On June 8, 2020, protestors were invited to Medgar Evers College to march in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement and honor George Floyd. However, a small group of disgruntled Medgar Evers College community members used a megaphone to manipulate the protestors into chanting for the immediate removal of President Rudolph F. Crew. Protestors have reached out to the College to voice their anger over this perverse deception. The College is disgusted that this small, disgruntled group used this tactic to co-opt the memory of George Floyd and the positive intentions of the protestors in order to serve their selfish motives.
This group consisted of approximately 10 faculty and staff members plus one single student. For several months, this same group has openly expressed its opposition without any repercussions, which demonstrates that the group does not and should not harbor any fear of reprisal for exercising its first amendment right to free speech. The small size of the group, however, does show that its members have not garnered broad-based support among Medgar Evers College faculty, staff, or students over the last several months.
While the group uses pseudonyms like "Committee to Protect the Mission and Integrity of Medgar Evers College" to create the impression that its allegations are accurate and the group is large, the empirical data that forms the basis of their claims does not exist.
Conversely, over the past seven years, President Crew has made measurable improvements at the College. Most notably under his leadership, the College was brought back from the brink of losing its accreditation. Other key accomplishments include:
- Graduate headcount increased from 990 in 2013—2014 to 1,269 in 2018—2019 (the highest ever in the history of the College);
- First-time freshmen student enrollment increased from 1,046 in 2013 to 1,187 in 2018;
- Overall student retention has increased since 2013; and
- Reduced number of freshmen students in need of remediation from nearly 90% in 2013 to less than 50% in 2020.
President Crew decided that he will serve the College until August 2021, and the City University of New York fully supports his decision.
