where it is today: in addition to faculty, there's the administration, the trustees, and the city council and executive branch (who should have been providing more oversight and support--political and financial). The original decision to consolidate three different schools with different missions is at the root of the problem, I think. What do you see as the next steps, involving all of the stakeholders, to move a discussion and action forward in strengthening UDC's community college role?

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks for your comment. I don't think I blame the faculty solely -- I agree there is lots of blame to pass around, starting with the political structure that set up an institution with too many goals and too few resources.

In terms of the next steps, I think it is important to get a new president who has the right vision, buy out much of the faculty and push through a much more flexible contract with the union. The mayor will need to get involved on all of these. Then comes the more difficult task of getting a new mission and mandate from the city council, and gradually moving the institution in the right direction by eliminating lots of small programs and departments and focusing on a dozen or so key areas where the job market offers good opportunity for middle skilled jobs.

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Washington D.C.: What is your source about UDC having students in India?

Steven Pearlstein: It is in the website and I spoke with the President about it briefly.

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Baltimore Md.: Why in the world does UDC have a campus in India? That country has a fine educational system that has fueled its economic boom. This really doesn't make sense. As to the age of the faculty, my brother taught at an U. of Minnesota campus for about 30 years. He once told me that there were professors at his school who were literally in the early stages of dementia but who, thanks to tenure and the fact that the retirement package got more generous the longer they hung on, simply refused to retire. With an average faculty age of 63 with 30 plus years service, I am sure UDC is facing the same problem.

Steven Pearlstein: It is politically incorrect, of course, to criticize people for being too old. And, indeed, there may be a few great teachers who are, in fact, older than 70. But as a general rule, I think we can say that people get set in their ways as they get older -- this is certainly true of journalists. And given the fast pace of change these days, and the age of the customers (students), you'd think you'd want not only a younger faculty, but a faculty dominated by part-time teachers and industry practitioners. That would give the university more flexibility to respond to changing labor market needs. It would insure that teachers are fresh and up to date. It would be cheaper, too.

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Washington D.C.: Steve, there's a tinge of racism in your column today! The majority of D.C. is black and you think it should therefore have a community college, not a University.

Steven Pearlstein: Ah, I knew this was coming. That's garbage. The population needed to be served here is, as you point out, overwhelmingly black. And a community college geared to them is precisely what they and the city needs. That's not racist. That's reality-based analysis. Of course there are black kids that have the skills right now to go on to four year colleges and universities, and they are doing it, often with the help of generous scholarships and a special program that allows DC residents to attend any state university in the country with in-state tuition. And if we had a good community college that was turning out kids with AA degrees that were capable of moving on to their BA or BS degrees, it would be a great use of city money to pay the full cost of that tuition, room, board, transportation at the nearby campuses of the University of Maryland or Virginia or anywhere else they can get in. But the cost of doing that is certainly less -- and the quality will be better -- than if the District tries to do that itself. Its a simple make or buy decision that businesses go through all the time. And in this case, "buy" rather than "make" is the right answer.

If we get to the point, some years down the road, when UDC is so good as a community college that it is turning out hundreds of qualified AAs every year who want to go further in their education, then maybe that would be a time for UDC to add a four-year liberal arts and engineering school to its mix of offerings. At that point, the numbers might justify it. But that would be a great problem to have. And right now, we are nowhere near that point.

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Washington, D.C.:

The column on UDC was both good and important, thank you for writing it. I hope that Mayor Fenty will be getting a handle on the control issues of UDC just as he seems to be doing with the public schools.

Steven Pearlstein: You're welcome.

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Columbia, Md.: Good Morning, what do you see as the un-met demand for a community college in the District of Columbia? How would this community college be constructed to compete with both Montgomery County community college and Price George's?

Steven Pearlstein: Right now, as best as I can determine (PG County wasn't able to get me the data in time), there are probably 1,000 District residents who are full or part time students at Northern Virginia, Prince George's and Montgomery community colleges. That's probably comparable to the number of students aiming at associate degrees at UDC. Now one question you might ask is why we just don't give District residents and voucher to attend any of these schools -- it would certainly cost us less than $37,000 per student, I can tell you that.

