U of M closes General College
Consolidation at the U reflects a changing public higher education system in Minnesota

-- Patty Gavnik

The media attention, student rallies and arrests associated with the closing of the University of Minnesota’s General College could lead Metropolitan State students to believe that U students will soon be swarming for another university to call home.

Although General College and Metropolitan State attempt to reach similar types of students, the number of students displaced by the closing will be easily absorbed into the MnSCU system, according to Metropolitan State University President Wilson Bradshaw. He explains that the influx of students will be more gradual than recent headlines suggest. “This fall General College will be admitting another class of about 800-plus students. Next fall their plan is to downsize that considerably and maybe admit 400 students with that academic profile…and they are committed to admitting 400-500 students with that academic profile each year, at least for the foreseeable future.”

General College was not the only target of cuts at the University of Minnesota. On June 10 regents there voted 11-1 in support of a package of changes that will close or consolidate several colleges, so that the University of Minnesota can focus its resources on becoming one of the top three public research institutions in the world.

Critics of the package claim that General College was a gateway to the U of M for many low-income students and students of color, and that the U is on its way to becoming an elitist institution. President Bradshaw explains, “For a long time, people thought they had a right to go to the U if they wanted to. Over some period of time the U was able to accommodate that. But now the state of Minnesota has invested over many years into public higher education systems.” In addition to the U, MnSCU includes seven universities and 25 two-year institutions. There are now many pathways to reach the U from community colleges, and President Bradshaw says, “I understand that the U would like to redouble their efforts in getting those students.”

Instead of focusing on where students of color will get their education, President Bradshaw is more concerned with whether these students get an education at all. Although communities of color are growing faster than any other segment of the population of Minnesota, their rates of education are not increasing proportionally. President Bradshaw says, “Minnesota has long been held up as an example of a successful education system, and that will be threatened if we do not continue to educate the growing segments of our population.”

Despite the philosophical discussions about the impact that the closing of General College will have on low-income students and students of color, President Bradshaw says he is “waiting for the second, more critical half of the public discussion about higher education. Not the part about the dollars and cents, but the part about the true value of higher education and the long-term tangible rewards this investment will reap in the future, or the havoc it will wreak if not continued.”

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