FOR 35 YEARS from the turbulent civil rights era through major fiscal crises and countless power plays Herman Badillo has been a fixture, and a fixer, in New York City politics. But never has he had a more vital role, or handled it better, than right now as vice chairman of the troubled City University system.

Appointed a CUNY trustee in 1980, Badillo was long the sole voice for reform at a once-great citadel of learning that has sunk to a second-chance high school. But his voice was muted during the somnolent reign of Chairman James Murphy, who caved in to the radical students and faculty who created and profited from CUNY’s standard of no standards.

But these days, by combining clever behind-the-scenes maneuvering with pointed public criticism of Chancellor Ann Reynolds, Badillo has emerged as the leader of a new board one committed to restoring CUNY to its rightful position at the pinnacle of public higher education.

Indeed, new Chairwoman Anne Paolucci admits that without the 67-year-old Badillo, she never would find her way through the smoke screen of deception Reynolds and her minions of misinformation have thrown up to thwart change.

The most recent example came when the Daily News revealed that the bi-lingual Hostos Community College had stopped requiring a simple English composition test for graduation because too many students were failing. Badillo instantly held up the school as exemplar of what is wrong with CUNY.

That might not seem so remarkable except for this: As a congressman, Badillo sponsored the nation’s first bi-lingual education law and when he was Bronx Borough President he was the driving force behind the creation of Hostos.

He still believes in mainstreaming newcomers by using their native language as a bridge. But he does not shirk from condemning those who he believes have corrupted that goal by allowing new arrivals to dwell comfortably in the illusion that English is optional. He recognizes that those who cannot speak, read and write English are doomed to the economic margins.

IT’S A VERY brave position. In fact, it is not too much to say that, in the ethnic calculations that underlie every public-policy debate, Badillo’s willingness to lead the charge on standards is the linchpin that makes reform possible. Without him, Gov. Pataki and Mayor Giuliani would, as two non-Hispanic white Republicans, face an almost impossible time persuading minority New Yorkers that their efforts were not sinister.

Badillo’s eagerness to accept such a difficult assignment is a testament to his courage. But it’s not really surprising. That he has the stomach to accept cheap accusations of “traitor” by some Latinos is very much in character.

Badillo, you see, opposed open admissions when it was instituted in 1969, and as a trustee he continued to demand that CUNY toughen standards, limit remediation and stop inflating students’ grades. He was opposed at virtually every turn by Murphy, Reynolds and the likes of faculty union head Sandi Cooper. It was Cooper who defended the fail-none policy by saying that, for many city high school grads, the choice was CUNY or jail.

Badillo knew better, thanks to an extraordinary personal odyssey one that gives him the standing to demand that today’s students aim higher. It’s a story that is pure inspiration.

He was a 12-year-old orphan in 1940 when he arrived in New York from Caguas, Puerto Rico, unable to speak English. He made it through high school, then worked his way through City College as a short-order cook and bowling alley pin setter.

He graduated magna cum laude and went on to become No. 1 in his class at Brooklyn Law School. In 1962, he became the city’s first Puerto Rican commissioner. It was the first of many firsts: first Hispanic borough president, first Puerto Rican U.S. congressman, first Latino deputy mayor.

ALONG THE WAY, he rode the roller coaster of public life. He wanted to be mayor but somehow never could put together a winning formula. A charismatic campaigner and a forceful speaker, he has been courted by Presidents, governors and mayors too numerous to mention. But because he never seems fully comfortable either as an insider or an outsider, the honeymoons have been brief, with Badillo’s lone-wolf streak inevitably propelling him out the door and into a confrontation.

His relationship with Giuliani, whom he crossed party lines to endorse, has been tested, in part by Badillo’s law-and-lobbying firm cashing in on its favored status. That stain is the sole mark against his service to the mayor. He boldly led City Hall’s assault on Board of Education do-nothings and kept up the relentless pressure that pushed Schools Chancellor Ramon Cortines out the door. And now he has turned that same energy and talent toward reversing the destructive slide of CUNY.

It is no exaggeration to say that the future of public secondary education in the city, even the nation, stands at a crossroads. At this crucial moment, New Yorkers are extremely fortunate to have Herman Badillo directing traffic.



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