But I am not suggesting that. I think if we were to have a good community college program, we would have 10,000 students easily, and grow it to 20,000, which are levels at which you can achieve both quality and scale efficiencies. It would also allow us to tailor the programs not only to the specific needs of the District's key industries, but to the very special needs of the kids coming out of DC Public Schools. That's where we need to be headed. And in the interim, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, we might actually contract with those community colleges to come in and offer some of their programs at UDC campuses so we can learn how it is done before establishing our own. I know from conversations that several of these institutions are interested in collaborations and it is something we should explore, rather than getting hung up on the pride thing of having to do everything in house.

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Washington, D.C.: I wish you would have done a little more research before writing this article. Some of the degree programs that you listed only having 5 degree recipients are actually associates programs. For example, Computer Accounting Technology is UDC's associate degree in accounting and most accounting majors prefer to just complete their Bachelors. I am unaware of students in India but I do believe we have a campus in Egypt.

Steven Pearlstein: I realize many of the programs are associate programs. I didn't say they weren't. But there are too many of those as well.

My notes say the campus is in India, not Egypt. Perhaps I wrote it down wrong, but I don't think so.

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Washington, D.C.: I think this would be a great idea. D.C. needs something akin to large community colleges like the Montgomery County Community Colleges.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Maryland: When the various colleges were merged to make it UDC, what was the thinking behind this move? Shouldn't those reasons be revisited instead of going backwards? Further, the real reason/s that the University is not meeting the needs of the community is due to lack of funding, being bogged down in bureaucratic red tape, and a higher education funding support structure that promotes education outside of D.C.. Your comments?

Steven Pearlstein: For years, UDC has peddled the idea that their problem is that they don't have enough money. This is the standard excuse given by all institutions that are failing to meet their mission. Sometimes it is the case, but in this case, it's not. UDC needs to start by doing fewer things and doing them well -- and the most important things it could do would be to bring high school graduates up to the point where they can do university work and then prepare them for the very jobs that exist now in the local economy.

As to your comment about "promoting education outside of DC," I assume you are referring to the program that allows DC kids to go to state schools anywhere in the country at in-state rates. This has been a tremendous success. To oppose that is like opposing charter schools and saying that competition merely drains resources from the publicly-funded monopoly. I don't buy it. Denying people that choice is no pro-consumer, pro-student, pro-economy. It is pro-UDC faculty.

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Chiang Mai, Thailand: Pearlstein should have looked closely at the mismanaged and substandard UDC School of Law as well. It remains an academic farce, and D.C. certainly does not need any more poorly trained, second-rate lawyers. Hopefully, Pearlstein will focus his next article on the UDC law school, which is an incredible waste of public funds in spite of its Madison Avenue campaign to veneer its lack of quality as well as its inferior student body. U.S. News and World report has consistently ranked it on its lowest (fifth) tier at the very bottom of the list...

Steven Pearlstein: I might well have focused on the small and struggling law school. Does anyone know what rate graduates of UDC's law school are able to pass the DC bar at some point? Would be an interesting statistic to know.

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Washington, D.C.: I take offense to the thought that because UDC is not the Harvard of the District, it should be scaled back. UDC helped folks get an education who otherwise would not have gotten one. As an alumni of the University, I went on to earn a graduate degree from another more prestigious University in the area. I mentor students at UDC now and would protest the school closing, moving or becoming a community college. Some of the kids need the exposure to other people and other parts of the city that the travel across the river provides for them.

Steven Pearlstein: First of all, you are mischaracterizing what I said. Believe me, I'm not using Harvard as the standard. I'm using U Maryland Baltimore and Towson and George Mason as the standards, and by those standards, UDC is not making the grade.

Second, I'm sure there are dozens and even scores of District residents who are "getting an education" at UDC who might not have figured out a way to get it somewhere else. And I'm sure some go on to earn degrees from even more prestigious universities. I didn't suggest otherwise. But that doesn't mean that the money the taxpayers and the students are spending there is the best use of those resources. That's the public policy question -- are we getting the biggest bang for the buck. And the answer to that question is certainly no.

Good anecdotes don't add up to good public policy.

