College of Staten Island

History

The College of Staten Island traces its beginnings to the founding of Staten Island Community College (SICC) in 1956. SICC merged with Richmond College (opened in 1965) in 1976 to form the College of Staten Island. Richmond College had been threatened with closure because of New York City's financial crisis, while the older school, because of its status as a community college, received state support. The merger was particularly logical since the community college offered two-year degrees, while Richmond College was an "upper divisional" college (the third in the nation) that offered degrees to those in their third and fourth years of schooling.

The College of Staten Island has been located on the grounds of the former Willowbrook State School since 1993. It is the largest campus, in terms of physical size, in New York City. Before the relocation to Willowbrook, the College had a split campus, located at the former Staten Island Community College (in Sunnyside, on Todt Hill; the campus now houses the Michael J. Petrides School) and Richmond College (in St. George).

The first President of the College, Dr. Edmond Volpe, an American literature scholar, retired in 1994, after having successfully handled the merger of the two colleges and the unification of the two campuses. He was succeeded by Dr. Marlene Springer, as the second President of the College, an English and American literature scholar, under whose leadership the College improved academic standards, introduced two doctoral programs and several master's programs, raised the level of the faculty, added research institutes, and introduced an Honors College, The Verrazano School, and the CSI High School for International Studies.

Dr. Springer retired in August 2007 and was succeeded by Tomás D. Morales as the third President of the College. He had been awarded an Ed.D. from SUNY Albany in Educational Administration. He arranged for a free shuttle from the Staten Island ferry to the Willowbrook campus. On March 22, 2012, the Faculty Senate of the College passed a motion of "no confidence" in Dr. Morales and his Provost, Dr. William J. Fritz. This was overturned on a procedural issue and discussions in the subsequent April 19 meeting became so "bogged down" that the measure didn't go to a vote again. According to the same article, posted on "SI Live," “While 31 members of the 54-member Faculty Senate voted in favor of the resolution, another 37 faculty members later signed a letter slamming how the resolution was handled during the March meeting and backing Dr. Morales. In a separate letter following the vote, CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein strongly backed Dr. Morales, praising the president and saying Goldstein was 'appalled' by the vote.” Less than a month later, on May 10, 2012, Dr. Morales announced that he would be leaving the College of Staten Island to become President of California State University at San Bernardino. Dr. Morales' departure did not allow sufficient time to undertake a search for his replacement, so the CUNY Board of Trustees named Dr. Fritz as Interim President for a period of up to two years. Dr. Fritz was subsequently named as President by the CUNY Board of Trustees without a search having been conducted, effective May 6, 2014. On June 28, 2012, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education re-accredited the College but required that the College submit a monitoring report by December 1, 2013 addressing issues pertaining to general education (Standard 12) and assessment of student learning (Standard 14). This Monitoring Report was submitted before the deadline and resulted in the full reaccreditation of the College on all Standards.