STUDENTS PROTEST GET-TOUGH POLICY; CSU SITES THREATEN EXPULSION OVER SKILLS.

Byline: Robert Monroe Daily News Staff Writer

Some 1,100 freshmen at CSUN must pass remedial math and English classes by summer's end or risk expulsion under a controversial policy used for the first time, officials said Wednesday.

Students who fail the courses in the semester ending this month have another chance in summer school, and officials expect most to pass. Students who do not pass by the fall enrollment period can ask for a waiver or will be expelled.

The policy provoked a protest Wednesday by 150 students who claim they are being punished for the shortcomings of their high schools.

``If you're in high school and you didn't get math and English, that's not on the student; that's on the education system,'' said Tameika Hall, a 23-year-old junior who led the protest.

The policy, which affects all California State University campuses, was adopted in 1996 to ensure the qualifications of incoming students. About half the system's 28,000 freshmen had to take remedial courses this school year.

``We found that a high percentage of students were not prepared for university work,'' said Ken Swisher, spokesman for the CSU Chancellor's Office.

He could not say how many students systemwide had yet to pass the courses.

Twenty percent of CSUN's 2,268 incoming freshmen didn't have to take remedial classes because they passed a test or excelled in high school. Of the remaining 1,822 students, more than 500 took and passed remedial classes so far this year. That leaves some 1,100 who must take the classes for the first time or repeat them because they failed.

University spokesman John Chandler could not specify how many of the 1,100 students had taken the classes and failed. But he said he had heard estimates from administrators that 75 percent passed English classes and fewer passed math.

``It's not a cakewalk,'' he said.

The policy, known as Executive Order 665, gives freshmen and transfer students three chances - fall, spring and summer semesters - to pass the remedial courses. If they still have not passed by the last try, they are expelled until they have passed transferable freshman math or English courses elsewhere.

The number of freshmen needing remedial classes leveled off this school year after years of steady increase, Swisher said.

At California State University, Long Beach, which enrolled 2,806 freshmen last fall, 797 still must pass math and 445 must pass English, said spokesman Rick Gloady.

Even above-average high school students have had to take remedial classes. Of all CSU freshmen in remedial math classes, the mean grade-point average in high school was 3.16, Swisher said.

Executive Order 665 includes a mentoring program for high school students and an effort by the CSU system to identify which high schools send the most underqualified students, he said.

CSUN students showered their outrage on administrators Wednesday.

``I worked so hard to get here. I don't think that's right to eliminate the students,'' said freshman Jimira Smith, 19, who plans to major in physical therapy.

Smith, who failed one of two math remediation classes she was required to take last fall, said she passed her calculus class at Pacific Palisades High School but admits she doesn't grasp math well.

Students in Monica Turner's public speaking class organized the protest forum on the rule.

``I'd really hate to see this revert to the days of slavery when slaves had to teach themselves how to read and write,'' Turner said. ``This is a blame-the-victim policy.''