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Calvin Jones would turn over in his grave....: If he thought that the jazz department he spent years developing would die because shortsighted folks like yourself can't see the value in UDC.

Steven Pearlstein: Well, maybe he would. I'm a jazz fan myself. But I also know that there are a lot of jazz musicians out there who are unable to make a living from their music making. At the same time, there are hospitals in this city that have $60,000 a year nursing jobs that are going begging. So where would you put your priority?

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Benign Neglect: With a lot of public property now coming online in the form of public schools and indeed universities, that are suffering benign neglect from our elected leaders, the Post really does seem to be using its position to privatize a lot of these properties and in the process, intentionally or not, are changing the demographics of the city.

Steven Pearlstein: Who's talking about privatizing?

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Fairfax Station, Va.: The university has become a potential leader in the area of effective teaching in math, physics, and chemistry. It now offers solutions to the teaching of math and science at the high school and college levels. I still have to find an institution that can claim this success. Also, please see the Washington Post article by Marc Fisher on UDC from October 7, 2007. Additionally, I would like to invite you to the campus to witness first hand the great teaching that goes on on a daily basis in some of these classes.

washingtonpost.com: UDC Counteracts Damage Wrought by D.C. Schools, October 7, 2007

Steven Pearlstein: I've read Mark Fisher's column and am aware of those great programs. But they don't add up to a justification for trying to be both a university and a community college and, in general, failing at both. Keep the good stuff, for sure, while jettisoning those things that aren't working and don't fit with what needs to be the core mission of the school, which is, as Mark indicated, compensating for the shortcomings of DC Public Schools and training workers for the mid-level skills jobs in the local economy. Offering MBAs, BA's in history and foreign languages and associates degrees in aviation technology doesn't fit that bill.

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Washington, D.C.: Your article fails to mention many of the services UDC offers District residents under its land-grant mandate such as the Cooperative Extension Service and adult literacy programs (just to name two). Based on your suggestion that UDC "retool" what would you suggest happen to these and other services that UDC provides?

Steven Pearlstein: Obviously, offering programs to the 170,000 district adults who are not fully literate is a very high priority. We could have a debate about whether this is best done by a university or the public school system, but there's no question that somebody needs to do it, do it well, and do more of it than we're doing now. No disagreement there. But you don't need tenured faculty with PhDs making $100,000 a year to do that. Sorry.

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D.C. area: It is politically incorrect, of course, to criticize people for being too old. And, indeed, there may be a few great teachers who are, in fact, older than 70. But as a general rule, I think we can say that people get set in their ways as they get older -- this is certainly true of journalists. Steve, what do you think older people who need to work should do?

Steven Pearlstein: Actually, the last time I checked, most people retire when they get to their mid 60s, particularly if they are public employees with generous pension plans, like those at UDC who have a median tenure of 32 years. And even after they retire, they could become adjunct professors if they're still sharp and on their game. But I don't see a reason why they have to continue to draw $100,000 a year in salary and bonus until they are 80.

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Washington, D.C.: While I understand your focus on the District's lower-income, younger residents, I think another area in which UDC fails is the sort of continuing education that middle-class adults enjoy having access to. NOVA and Montgomery College are expensive for DC residents, but I'm certainly not going to choose UDC when I can't even decipher their available courses on their website. I would think there would be revenue for them in this, as well.

Steven Pearlstein: Exactly.

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Charlottesville, Va.: Steven, I was in class when you came to Charlottesville/Darden to speak and introduced myself afterwards. I've been a fan for a long time. I agree with your comment that UDC is spreading itself too thin. I see this issue with many universities now. You always hear about schools adding degrees and programs, but they hardly ever eliminate any. Can you see UDC--and any of the other regional schools--really starting to downsize?

Steven Pearlstein: Actually, I'd think of it as upsizing, since if they offered the right programs, and they were good, they'd be attracting many more students. And, by the way, in that situation, if the university needed more taxpayer support, I'd be all for it. But I don't think that would be necessary because the business community would be only to willing to help out if it thought the university was training the workers it needed.

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Rockville, Md.: Texas Tech used to save money by hiring people who were experts in their felds but forced to retire from other institutions. They gave them part time employment and did very well with the practice. Age is really just a number for many people in good health.

