CUNY Medgar Evers College

Medgar Evers College (MEC) is a college campus (offering baccalaureate and associate degrees) of The City University of New York.

MEC was founded in 1970 through cooperation from educators and community leaders in central Brooklyn. MEC is named after Medgar Wiley Evers, a Mississippi-born black civil rights activist who, while serving in World War II, became disenchanted by the knowledge that he was fighting for freedom halfway around the world while he and other American blacks endured segregation and other forms of racism. He later helped secure many social and political advances for African-Americans, including helping the first black student, James Meredith, attend the previously-whites-only University of Mississippi in 1962. Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963.

MEC is divided into four schools: The School of Business; The School of Professional and Community Development; The School of Liberal Arts and Education; and The School of Science, Health, and Technology. The College also operates several external programs and associated centers such as Male Development and Empowerment Center, Center for Women's Development, Center for Black Literature, and The DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy.

History

Medgar Evers College has the distinction of being the youngest of the four-year senior colleges in The City University of New York. In the early 1960s, the Central Brooklyn community recognized the need and expressed a desire for a local public college. Through various community organizations including, but not limited to, the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council, and the NAACP, and through their local elected officials, the residents of Central Brooklyn approached the Board of Higher Education of the City of New York with this request. Members of the various community-based organizations constituted the Bedford-Stuyvesant Coalition on Educational Needs and Services, which served as the primary vehicle for interfacing with the Board of Higher Education. After many discussions and much involvement by community residents and the Coalition, the Board of Higher Education, on November 17, 1967, "approved the sponsorship of Community College Number VII, with the indication of an intention to admit students in the Fall of l969."

Medgar Evers College (MEC) is a college campus (offering baccalaureate and associate degrees) of The City University of New York.

MEC was founded in 1970 through cooperation from educators and community leaders in central Brooklyn. MEC is named after Medgar Wiley Evers, a Mississippi-born black civil rights activist who, while serving in World War II, became disenchanted by the knowledge that he was fighting for freedom halfway around the world while he and other American blacks endured segregation and other forms of racism. He later helped secure many social and political advances for African-Americans, including helping the first black student, James Meredith, attend the previously-whites-only University of Mississippi in 1962. Evers was assassinated on June 12, 1963.