Steven Pearlstein: I would agree. Engineers and nurses and special needs teachers are exactly who should be the core of the UDC faculty, whether they are practicing or recently retired. That's the community college model. What's not the community college model is a faculty full of Ph.D.s that have never worked outside the academy, have tenure, have been at the school 32 years and have a median age of 63. That's a university model -- and not a particularly good university model, at that.

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Washington D.C.: Steve: your answer to the poster accusing you of racism points to one of the big problems facing UDC. If you are a District resident with good grades and solid SAT scores, would you rather go to UDC, or attend George Mason, University of Md. or even, for that matter, UC Berkeley if you can get in-state tuition rates at all three?

Steven Pearlstein: I suppose you can say that is a "problem" for UDC. I rather like to think of it as an opportunity for the young people of the District. The District simply isn't big enough to support its own state-supported university. It's a city, not a state.

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Anonymous: In 1967, the District argued that it was the last substantial area in the nation without the services of a land grant college. Today,land grant colleges include Guam, American Samoa and others. Do you think a lack of understanding of the role and potential of UDC as a land grant institution has crippled it and the very reasons you cite as the basis for moving the university toward an enhanced community college also is the prescription for its success as a University: long term visionary leadership; financial support, and reform in programs and personnel as has been done successfully elsewhere.

Steven Pearlstein: The land grant argument it seems to me is a diversion, as I just said. Sure, it wold be nice to have a good community college and a good land grant university like Ohio University. But we can't afford both and we don't produce enough high school graduates who are ready for the university. So the community college is a better bet.

Remember, this isn't North Dakota. There are lots of good schools within an hour's drive of anywhere in the District -- public as well as private. If we need to talk about giving District students better access to those institutions than they have now, that may be a conversation we need to have with them. As far as I can tell, they would be amenable to that.

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community college alumni: Steve, I think the idea of a 2 + 2 program at UDC would be great. That's how I did my undergrad; I transferred from community college with an AAS to the U. of Washington. The experience was great (much better than 1x and 2x lecture-hall classes would have been at UW) and my educational credentials are certainly not stigmatic- I'm finishing an MA at Georgetown and am halfway through an evening JD at Catholic University.

Steven Pearlstein: Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing that.

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Washington, D.C.: The University of the District of Columbia has a campus in Egypt: the UDC-MAM (Modern Academy in Maadi) founded in 1996. I am currently a senior at UDC and a full-time employee and it is a great UNIVERSITY to attend. I attended a larger predominantly white school before transferring to UDC. The faculty there was neither as helpful nor caring to the needs of the students; as the faculty at UDC who cares about the students, and consider us their number one priority.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks for that. I need to do a correction about Maadi.

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Ivory Tower: One comment: the customers of a University or college aren't the students, as much as they and their parents might think so. The real customers are the employers who hire the graduates of said institution. If the District's employers emphasized their desire to hire District residents, provided said residents had the requisite education, you might see more movement on the part of UDC's administration and the District government to restructure the institution to meet the needs of the real customers of the University.

Steven Pearlstein: I certainly agree that DC businesses need to get more involved with UDC. But why do you think they are reluctant to hire UDC graduates who have the skills they are looking for? They are desperate for these employees and, in my experience, delighted if they can hire an African-American from the District who needs a chance to prove him or herself. At that level, the labor market works pretty well.

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Washington, D.C.: Hello Mr. Pearlstein, I am a graduating senior in the mass media program at UDC with a target study in journalism. I had the displeasure of reading your article this morning. UDC is making changes that you are not aware of because you are not on the campus to witness them. You have not asked questions to people who attend the University and have success stories. You only write about MY University from a business perspective and how it will make D.C. better financially. I will counteract your article with the fact that this accredited University provides an urban, poverty stricken community, myself included, a chance to advance in society. My question is, will you come to UDC to report on the full aspect of the University and what it offers instead of how it benefits big contractors' business plans?

Steven Pearlstein: I am aware that there are many students at UDC who are getting what they consider a good education. As I wrote, I don't think that is the issue. You could also get a good education if the District gave you a voucher for $20,000 to attend one of the other good colleges or universities nearby. My emphasis is on maximizing the number of people who, through education and training, can get a "chance to advance in society." The businesses are doing fine, thank you. But too many District residents are not. That's why I started the piece the way I did.

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college park, Md.: Do D.C. residents get in-state tuition elsewhere? If so, doesn't that make it hard for UDC to compete for students?

Steven Pearlstein: UDC students also get in-state tuition, which is probably the same or less than in-state tuitions elsewhere. In other words, the competitive playing field is even, which means the reason people go elsewhere may have to do with the quality or relevance of the education they are getting.

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Washington, D.C.: The comment from the person in Thailand is false. UDC's law school is not a poor institution, but rather ranked in Tier 4 according to the US News World and Report. Granted, it's not the best tier but it's not in the 5th tier as the previous commenter suggested. Stop trying to portray this school negatively for financial gains.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks for that clarification. Can't say I know what tier it is in.

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Washington, D.C.: UDC also offers graduate degrees, which I think are very important. There isn't another low-cost school that offers MAs or JDs to D.C. residents. And from my experience, the students in the UDC graduate programs are smart, hard-working and seeking a good education at a good value. I think you do a disservice to the many students who are high achievers and attend UDC because it is a smart buy.

Steven Pearlstein: I'll put the law school aside for a moment and say that providing advanced degrees is about the lowest priority I can think of. That's not where the greatest need is and, to the degree there is such a need, it can easily be met by other nearby (or not so nearby) institutions at a much lower cost.

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Washington, D.C.: We at UDC know you want to dismantle our University...The bang for the buck is here at UDC ON Connecticut Avenue. You need to stop being a puppet and report the truth...come to the school and find out for yourself how good of a University we are. I will show you around myself...

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks for the invitation.

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Van Ness, D.C.: The UDC Law School is a disaster. The vast majority of its graduates are simply not competent or prepared to practice law. If you look at local law firms the number of UDC Law alums they have on staff is a number close to zero. The UDC Law School is yet another example of pride triumphing reality at UDC. The powers-that-be thought UDC needed a "world class" law school. What they got was a law school with low student LSAT scores, a pathetically low reputation, low graduation rates, low bar passage rates, and very few alumni placed in good firms.

Steven Pearlstein: I can see this is a matter of some dispute.

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Washington, D.C.: Steve, my mother received her bachelor's in accounting from UDC as a divorced woman in the 1970s while holding down a FT job and raising me. She is now a partner in a consulting firm making six figures. As a black D.C. homeowner(who attended an Ivy League for graduate school) I agree UDC has many problems that must be fixed. Working adults who can only attend school in the evening need options here that other local universities offer for some programs but not most. UDC is set up to meet this need (less expensively) but must improve to do it successfully.

Steven Pearlstein: That's a good success story and UDC should be set up to do more of it.

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Washington, D.C.: As a journalism major at UDC, I am a little put off by your article. You say you want a community college in D.C., but it sounds like you want a trading school in place of a four year college. That would be sending us back to a time when certain people were thought to do certain things. Also, it isn't a question of how capable the students are, but what they can afford that they come to UDC.

Steven Pearlstein: What I want is a good community college that can prepare residents of all ages for better jobs or to attend a better four-year college for their BA or BS degrees.

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Georgetown, D.C.: I was interested in the entry regarding middle-class adult education. Several years ago I thought that I might take Italian at UDC. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees from, among others, Harvard and the University of London. I asked if I could register as a non-degree adult student. I was told that I would need a transcript from every university that I had attended. It was harder to get into UDC than into Harvard. I ended up at Georgetown.

Steven Pearlstein: Well, harder in one sense.

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Washington, D.C.: You didn't answer my question....WILL YOU COME TO UDC AND REPORT ON THE FULL STORY? For example, the success stories and what udc does offer. Thanks for responding though....

Steven Pearlstein: Mark Fisher did a fine job of reporting the full story, as you see it. I've taken a different angle on it.

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Washington D.C.: On the age issue, I happen to know a 71-year-old who is applying for a $400,000 a year political job in Washington, D.C. Surely, age is not the issue. It's the ability to do the job. You want to retract your ageist views?

Steven Pearlstein: No, I don't. I don't think a college faculty these days should have a median age of 62 with two-thirds of the full time faculty over the age of 60 and a median tenure of 32 years. Sorry. You can call it anything you want, but that is not a good faculty profile. Keep a few great teachers beyond 65 or even 75? Sure. Having less than 10 percent of the faculty under the age of 50? Ludicrous.

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Cleveland Park, D.C.: Remember when former Mayor Williams proposed moving UDC east of the river so that it would be closer to its students' residences? The firestorm that ensued quickly shot down that trial balloon. There are way too many special interests entrenched at UDC who are perfectly happy receiving their lifetime government salary without producing any meaningful, tangible results. UDC definitely should be recast as a community college. That would be of most benefit to its students and to the taxpayers. But good luck getting that change enacted. The various special interests that benefit from the status quo will yell racism, ageism, classism, and everything else that ends in -ism in order to stop change. The ones that suffer are the students who continue to get a subpar education that doesn't help their careers and the D.C. taxpayers who keep forking over money to a badly mismanaged and unfocused institution.

Steven Pearlstein: You got that right.

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Washington D.C.: Steve, you are on a tear today! First we have your racist ideas about the students of UDC. Then we have your ideas about the faculty. You say: "I don't see a reason why they have to continue to draw $100,000 a year in salary and bonus until they are 80." Maybe the old people want to continue to work. There are more and more old people in this country every day. They are going to need money and something to do.

Steven Pearlstein: First, let me correct my previous answer. I meant to type salary and benefits.

Old people need money. Did you ever hear of Social Security? And pension plans? And personal retirement savings? Give me a break

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Maryland: So you feel that the University should become a glorified high school? Why not focus on bringing the DCPS schools up to par and let the University remain as is?

Steven Pearlstein: Well, DCPS would be the place to begin. And Mayor Fenty has done that. But UDC -- I think it should be a glorified community college. Once we master that, maybe we can talk about competing with the University of Maryland.

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Washington, D.C.: Southeastern University is not a community college, it is a private University that has bachelors and masters programs. Your research for this article is really sub-par and misleading. I recommend a graduate level course in Business Research Methods. UDC offers this course at the most affordable rate in this area.

Steven Pearlstein: Southeastern offers programs that are most similar to those offered by community colleges.

And while you say UDC is affordable, that's in terms of tuition. In terms of what is spent per full time equivalent student, it is quite expensive.

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Anonymous: Many who post comments stating the wonderful things done at UDC miss the fact that this is not in dispute. The question is whether or not UDC should serve the needs of the majority of D.C. residents or satisfy a few who, arguably, could pursue higher degrees elsewhere.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Washington, D.C.: You mentioned the 15 year booming regional economy in the D.C. Metro area. There are multiple well-established higher education institutions that have leveraged the District's financial, geographical, intellectual and national resources to achieve their admirable standing. Do you see these institutions playing a role in accelerating UDC's positioning as an effective force in enabling the under-served and under-capable D.C. residents?

Steven Pearlstein: Yes, it is my impression from some presidents and the consortium of local universities that they are willing to collaborate with a new UDC in ways that better serve UDC's interests, their own interests and the interests of District residents and businesses. This is not a zero sum game.

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Washington, D.C. : Where did you complete your undergraduate work? Were you ever enrolled at UDC?

Steven Pearlstein: Trinity College, Hartford.

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Washington, D.C.: Why do you want D.C. residents, the people who more than likely will be attending UDC, to strive at a University to get a low level job? Why should UDC set its standards below that of any university who offer the same programs?

Steven Pearlstein: Let me tell you something very important. I have had a number of conversations with UDC officials. And one of the things they tell me is that one reason UDC needs to continue doing what it is doing is because too many of its students are unprepared to attend universities elsewhere. That is a tragedy of immense proportion and speaks to the failure of the District's education system. But those comments are an admission that UDC is already setting its standards too low for at least a portion of its students. And like you, I don't think that is doing anyone any favors in the long run.

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Washington, D.C.: Every state has a land grand institution, and why shouldn't Washington, D.C. be any different? UDC is full of problems in a city that is equally full of problems in a country that doesn't even give them voting rights. Maybe there is a disconnect with the city since the majority of UDC's students are minorities and live east of Rock Creek Park? Maybe if the children of D.C.'s white residents attended UDC, people would want to invest in it more? Having matriculated with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and a MBA from UDC, I found your article very misleading. I received a quality education from UDC at a fraction of a cost of that of my colleagues. An accredited MBA for under $10,000 is something that is not readily available. UDC needs to become more of a priority of this city. I will agree that there has been a tremendous amount of mismanagement but fixing the problem is not to scale it down to a community college. UDC has a wealth of knowledge there amongst its staff but nobody seems to involve them in any of the changes. Why not just utilize UDC's resources? Investment and better oversight of UDC can help bring the University to another level. Also, I have no problems with our remedial programs or our ESL programs since we are here to educate the residents of the District, that is UDC's priority. Bringing people up to par and enabling them to become college graduates is UDC's best accomplishment. Since UDC is in essence a combination of a community college and a university, you will have a lot of people that are not going to graduate. However, there are tons of us that have graduated and joined the workforce. Our nursing program is known for producing the best nurses in the area. I hope you do another article in the future on the good that UDC has produced for the city and offer an alternative solution to UDC's problems that doesn't destroy its mission.

Steven Pearlstein: In 2005-6, UDC gave out precisely 7 MBAs. Do you really think you can run a quality, cost-effective MBA program at that scale? I seriously doubt it.

Let me repeat: The reason DC should be different from every other state is because it is not a state!. That's not a legal or constitutional observation, it is a practical one, reflecting the demographic and geographic reality.

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Steven Pearlstein: That's all the time for today, folks. I'll publish a few of the other postings without much substantive comment.

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Washington, D.C.: As a 2008 BA History candidate at UDC I take offense to the comments regarding the history degree offering! There are great students and professors in the history program at UDC and in other departments as well. HOWEVER, I am a realist and I do realize that VAST changes are necessary at the University in order to get us up to the speed and thinking of even the 20th century! How does that happen? Writing one-sided and very clearly biased columns is not helpful. UDC needs restructuring and excellent leadership. Maybe you could use your column to help us look for a President - an Ad Hoc Search Committee! That would be helpful. Maybe in your wisdom you could assume the role of President instead of Monday Morning Quarterbacking from your desk in Va.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Washington, D.C.: UDC is the only public university in D.C.. Kids that grow up in D.C. only have access to one school in the area. While there are provisions that allow students to go anywhere in the the country for in-state tuition, if they want to stay home there is no other school they can consider. To reduce that school to a community college eliminates the last options for many D.C. residents.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Annandale, Va.: I'm a community college grad, and I eventually earned a BA and MA. I think the community college model is correct, but we still need to keep a fair number of majors so students can try things out. As a community college UDC should have campuses, or at least complete programs, offered throughout the city. GWU is doing this with satellite campuses now. In some cases you need to go to the students.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Maryland: In comparison to other Universities in D.C. aren't the salaries of faculty at UDC lower? Salaries for new faculty do not compare with the salaries of the faculty who are tenured. So if UDC wanted to attract and retain new faculty, it would have to measure up to the salaries of other Universities in the District, community college or no.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Frustrated D.C. Taxpayer: I get incredibly frustrated with some of the comments opposing any changes at UDC. The view seems to be that taxpayers need to keep funding - and increase their funding - for UDC simply because UDC does a few things well. That's like saying the Titanic did a great job serving meals; too bad about its structural failings. Any changes will result in a ton of accusations of racism and secret plans to kick out the majority black students and faculty, and redevelop the property into more condos for white, upper-income residents. That's what most discussions on education changes usually devolve into.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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Falls Church, Va.: I don't understand the "middle skilled job" piece. That's elitist thinking at it's worst! It is absurd, even if the financials are not all in order at this time, to think of eliminating the nation's capitol's only public institution of higher learning. A lean operating fully-accredited University that offers 4-year and graduate degrees is what District residents deserve and appears to be the direction of the Acting President, Stanley Jackson.

Steven Pearlstein: Thanks.

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